Northwood 6 Badshot Lea 1
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Tuesday 19th March 2024
| NORTHWOOD | |||
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| 1 | Andrew McCorkell | ||
| 2 | Harry McKenna | ||
| 3 | Sam Jenkins | ||
| 4 | Carl Stewart | ||
| 5 | Luke Tingey © | ||
| 6 | Stephan Langley (82m) | ||
| 7 | Kofi Anokye-Boadi | ||
| 8 | Teddy Stacey | ||
| 9 | Lucas Sinclair (78m) | ||
| 10 | Dan Williams (87m) | ||
| 11 | Harry McCorkell | ||
| Substitutes | |||
| 12 | Alex Grant (87m) | ||
| 14 | Martin Flannery (82m) | ||
| 15 | Harry Gallagher | ||
| 16 | Archie James (78m) | ||
| 17 | - | ||
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The Woods gained swift revenge for Saturday’s 4-0 defeat at Badshot Lea with this comprehensive victory over the same opposition just three days later, running in six goals for the second time in three weeks.
There were a few changes made to both sides. For the Woods, Harry McKenna and Carl Stewart returned to the starting line-up in place of the injured Deago Dunbar-Bonnie and Harry Gallagher, who was reste
d. The backline was reshuffled in an effort to prevent a recurrence of the weekend disaster.
Northwood started well but without creating too much in front of goal. There was 18 minutes on the clock when Teddy Stacey threaded a ball through for Kofi Anokye-Boadi to try to poke the ball past the oncoming keeper but an offside flag ruled Harry Caldron’s block immaterial.
Just three minutes later, the Woods made a breakthrough and it came from a familiar route. Luke Tingey launched a throw from the left and it dropped over the head of everyone at the near post where Anokye-Boadi was able to flick the ball home from close-range. It was Northwood’s first goal against the Baggies after two previous encounters without finding the net. There was more to come.
Four minutes later, another Tingey throw was neatly headed on by Harry McCorkell but Cawdron was well placed to take it comfortably but after 26 minutes Northwood doubled their advantage. This time it was Anokye-Boadi who turned provider with some great work down the left and his ball across beat Cawdron and was fired home by Lucas Sinclair.
PHOTOS by James Brown
Sinclair almost added a third two minutes later when a good ball put him through the middle. He chipped the keeper but Cawdron just got his fingers to it to tip the ball over the crossbar. The siege continued as Cawdron just managed to push a corner onto the crossbar under pressure from Stephan Langley and then McCorkell headed the rebound just over.
McCorkell fired another effort just wide and then Dan Williams got forward down the left before shooting wide of the near-post but the third goal wasn’t far away with the combination of the same two players proving fruitful once again. Anokye-Boadi again did well on the left. His cut-back to McCorkell was only half-cleared and Sinclair pounced to fire accurately into the bottom corner for a classy finish.
It could have been four before the break as Stacey’s strike from outside the box looked goalbound but there was a great blocking header from a Baggies defender.
The four goals scored by Badshot Lea in the second half of Saturday’s game would have been fresh in the mind of both teams when they returned after the break and although Sinclair almost created a goal early on with a jinking run and cross that was just intercepted to prevent another goal, the Baggies pulled one back on 53 minutes. A ball into the box was misjudged by McKenna and Kane Fitzgerald controlled well before sidestepping McKenna as he tried to recover and fire neatly across Andrew McCorkell and into the far corner.
The Woods were not fazed though and Daniel Williams’ well-struck free-kick was touched on by Langley, with Sinclair completing his hat-trick after 61 minutes. If that wasn’t enough to secure the points, just two minutes later Anokye-Boadi and Sinclair combined to find Williams on the edge of the area and he struck a low drive into the bottom corner to make it 5-1.
The scoring for the evening was wrapped up after 71 minutes when Anokye-Boadi notched another assist with a cross in from the left and Sinclair rose high to head home his fourth of the game. He becomes the first Northwood player ever to score four goals in two games in the same season and only the third to achieve that feat at any time.
Sinclair came off to deserved applause on 77 minutes, replaced by Archie James who almost got on the scoresheet himself three minutes later as Williams put in a great cross but the youngster just hesitated too long before trying to stretch and knock the ball in.
James did have an effort on goal on 82 minutes but Cawdron saved to deny him and both Martin Flannery and Under 18s striker Alex Grant were introduced in the final stages. The last effort on goal came in the final minute of normal time as James knocked in a cross and McCorkell, still searching for his first goal in Woods colours, saw his header blocked and cleared to safety.
The victory was the first time the Woods had scored six goals in quick succession since 2016 when a 6-0 league win over Histon was followed by a 6-3 FA Trophy success away at Dorking Wanderers. For two League wins scoring at least six goals in the same period, you need to go back over 20 years - the 1999/2000 season when Northwood beat Chalfont St Peter 7-2 and Hungerford Town 7-1, both at home in October 1999 (there was a 5-0 beating of Witham Town in between those two games too)!
REPORT by Alan Evans
