North Greenford Res. 2  Northwood Res. 2

Tuesday 27th September 2011

Northwood Res.		Suburban League Berkeley Fields, Greenford
Derek Lewis	1	Kick Off
Scott Raper	2	7.45 p.m.
Ryan Phillips	3	H/T
Liam Fowler	4	1-0
Doug Fitzgerald	5	Scorers
Andrew Mensah	6	Northwood
Gary Meakin	7	Alexander, Hutchinson
Jack Hutchinson	8
Kurt Morlese	9
Ben Alexander	10
Ronayne Marsh-Brown	11
Lee Grant (3, 61m)	12
-	14
Bradley Ambrose (11, 64m)	15
Sam Sharples (6, 46m)	16
-	17

Both sides took the opportunity to give a run out to a few first-team squad players in this high-quality Suburban League game at Berkeley Fields on Tuesday night. Scott Raper played again as he looks to regain fitness having missed the last six weeks with injury while Ben Alexander also took the opportunity to play a full ninety minutes on his comeback. The only player to appear having started at Chertsey Town on Saturday was recent signing Ronayne Marsh-Brown, who played the first hour.

The Woods made a bright start, with Andrew Mensah playing a good ball into first-team manager Gary Meakin, who hit a good shot which was deflected over the bar for a corner and then a swift move involving Jack Hutchinson and Meakin led to a first-time shot on the turn from Kurt Morlese which also flashed over.

After nine minutes, the home side showed that they were more than capable of getting forward as Derek Lewis was forced into the first save of the match, getting down low to keep out an accurate drive from the right-back. But it was Northwood doing most of the attacking and one well-worked saw Alexander combine with Meakin and then onto Hutchinson for the youngster to cut the ball back but Meakin’s skied his shot at goal.

After 21 minutes Meakin played in a good cross which picked out Raper coming in strongly, but he planted his header straight at the keeper before Morlese saw his good strike kept out at the near post by the home custodian. When the Blues tried to battle back, the Woods defence looked strong with Doug Fitzgerald looking solid and Liam Fowler helping out alongside him though a poor back-pass by the latter saw Lewis have to spread himself well to block a shot. The Woods countered immediately with a sweeping move and when Morlese’s effort was pushed out by the keeper, Alexander was there to knock in the loose ball.

The only chance given to the home side in the closing stages of the first-half was self-inflicted as Marsh-Brown sliced an attempted clearance and Lewis had to adjust quickly to keep the ball out. Sam Sharples, another on his way back from injury, replaced Andrew Mensah, who had picked up an injury himself, at half-time. Again the Woods made a good start. Hutchinson was becoming more influential in midfield and won a good tackle before firing a shot just wide and then Morlese had a goalbound shot blocked after good work from Raper.

After 55 minutes Ryan Phillips knocked a ball in that fell kindly to Hutchinson but his clever chip finished the wrong side of the post as the Woods continued to miss chances and they paid for that three minutes later when a long-range striker from Anthony O’Connor surprisingly beat Lewis just inside the post. North Greenford were only level for a matter of seconds as the Woods regained the lead from the kick-off. Marsh-Brown played the ball inside to Hutchinson who found space to let fly from 25 yards and the ball sailed into the top corner.

The home keeper then kept his side in the game with a fine save to deny Alexander and he picked up a knock for his troubles as he collided with Raper going for the loose ball. After a delay, he was patched up and ready to go, but Morlese should at least have tested him after a great turn in the box but he sliced his shot well wide from six yards. It was after 81 minutes that the Woods defence fell asleep to allow Alex Paine to steal in and head home unmarked – Meakin’s man apparently!!  and the Blues were level again.

Free-kicks provided Northwood’s best chances of taking the lead once again, but Alexander curled the first wide, Meakin did the same with the next and then Raper put a header wide when Meakin floated the next one in. It was the home side who almost snatched it during stoppage-time, putting two efforts over the bar, the final one being blasted high by first-team striker Ricky Pither. In the end, both sides were happy with a draw but both Sharples and Hutchinson took knocks towards the end of the day which was not such good news.

Report: ALAN EVANS