Northwood Res. 1  Leverstock Green Res. 1

Saturday 26th November 2011

Northwood Res.		Suburban League Cup Chestnut Ave, Northwood
Derek Lewis	1	Kick Off
Dominic Franklyn	2	3.00 p.m.
R Blaxall	3	H/T
Corey Ellis	4	0-1
Dwayne Cole-Parkes	5	Scorers
Lamin Cole	6	Northwood
Conor Crossan	7	Stephenson
A Bolagi	8
Myles Stephenson	9
Yassin Fehmi-Gil	10
Julian Smith	11
Callum Wright (7)	12
Michael Williams (4)	14
M Stafford	15
Max Easton	16
-	17

There were two Woods debutants in last Saturday’s 1-1 draw with Leverstock Green in the second round, first leg, of the Suburban League Cup, with the whole squad looking stronger all round compared to recent weeks. Keeper Derek Lewis came from the first team and his calling and kicking certainly had a positive effect on this young team.

The Woods took advantage of the strong wind to press Leverstock from the start, with Myles Stephenson and Yassin Fehmi-Gil threatening regularly. Shots from Julian Smith, Dwayne Cole-Parkes and Conor Crossan failed to find the net. Inevitably the away side scored first, after Lewis had punched out a corner to the edge of the box, but slow reactions from the home defence allowed the Green player a free shot from 10 yards; the goal coming in the 32nd minute. The remaining time was spent with Northwood continuing to press but to no avail and half time was still 0-1.

The first 15 minutes of the second half saw Leverstock, now with the wind behind them, create some good chances and a last-ditch block from skipper Corey Ellis resulted in a hamstring injury and eventually he was replaced by Michael Williams in the 65th minute. After this initial setback the two holding midfielders, Lamin Cole and Bolagi settled down and began to find the forward players with much more accuracy. This plus the introduction of Callum Wright up front for Crossan in the 75th minute saw the Woods create chance after chance, one of which Stephenson took with a very impressive finish in the 80th minute.

There was a let-off for the Woods when the battling Leverstock hit the bar from close range, the ball eventually being cleared. A last-gasp chance for the home side fell to Wright, but a rare poor contact in front of goal means it will be all square for the second leg. The debutants, Bolagi and Blaxall, should be very pleased with their contributions, as should Lamin Cole who improved throughout the game and crowned a great second half display with an audacious shot from fully 45 yards which required a wonderful save from the Leverstock keeper.