Northwood Under 18 3  Hayes & Yeading Under 18 3

Thursday 1st September 2011

Northwood U18		Ryman Youth League Chestnut Avenue, Northwood
Max Easton	1	Kick Off
Michael Uche	2	7.45 p.m.
Prince Umoh	3	H/T
Jack Hutchinson	4	1-1
Peter James	5	Attendance
Louis Judge	6	66
Daniel Gbadebo	7	Scorers
Shomari Bridgewater	8	Northwood
Luke Dunne	9	Dunne, Henry, Cole
Lamin Cole	10
Callum Wright	11	Hayes
		Bassele, Hubbard 2
Aaron Sutherland (9)	12
Jackson Kiwanda (8)	14
Matt Forde	15
Nathan Henry (4)	16
	17
Hayes U18
Luke Daley	1
Ashley Parker	2
Andrew Dean	3
Adam Butler	4
Leonal Da Goma	5
Jeffrey Kimoto	6
Aristede Bassele	7
Umar Mansaray	8
Troy Timothy	9
Aaron Harriot	10
Levi Fernandez	11
Lewis Cole	12
Wajtek Opalimski (9)	14
Max Hubbard (8)	15
Carron Moses-Holmes	16
Ryan Simpson (11)	17

The Woods' belated first game of the season produced plenty of entertainment for a good-sized crowd at Chestnut Avenue on Thursday evening. There were plenty of new faces looking to impress in the Northwood line-up following last season's successful campaign though Jack Hutchinson, who made his starting debut in the first-team on Monday, took his place in the centre of midfield under instruction to play an hour maximum!

Their opponents, who the Woods will also meet in the FA Youth Cup in a few weeks time, had started their league programme a week earlier and crushed Wingate & Finchley 5-0 so it was expected to be a tough introduction to Ryman League football for some of the new team as they hadn't even played together in a friendly fixture in pre-season.

However, Northwood were gifted a perfect start in just the fifth minute when the visitors goalkeeper Luke Daley made a hash of an attempted clearance and Luke Dunne reacted quickly to show good composure and roll the ball into an unguarded net for the lead. Hayes were soon pushing forward, looking to level quickly and they had some talented individuals who showed good skills as they probed around the penalty area. Woods debut 'keeper Max Easton made a couple of good early stops, Louis Judge made some timely clearances while Aaron Harriot missed his shot completely when set up by the impressive Aristede Bassele.

It was Bassele who did finally level the scores after 21 minutes with the pressure telling on the Northwood defence and a error at the back allowing the winger a run on goal and he slipped the ball inside the near post. Hayes & Yeading continued to hold the upper hand as the half progressed but the Woods gradually settled into a more solid unit at the back and threatened briefly on the break with Hutchinson drilling a shot wide having won a good tackle in the centre.

The Woods looked more assured after the break and Dunne had a chance when he robbed the keeper out wide and found space to shoot but Daley recovered well to keep the ball from getting to the danger area. After Hutchinson departed, to be replaced by Nathan Henry, the Woods went close to regaining the lead when Callum Wright got his head to a through ball while seemingly being clipped by Daley just inside the box but when a defender cleared the goalbound header for a corner, there was no penalty awarded. From the resulting corner, a poor header saw Judge fire in a shot but this was blocked and cleared.

The visitors made a couple of substitutions in an effort to get back on top while Northwood did the same. Daniel Gbadebo let fly with a great long-range effort which flashed only just over the crossbar but after 71 minutes, it was United that got their noses in front for the first time. A corner was knocked deep and perhaps looked to have gone over the line before Adam Butler stretched to head it back across goal and substitute Max Hubbard finished well with a strong header. It was a blow having worked so hard to keep level and it got worse for the Woods just seven minutes later when another corner wasn't cleared and Hubbard pounced again to fire in through a ruck of players.

But Northwood showed that they were up for a battle just two minutes later when a good ball down the middle released Henry and he skipped a challenge before slipping a shot past Daley to reduce the arrears. With their tails up, the home side pushed forward in search of an equaliser and with three minutes to go, they won a free-kick out wide. Lamin Cole took his opportunity well, curling a left-foot shot over everyone and beating Daley at the far post. His celebrations with several of his former teammates from last season who were showing their support on the terraces, earned him an unnecessary yellow card but perhaps it might be overlooked on this occasion as he earned his side a point.

The side are back in action on Monday night, 5th September when they play away at Wingate & Finchley.

Report: ALAN EVANS