After the training game warm-up of the previous Saturday, the Woods
played out their first official pre-season friendly at the leafy
climes of the Metropolitan Police club in Bushey on Saturday. Their
opponents, though, were not the Herts Senior League side but their
fellow Boys in Blue, the Ryman Division One South club who normally
play at Imber Court.
Manager Colin Payne fielded a strong side
from the start but experimented with a three at the back defensive
trio that never looked particularly comfortable up against the
experienced striker Dave Stevens, who joined the Mets from Leatherhead
in the close-season. Indeed, it was Stevens who headed home a Martyn
Lee cross after 19 minutes to put the Police into a deserved lead.
It was on the half-hour that the
experiment was dispensed with and Jerome Hall entered the fray along
with Aryan Taj. The extra pace from these two saw the Woods begin to
make inroads, while the defensive pairing of Perry Norman and Bradley
Hewitt looked more solid.
For the second-half, Dave Tilbury and
James Elliott were added to the defensive line-up and Northwood began
to surge forward. Taj was just wide with one effort before Douglas
Kissule and Kevin McKenna both tested the Mets goalkeeper in quick
succession.
A good run from Hall then caused problems
for the Police defence with the ball being laid off to Taj who this
time hit the target but was denied by the ‘keeper.
It seemed only a matter of time before
the Woods bagged an equaliser and they went closer still when an
Elliott Buchanan corner was met by a powerful Hewitt header, only for
the ball to crash back off the crossbar.
There were a few more changes made and
the game looked to be petering out when Northwood finally made the
pressure tell with an equaliser. And a well-taken goal it was,
17-year-old Buchanan taking the ball down well in the box, and he
swivelled to plant a crashing shot into the top corner.
In the end, it was a satisfactory run-out
against a side who had done well at Step 4 level last season and are
expected to challenge once again in the forthcoming campaign.
The Woods now turn their attention
towards the away game at Harefield United on Tuesday night which is
always a challenging fixture. Player of the Year Danny Murphy is
expected back from holiday to make his first appearance of the season.
