Beaconsfield Town 4  Northwood 4

Monday 6th April 2026

 

NORTHWOOD
1	Dani Cruz
2	Andrew Osei-Bonsu ©
3	Mack Miskin (77m)
4	Tommy Cooney (46m)
5	Aidan Tarrant
6	Bryan Mankumbani
7	Alie Bangura
8	Seth Patrick
9	Arel Amu (67m)
10	Tahjae Anderson (67m)
11	Richie Mbele (88m)
Substitutes
12	Sakeel Balfour Brown (67m)
14	Hamza Miezou (54m)
15	Mohammed Diaby (77m)
16	Mohamed Ali (67m)
17	Freddie Ford (46m)
	Beaconsfield: Tommy Dymott, James Dobson, Mark Nisbet, Luke Neville, Jack Esiri (Jack Warne 82m), Manu Oke-William, Oliver Turner, Jamie Davies (Mirko Jovanovic 34m), Matthew Harriott, Tyler James Webb, Nnaemeka Anyanwu (Adam Colligan 80m)

A lovely sunny Easter Monday afternoon trip to Beaconsfield Town deserved a bigger crowd that was reported as less than a hundred but the match provided plenty of entertainment, despite the result also confirming relegation for the Woods after nearly twenty consecutive years of Step 4 football.

Dani Cruz returned in goal, Tommy Coooney his first start and there was a first-ever start for Woods Under 18 captain Aidan Tarrant in the centre of defence. The Woods made a brilliant start to this game, twice taking full advantage of some defensive mishaps. After just ten minutes, Luke Neville’s header back to the hesitant goalkeeper Tommy Dymott was short and Alie Bangura used his pace well to nip in and lob the ball into the empty net.

The second came on 23 minutes as Mack Miskin sent a neat ball through the middle for Arel Amu who got ahead of Neville to chip Dymott and double the lead.

There had been little threat from the home side as the half progressed, though a good strike from Ollie Turner flashed just over the top on 30 minutes but, as with the Welwyn game a week earlier, the Woods lost their way with half-time approaching. After 39 minutes, Turner turned provider with a ball through to Jack Esiri and he beat Cruz from the edge of the box.

Two minutes later Mark Nisbet missed a good opportunity when slicing a powerful shot wide of the goal but the Rams were level on 44 minutes as Manu Oke-William pounced on a deflection and saw his angled effort come back off the crossbar but it fell kindly to Nisbet who fired home to level the scores at the break.

Freddie Ford replaced Cooney at the break but after just two minutes, Beaconsfield were in front when a corner saw Neville stoop to deflect a header across goal and in at the far post.

Once behind, Northwood responded well with Tahjae Anderson trying his luck from distance but firing just over the bar and then Miskin put in a great cross to find Ford who connected well with a volley but Dymott kept it out with a diving save.

PHOTOS by James Brown

It looked game over on 65 minutes though when Oke-William stuck out a long leg to divert a cross past a stranded Cruz in goal and the Woods responded with further substitutions and began to threaten without creating any scoring opportunities.

There was only a minute to go when Bangura danced his way into the box from the right, rode one tackle but was then tripped by Rams skipper James Dobson. Penalty duties fell to the youngest player on the team but Freddie Ford made no mistake and at 4-3, suddenly the Woods looked full of running.

It was just a minute later that Andrew Osei-Bonsu saw the chance to slip Bangura into the box once more and he whipped in a dangerous cross that panicked the home defence. The ball rebounded back across the six-yard box off Sakeel Balfour Brown and Hamza Miezou flicked a shot over the line that the keeper couldn’t get across to.

It ended in a creditable draw for Northwood, their ninth in twenty away games this season and produced four different goalscorers in a game for the first time in exactly a year.

REPORT by Alan Evans