Report by ALAN EVANS

The Woods made their first-ever visit to Lowther Road, home of Wokingham Town, who they last met in back in 1999 when both were playing Isthmian League football at a time that their hosts were playing at a former ground.

There were a few changes to the squad that had won at North Leigh last Saturday with Rodney Dos Santos drafted in at left-back, George Eldridge and Maksym Fostyk both starting for the first time and there was a place up front for former Woods striker Juwon Akintunde, back for a second spell on dual-registration from Aylesbury United. There were two new names on the bench too with the experienced defender Rafiq Bettamer joining along with Boreham Wood U19s Academy youngster Javan Campbell.

It was clear from one look at the pitch surface that this was going to be a real battle for the three points at stake – dry, hard, bumpy and with a patchy grass covering. Our hosts had managed to avoid defeat in six of their seven previous games on the surface; that only narrowly against Step 4 side Hungerford in the FA Cup a month earlier so a tough nut to crack for sure. 

And the Sumas were quickly into their stride, moving the ball forward quickly and into danger areas. After just five minutes there was a chance for Harley Oates who saw his effort pushed wide by Woods goalkeeper Finn Rushton. The resulting corner was taken short, driven into the box and after a couple of blocked shots, the ball fell to Ethan Oyedele but it was hit well over.

The Woods were struggling to make any impact, restricted to just one attack in the first half hour when Arnold Mengi slipped a ball through to Mark Osei who moved into the box and cut inside his marker but his shot rose high over the bar.

Wokingham continued to look more likely to make a breakthrough with the Woods defending deep and Rushton was again called into action when diving to push a good low strike from Oyedele wide of the far post. Five minutes later, Sam Lynskey got his head to a corner with Rushton saving again before the loose ball was blocked again by some desperate defending.

However, after 36 minutes, Northwood were almost in front as Fostyk battled through the centre to move the ball into the area where Akintunde beat goalkeeper Jake Simpson to it and knocked it goalwards. Both Mark Osei and a home defender dived in virtually on the line, causing a dust cloud which made vision difficult but the ball stayed out and flew off for a throw-on.

Two minutes later, the Woods seemed to have got more of an idea of how to play as another quick ball played into the channel released Akintunde through on goal and he brushed off the challenge of his marker before slotting past the exposed Simpson to put the visitors in front. It proved to be a false dawn.

Wokingham’s response was swift and emphatic. On 42 minutes, a run down the left produced which was touched home at the near post, given to Naz Miah and not much more than a minute later, Lynskey burst into the box on the right and slotted past Rushton to turn the scoreline on its head.

There was a change at half-time by manager Scott Patmore, introducing Campbell for Fostyk but after Osei had seen an early effort blocked for a corner, the Sumas netted a third killer goal on 53 minutes. The Woods defence was wide open as a shot was blocked on the line but Lynskey was on hand to tuck away the rebound for his second goal.

Bettamer replaced Eldridge for his debut but Wokingham then found a fourth goal after 63 minutes as a free-kick was delivered to the back-post and impressive young defender Aaron Peprah-Baah rose high to thump home a header; his fourth of the season. He went close again seven minutes later with another header from a corner but this time Rushton was able to tip it over the bar.

Woods battled on, both sides made a series of substitutions and the Sumas held on comfortably to their solid victory taking them to within sight of the play-off places.

Photos by ALAN EVANS

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