The Woods ended a run of three successive away defeats in the League with this comfortable victory at strugglers Chertsey Town; their first-ever success at the Surrey side’s ground. There was doubt about the match going ahead as the pitch was flooded by the overspill of the local river for much of the week but it cleared the previous evening and the game got the go-ahead, though of course the surface was a heavy one.
It was the Woods’ first action for two weeks following the wet weather, and manager Mark Burgess made one change with Dave Lawrence restored to the attack, Karl Oliyide moved out wide while Joakim Ehui was given a rest to the bench.
It was Northwood’s 8-3 victory over Chertsey back in early October that had kick-started the season and the Curfews have been unable to recovery from that since, only above Ashford Town at the bottom of the table on goal difference, but recent results have been much closer. They also notched the first effort on goal in this game as some good interplay led to a sharp effort on goal from Tom Betts, which flew only just over the top.
But the Woods soon started to press, and they forced a couple of quick corners in succession. The first, from Oliver Sprague, curled in and forced goalkeeper Garry Aulsberry to tip the ball over the bar. The next, by Lawrence, was easily cleared but was knocked back into the box by James Burgess and Jerome Federico found the space to fire the Woods into an eleventh minute lead.
From there the game developed into a bit of a slog where any passing move tended to break down in the final third and there were very few efforts on goal before the Woods netted a crucial second goal after 33 minutes. This time Federico was the instigator with a pacy run down the right; he sped past Joe Green and knocked in the perfect centre for Niko Muir to steer a header inside the post for his 21st goal of the season.
Chertsey had a rare sight of goal themselves five minutes later when ace striker John Pomroy hit a neat shot on the turn but it was comfortably saved by goalkeeper Tomer Sherman.
The Woods should have extended their lead six minutes after the break when Federico again got the better of his marker and knocked in an accurate centre but Lawrence stretched and knocked the ball over when Oliyide was better placed to score. A patient build-up then saw George Nicholas scoop a shot over the bar from just outside the box, but still chances were few and far between.
After 66 minutes, Muir raced onto a through ball and went past the challenging Aulsberry out wide but he was unable to shoot and eventually the ball was scrambled away and the chance went astray.
It was just a minute later that the home side almost pulled a goal back as Pomroy saw an effort blocked and it ran loose to Betts whose goalbound strike was brilliantly pushed wide by Sherman.
Substitutions were made on both sides and Ehui looked lively for the Woods but they failed to make any real inroads and it was Chertsey who finished both the stronger and with more possession but without really looking like scoring. |