A stirring second half comeback earned the Woods three points from their travels for only the second time in 2017 and it was all the more enjoyable that it came in a local Middlesex derby fixture.

Manager Simon Lane was forced into two changes, with Marcus Rose returning to the centre of the defence in place of youngster Lewis Hobbs who was with Leicester City for a second week of trials, while Declan Nche made his starting debut in midfield with Wilson Chingoka unavailable to start.

Hanwell, after a poor start to their League campaign, had been in much better form recently and had been unbeaten for the past month and the match had the added spice of both Michael Buckley and Lewis Ochoa returning to their previous club. Hanwell meanwhile fielded the ex-Woods of Callum Wright and Georges Ehui as well as one-time Woods youngster Peter Dean, now 31, in midfield.

And the home side could have taken an early lead with less than two minutes on the clock as a long ball put Wright in on goal but as he switched it to his left foot it gave Brendan Hazlett the chance to narrow the angle and he saved a poor effort.

The Woods worked their way into the game fairly quickly too when good work from Tayshan Hayden-Smith saw him find Jermaine Osei with his cross. His shot was blocked, ran out to Nche and his crisp shot was comfortably taken by goalkeeper Xavi Comas. Hayden-Smith then went close himself, latching onto a good ball from Harry Newman and beating his marker but Comas just kept it out.

It was a very open game though and when Hanwell were awarded a free-kick just outside the area, Wright almost made amends for his earlier miss with a curling effort that Hazlett saved well low down and then recovered the loose ball. Then, on just 17 minutes, the home side got their noses in front. Rose, looking a little rusty after some time out, sliced an attempted clearance and it fell kindly to defender Calum Duffy who calmly stroked it past Hazlett for the opening goal.

The Woods responded well and could have been level after 24 minutes as another good ball from the industrious Hayden-Smith put Osei through on goal. He went past Comas and from a tight but not impossible angle he fired into the side-netting. Buckley had an effort which flew wide and then a half-cleared cross dropped to Evans Kouassi, whose powerful strike was well saved by the alert Comas, but it wasn’t all Northwood and Hanwell were almost presented with another goal but Ehui shot wide with the goal at his mercy.

After 34 minutes Wright had another effort well blocked by Hazlett at his near post while at the other end Nche and Newman combined to slip through another chance for Osei, but Comas was out quickly and just managed to smother it at the striker’s feet. There was a change at the interval for the Woods with right-back Isaac Olorunfemi brought on to replace Nche and Ochoa pushing up into a midfield role. It made a big difference as the Woods suddenly started to dominate the midfield area and they were quickly on the offensive.

A run and cut-back from Kouassi picked out Osei, who had two shots blocked by some solid defending but on 48 minutes Kouassi was put through on goal and his pace took him away from the defence before firing past the ‘keeper to level things up.

Hanwell were restricted to long-range efforts from Charlie Mitchell and Dean, while Kouassi continued to cause problems and saw another strike take a deflection but Comas gathered it safely. On the hour Newman did really well to battle past his marker and get into the box before poking a shot goalwards which Comas just kept out with an outstretched hand.

Two minutes later Osei picked up a ball out wide on the left and cut in across his marker before unleashing a great strike that was again equalled by Comas who acrobatically stretched to tip the ball wide of the post. From the resulting corner Buckley picked out Rose at the far post and he headed down but straight at the Hanwell goalie.

Northwood were really dominating and Kouassi was next to go close as he raced down the right and then fired a shot across the face of goal that flew just inches wide of the far post. Mahlondo Martin replaced a tiring Newman after 71 minutes and then another Kouassi run and cross into the danger zone was just cleared by Mitchell as danger lurked behind him.

Finally the pressure told on 74 minutes as another good ball put Kouassi through again. He should have squared to an unmarked Osei but instead chose to shoot and the Woods got a bit lucky as the ball cannoned off Comas and rolled kindly to the onrushing Martin, who finished clinically.

And the Woods wrapped up all three points after 82 minutes when Martin turned provider with a well-weighted through ball for Osei and the in-form striker rifled a superb finish that gave Comas no chance.