Northwood 2 Southall 0
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Monday 29th August 2022
| NORTHWOOD | |||
 |
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| 1 | Andrew McCorkell | ||
| 2 | Sam Jenkins  (81m) |
||
| 3 | Andy Lomas | ||
| 4 | Keagan Cole © (69m) | ||
| 5 | Luke Tingey | ||
| 6 | James Gurteen | ||
| 7 | Ronan Hutchins | ||
| 8 | Riccardo Alexander-Greenaway | ||
| 9 | Josh Helmore (84m) | ||
| 10 | Sydney Ibie | ||
| 11 | Ergys Pepaj | ||
| Substitutes | |||
| 12 | Carl Stewart (69m) | ||
| 14 | Harry Gallagher | ||
| 15 | James Budden (81m) | ||
| 16 | Lindell Stewart (84m) | ||
| 17 | Brandon Kalu | ||
|
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Northwood rounded off a successful weekend as they maintained their 100% start to the league season with a hard-fought win over their Middlesex rivals in front of bumper crowd at The Skyline Roofing Stadium.
There was one change to the Woods team from Saturday’s win over Westfield, midfielder Ergys Pepaj coming in for his first start with Carl Stewart taking his place on the bench.
Northwood settled well as they forced an early corner and they had a great chance to open the scoring as a swift interchange between Josh Helmore, Sydney Ibie and Keagan Cole created an opening for Ronan 
Hutchins, who dragged his shot wide of the far post.
Southall looked to gain some attacking momentum and they were awarded a free-kick from which a Ben Tricker header was comfortably dealt with by Woods goalkeeper Andrew McCorkell.
Northwood began to gain the ascendancy with a series of incursions into Southall territory – visiting keeper Michael Edegbe clawing away a Cole effort with Pepaj’s follow up from the edge of the box narrowly clearing the crossbar before Sam Jenkins broke forward to feed Helmore whose deflected shot on the turn was gathered by Edegbe.
Woods continued to ask questions of Southall’s rear-guard with a testing cross from Andy Lomas being headed behind with Cole waiting to pounce, James Gurteen heading wide from the Ronan Hutchins corner that followed.
Having resisted the Northwood pressure, Southall began to enjoy some possession and Bruno Tavares had two bites at the cherry as both shots were charged down by the Woods backline.
However, the visitors’ progress was halted as Northwood opened the scoring on 41 minutes, Sydney Ibie wriggling free in the box before squaring to Helmore who was perfectly placed to apply the finish for his first league goal of the season.
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Photos by JAMES BROWN
Southall responded well by forcing a number of corners which they failed to take advantage of, former Northwood man Louis Stead having a shot blocked after one of the set plays.
Woods were the first to show after the break as they forced a couple of corners of their own, Tingey’s header from Hutchins’ delivery being deflected behind before the latter combined with Helmore and sent a shot narrowly wide of the target.
But Southall visibly upped their tempo as they proceeded to enjoy their best spell of the game, Arel Amu having a couple of headers which failed to hit the target while another former Wood, Luke Heneghan, sent a long-range shot over the target before a free-kick from the same player was blocked by the Northwood defence.
The visitors continued to probe; the Woods defence offering a firm resistance with Gurteen leading by example as he cleared Stead’s effort after McCorkell had got a glove to the shot before Heneghan was off target with a volley following another corner.
Northwood gradually regained some attacking momentum, Helmore teeing up Hutchins whose shot was charged down before the latter returned the favour with Helmore’s shot receiving the same treatment from a Southall defence which was being well marshalled by former Woods skipper Carl Pearce.
Northwood made their first change on 70 minutes with Cole making way for Carl Stewart, Pepaj, who was enjoying a fine game in the Northwood midfield, pushing forward. And Woods’ search for a second goal duly arrived on 73 minutes as a driven corner from Hutchins was met perfectly by Tingey who powered a bullet header into the opposite corner for his first goal in a red shirt.
Southall used their full quota of substitutes as they looked for a way back into the contest while James Budden and Lindell Stewart replaced Jenkins and Helmore for Northwood.
But there was to be no further drama at either end as Woods comfortably saw out the remainder of the contest to consolidate their pole position in the table.
Report by ROBIN PIPER
