| WALTHAM ABBEY: Tyla Dickinson, Junior Appiah, Dominique Yiagnigni, Louis Bowen, Ryan Dear, Jack Daveney (Daniel Ugundi 66m), Nathan Twum Koranteng (Aaron William-Bushell 87m), Billy Holland, Leonne McKenzie, Darrelle Russell (Caleb Steele 86m), Aron Gordon |
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A poor and uninspired second-half performance saw Northwood concede five goals, as Waltham Abbey romped to a 6-1 victory. Two goals from the away side’s winger Aron Gordon and a stunning strike from Nathan Koranteng were the pick of the half dozen.
Woods’ manager Scott Dash made a couple of changes from last week’s cup victory at Bedfont, Andrew Tirivanhu and Kweku Lucan replacing Karl Stevenson and Kingsley Eshun in the starting eleven.
Waltham Abbey got off the mark quickly, only two minutes in and they had the first goal of the match. The ball was played across the outside of the box to Gordon, whose immaculate control with his right foot shifted the ball to his left to shoot, burying it in the top corner.
The home side did not let their heads drop after such an early goal conceded, with Lucan having two attempts within quick succession to grab an equaliser. The first chance came from a lovely through ball from Matt Cooper, Lucan controlled well, swivelled and shot, with the effort just glancing past the post.
Another through ball, this time from Charlie Hayford, saw Lucan get his second chance, his touch let him down and the keeper was quick off his line to smother the attack.
After constant attacking pressure from Northwood, the equaliser eventually arrived in the 17th minute. Harry Lodovica punished a Waltham Abbey mistake with his finish into the bottom corner.
With the game at a stalemate, the home side looked the most likely to score before the end of the first half. Northwood’s best attempt came from an audacious backheel flick from captain Alex Witham setting up Chris Gosling. His curling shot agonisingly hitting the bar.
The start of the second half did not have the goals of the first, but it did have the excitement.
Waltham’s goalkeeper Tyla Dickinson, on loan from QPR, made a remarkable reflex save tipping the ball over the bar from a close-range Lucan shot. The aforementioned goal-scoring opportunity would be Woods’ last for 20 minutes and by the time they had their next, they were already well out of the game.
To the bewilderment of the Northwood players and the fans, Waltham scored three goals in just over 12 minutes. The first came in the 64th minute, captain Darrelle Russell got on the end of a whipped in free-kick finishing from no more than six-yards out.
Three minutes later, and the visitors had their third of the game. A rapid counter-attack resulted in Gordon grabbing his second of the game. Finishing cutely into the bottom corner.
Poor defensive work could be blamed for the first two goals of the second half, but that could not be said for the third. Waltham’s free-kick from 25-yards out was laid off to Koranteng, whose missile of a strike slammed into the inside of the post and into the top corner.
With three goals conceded in rapid succession, it looked as though it could not get any worse for Northwood. But it did. A headed goal apiece for Ryan Dear in the 82nd minute and Leon McKenzie in added time finished off an abysmal second half display from Northwood. |
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