Northwood 3 Marlow 1
.jpg)
Saturday 22nd April 2023
| NORTHWOOD | |||
 |
|||
| 1 | Andrew McCorkell  |
||
| 2 | James Gurteen (80m) | ||
| 3 | Andy Lomas | ||
| 4 | Riccardo Alexander-Greenaway | ||
| 5 | Luke Tingey © (61m) | ||
| 6 | Romario Jonas |
||
| 7 | Shane Cojocarel | ||
| 8 | Carl Stewart | ||
| 9 | Josh Helmore (70m) | ||
| 10 | Osaretin Otote | ||
| 11 | Teddy Stacey | ||
| Substitutes | |||
| 12 | Dan Williams | ||
| 14 | Gareth Chendlik (70m) | ||
| 15 | Keagan Cole (80m) | ||
| 16 | Harry Gallagher (61m) | ||
| 17 | Michal Jackson | ||
|
|||
Northwood brought the curtain down on their regular Isthmian League season with a win over fellow play-off participants Marlow amidst a carnival atmosphere at The Skyline.
Woods chose to name an unchanged team from the one that progressed to the Middlesex Charity Cup final in midweek while the visitors shuffled their pack, with both sides having already secured their spots in the end of season knockout.
Northwood began in a relaxed, positive manner and they opened the scoring on five minutes as Riccardo Alexander Greenaway stole in at the near post to head home a Teddy Stacey corner.
Woods went close to extending their lead minutes later as Osaretin Otote made good progress down Northwood’s right before squaring to Josh Helmore, who poked the ball over the crossbar with Marlow defenders in close attendance.
The visitors began to settle and Woods goalkeeper Andrew McCorkell was quickly off his line to smother the danger as Toby Raggett looked to latch onto a ball over the top. And McCorkell was involved again as he advanced outside the box to block Aaron McLeish-White but earnt himself a yellow card in the process.
The Blues continued to threaten with Georges Ehui the next to test McCorkell with a low shot which was comfortably gathered by the Northwood stopper.
- IMG_2218.jpg
- IMG_2220.jpg
- IMG_2225.jpg
- IMG_2231.jpg
- IMG_2241.jpg
- IMG_2242.jpg
- IMG_2246.jpg
- IMG_2249.jpg
- IMG_2252.jpg
- IMG_2265.jpg
- IMG_2288.jpg
- IMG_2294.jpg
- IMG_2303.jpg
- IMG_2306.jpg
- IMG_2310.jpg
- IMG_2318.jpg
- IMG_2321.jpg
- IMG_2326.jpg
- IMG_2327.jpg
- IMG_2328.jpg
- IMG_2332.jpg
- IMG_2337.jpg
- IMG_2348.jpg
- IMG_2349.jpg
- IMG_2353.jpg
- IMG_2361.jpg
- IMG_2365.jpg
- IMG_2377.jpg
- IMG_2382.jpg
- IMG_2389.jpg
- IMG_2395.jpg
- IMG_2410.jpg
- IMG_2412.jpg
- IMG_2426.jpg
- IMG_2427.jpg
- IMG_2431.jpg
- IMG_2441.jpg
- IMG_2451.jpg
- IMG_2462.jpg
- IMG_2464.jpg
- IMG_2468.jpg
- IMG_2487.jpg
- IMG_2488.jpg
- IMG_2492.jpg
- IMG_2506.jpg
- IMG_2509.jpg
- IMG_2511.jpg
- IMG_2512.jpg
- IMG_2513.jpg
- IMG_2514.jpg
- IMG_2515.jpg
- IMG_2518.jpg
- IMG_2519.jpg
- IMG_2522.jpg
- IMG_2528.jpg
- IMG_2532.jpg
- IMG_2540.jpg
PHOTOS by James Brown
Woods were soon back on the offensive and after Marlow had struggled to clear a Luke Tingey throw into the box, Otote saw his hooked half-volley attempt from the edge of the box narrowly clear the woodwork.
Northwood continued to press and they capitalised on further indecision in the Marlow defence as keeper Phil Brown miscued a punched clearance from Otote’s cross with Shane Cojocarel hooking the ball over the covering defenders and into the net for Woods’ second goal of the afternoon on 32 minutes.
But the visitors got themselves back into the contest as Kai Hamilton finished off a slick counterattack on the stroke of half-time.
Both sides created chances early in the second half with Brown pulling off a smart save to deny Helmore after he was played in by Stacey, while at the other end Toby Raggett dragged his shot across the face of goal after a forceful run into the Northwood box.
Woods made their first change with an eye on the upcoming play-off semi-final as Harry Gallagher replaced Tingey in defence. And the hosts had some defending to do as the Blues won a freekick on the edge of the box, but McCorkell was up to the challenge as he produced a flying save to keep out Tom Soares’ effort.
Northwood made their second substitution as Helmore made way for Gareth Chendlik before they were forced into another change as James Gurteen limped off with a worrying lower leg problem to be replaced by Keagan Cole.
The pace had slowed considerably as the contest reached its latter stages, but Chendlik almost found a way through the Marlow defence while Carl Stewart miscued as he looked to pounce on the loose ball.
However, Northwood made sure of the points and a morale boosting victory as Alexander-Greenaway grabbed his second of the afternoon three minutes from time after Brown failed to gather– a trip to the Xcel Sports Hub and the formidable challenge of Walton & Hersham in the play-off semi-final next up for Woods.
REPORT by Robin Piper
