The Woods travelled to promotion hopeful Biggleswade for another long-distance midweek fixture and were without the unavailable Niko Muir and Adil Salih, so they were short on numbers for the difficult game. A victory for the Waders would strengthen their chances of a play-off place, and they began confidently with top scorer Craig Daniel shooting wide from distance early on.

But the Woods settled quickly and showed that they were not prepared to just roll over with a couple of dangerous attacks. The closest they came was when Hallelujah Basmel did well to get forward and cut the ball back to Jon Jo Bates but he was unable to get a shot in on goal.

After 22 minutes, Biggleswade forced a corner from what looked like a foul on Scott Raper which went unpunished and when the ball was knocked in, the defence failed to clear and Kevin Kilroy hooked the ball in at the far post. Stung by the goal, the Woods pushed forward again with Lee Grant knocking a good ball forward which was flicked on by Oliver Hawkins and Basmel’s header was kept out by diving goalkeeper Michael McEntegart.

An altercation off the ball involving Basmel and Peter Gatti looked as if it might result in the Woods gaining a man advantage but the referee shared the punishment with a yellow card apiece and the home side breathed more easily.

But the Woods continued to gain the upper hand with Hawkins having a snap-shot well saved by the keeper, and this was followed with McEntegart pulling off a fine stop to deny Bates twice in close succession.

Just before the break Raper got his head to a free-kick pumped in by Reece Yorke but the ball flashed wide of the target.

The second half started with the Woods still on top, and after 47 minutes a corner saw Hawkins head the ball on and Yorke have a shot blocked before Brad Hewitt fired the rebound for goal only to be denied by a handled stop by Joe Reynolds about four yards out. A penalty was awarded but not, as expected, the red card for Reynolds who only picked up a yellow, with the referee claiming that the shot was going wide. Hawkins was the latest of the Northwood squad to be designated penalty-taker but the Woods’ top scorer’s choice of power rather than placement saw his kick rise high above the crossbar.

Chance over, and just five minutes later the irony of the situation was not lost on many as another corner dropped dangerously around the box and that man Reynolds was on-hand to fire in a second goal for Biggleswade. James Reading kept the Woods in the game on 67 minutes when Paul Barnes broke through on goal and he made a fine save to push the ball wide of the post while Daniel also had one well-struck drive that flashed wide of the post.

Northwood battled on but rarely breached the Waders defence in the closing stages. Their only real chances came from free-kicks awarded just outside the box but both Yorke and Grant were unable to keep their efforts low enough to trouble the keeper and the home side were grateful for the narrow victory.