Northwood U18 2  Barnet U18 6

Thursday 20th August 2015

NORTHWOOD UNDER 18		Pre-season friendly
Team line-up
1	Kamal Foster
2	Will Holland ©
3	Jordan Gargani
4	Myles Martin
5	Charlie Carroll
6	Jordan Williams
7	Ben Spires
8	Louis Moriarty
9	Michael Brown
10	George Adams
11	Pearse White
Substitutes
12	Phil Daniels (gk)
14	Paolo Pumilia (gk)
15	Danny O’Driscoll
16	Eric George
17	Ross Golding
18	Freddie Buckley
19	Issouf Coulibaly
20	Ahmed Asad

Northwood Under 18s’ last friendly before the Ryman Youth League season starts was a tough fixture designed to be a thorough work out for the squad, with many of them only just back from their holidays.

Northwood enjoyed the early pressure and created some good scoring opportunities. Woods took the lead after 15 minutes when a nicely placed through ball from Louis Moriarty found Michael Brown, who turned his defender squared to Pearse White, who slotted home at the far post. The second goal came 10 minutes later when George Adams was fouled just outside the box; the resulting free kick taken by Louis Moriarty was floated to the back post, where it found Michael Brown, who headed past the Barnet keeper.

Barnet stepped up the pressure, with three very fast forwards who were a constant danger, and it wasn't long before they pulled one back; a through ball led to a one on one and the score was 2-1. Minutes later the same move resulted in Kamal Foster making a tremendous save in the Woods goal to maintain the lead.

Northwood’s concentration was found wanting as a ball over the top found the Barnet number 10 in acres of space, and he levelled for 2-2. Woods changed keepers with Phil Daniels coming on and there were a couple of outfield substitutions. But Northwood struggled to maintain possession and just before half-time a free kick floated to the back post was headed back into the centre to find the Barnet number nine, who slotted home.

The Woods started the second half well, creating a few chances which with a bit of luck may have resulted in a goal on another day. Then slightly against the run of play, a through ball by Barnet was met by Phil Daniels, but his volley against the Barnet striker only resulted in the ball ricocheting into the Northwood net: 2-4.

Barnet’s all-round strength, fitness and ability told in the remaining 25 minutes as they took control, scoring two further goals.

This was a great work out for the new Under 18 team, who were missing a few players. There were very good performances from new boys Jordan Gargani, Jordan Williams and Charlie Carroll – arguably man of the match. Next up is a journey down the M3 on Tuesday evening to play Frimley Green in the opening West Division fixture.

    Report by GARRY MORIARTY