The Woods made it four wins in five games with this emphatic victory at neighbours Chalfont, though the four-goal margin did flatter them somewhat.

Jerome Federico and top scorer Oliver Hawkins were restored to the starting line-up as the Woods looked to avenge the home defeat suffered at the hands of the Saints earlier in the season and this two combined to give the Woods a fifth minute lead. Federico floated in a free-kick, Brad Hewitt headed the ball on and Hawkins fired a crisp half-volley past the despairing dive of goalkeeper Connor Spaans.

Chalfont struggled to keep pace with the tempo being set by Northwood in those early stages and apart from a Daryl Atkins effort fired well over the bar, they were kept at bay by a solid defensive back-line. In fact, the closest that the Saints came to scoring in the first-half came after 26 minutes when Hawkins misdirected an attempted defensive clearance and James Reading had to look sharp to keep it from creeping inside a post.

While the Woods were happy to contain Chalfont they rarely threatened to add to their lead in the first half either, with the endeavour of Jon-Jo Bates and Niko Muir often lacking the final pass to find a way through to the danger-zone.

But the second half found Northwood more in attack mode and after an early Federico strike had crept only just wide, Hawkins headed a corner back across the face of goal and Lee Grant dived in to head for goal but the ball again flashed wide. After 53 minutes, the Woods made a breakthrough when young striker Niko Muir seized on a loose ball some thirty yards from goal and let fly with a cracking, dipping shot which found the top corner and gave Spaans no chance.

Nothing much was going right for the home side and this was further portrayed just five minutes later when Alex Payne, under pressure from Hawkins, over-hit a back-pass to Spaans and the ball bobbled past the keeper and onward for an unfortunate own-goal.

Daniel Hughes, who had scored four times against the Woods last season, only got his radar working on one occasion but his effort was straight at James Reading who held on comfortably.

Grant curled a free-kick just wide after 64 minutes but just two minutes later the Saints were gifted a lifeline with what appeared to be a very soft penalty award but Reading was in no mood to give up his clean sheet lightly and made a superb one-handed stop to push over a well-struck spot-kick from John Carroll.

The home side made a triple substitution in an effort to change the game while the Woods introduced new signing Hallelujah Basmel for Muir. Within a few minutes, the young forward had burst through the Chalfont defence and was through on goal but was denied a debut goal by a good save at his feet from Spaans.

Reon Thomas and Ryan Phillips entered the fray for the final ten minutes and Chalfont rallied with Reading saving well from an Atkins shot and then being thankful for the post as Aaron McLeish’s strike across him came back off the base of the upright and straight into his hands. Northwood had a couple of late chances and in stoppage-time, an excellent delivery from a Phillips free-kick saw Thomas steal in to direct an excellent header into the top corner for his first goal for the club.

The Woods busy week continues now with two home games in three days, taking on North Greenford United on Easter Monday afternoon and then play-off chasing Slough Town on Wednesday night.