Harrow Borough 4 Northwood 4
Tuesday 8th September 2020
| NORTHWOOD | |||
 |
|||
| 1 | Hafed Al-Droubi | ||
| 2 | Luke Jones | ||
| 3 | Charlie Kuehn | ||
| 4 | Haluna Masembe | ||
| 5 | Dave Thomas | ||
| 6 | Diogo Da Silva | ||
| 7 | Amin Belaid | ||
| 8 | Ray Borges De Oliveira | ||
| 9 | Aaron Morgan | ||
| 10 | A Trialist | ||
| 11 | Radu Stefanoaica | ||
| Substitutes | |||
| 12 | Devonte Totesaut | ||
| 14 | A Trialist | ||
| 15 | A Trialist | ||
| 16 | A Trialist | ||
Northwood made the short trip to take on Southern Premier outfit Harrow Borough as they completed their pre-season programme in an entertaining affair at Earlsmead.
Woods welcomed back skipper Dave Thomas and Luke Jones to a defence missing the services of Jaden Sharman while Aaron Morgan returned to take on the central striker’s role.
Northwood were quickly into their stride and they opened the scoring on seven minutes through Amin Belaid who began the move with a delightful Crossfield pass to Jones before receiving the return and slotting the ball past Boro keeper Matthew Hall.
Belaid went close to adding a second as he latched onto Charlie Kuehn’s ball down the left flank before cutting in and testing Hall with a near post shot. And Woods maintained their momentum as Diogo Da Silva saw effort deflected wide after a well worked short corner.
However, Woods shot themselves in the foot as they conceded a soft equaliser on the 20 minute mark, goalkeeper Hafed Al Droubi playing the ball out to Ray Bourges De Oliveira who rolled it back to Thomas and his attempted clearance ricocheted off Kensley Maloney and into the net.
Boro were playing with increasing fluency and they took the lead on 28 minutes as George Thomas swept the ball home after good work from Liam Ferdinand before the former completed his brace on 35 minutes as he applied the finish to an incisive move.
But Northwood got back into the contest two minutes before the break as Jones caught Hall out with a low strike from fully 30 yards which nestled inside the post.
Woods introduced two new signings for the start of the second half as Richard Ward and Calvin Dixon replaced Radu Stefanoaica and a trialist and both were to have an impact in an eventful second-half. And Ward went close to opening his account as he was set free by a delightful reverse pass from Morgan but the substitute was unable to keep his shot down.
Ward went close again as he was picked out by Jones’ far post cross but his shot was turned around the post by Hall.
Harrow remained a threat and they looked to increase their lead but they found their former keeper El Droubi in fine form as he produced a couple of smart saves to deny Ant O’Connor.
At the other end, the two new boys combined well for Northwood as Dixon’s cross found Ward who was slightly off balance as he shot over. But the duo combined to good effect moments later as Dixon flicked Da Silva’s short pass into the path of Ward who delivered an emphatic to draw Woods level on 78 minutes.
Northwood were immediately back on the attack and Ward struck again as he rolled the ball beyond Hall after being set up by Amin to put the visitors back in front on 80 minutes.
The hosts went looking for an equaliser and Northwood had to play the remaining minutes a man short after Da Silva succumbed to injury and all the substitutions having been made. And despite further heroics from Al Droubi, the Woods stopper was unable to prevent Sam Gubbins from scrambling home the equaliser for Boro with the last kick of the game to round off a topsy-turvy evening at Earlsmead.
REPORT by Robin Piper
PHOTOS by James Brown
