Northwood 6 Biggleswade 0
Saturday 5th April 2025
| NORTHWOOD | |||
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| 1 | Dan Hosier | ||
| 2 | Jack Empson | ||
| 3 | Jayden Ashbourne | ||
| 4 | Manny Folarin | ||
| 5 | Jordan Ajanlekoko | ||
| 6 | Stefan Powell (84m) | ||
| 7 | Rio Connell (84m) | ||
| 8 | Troy Perez-Duah | ||
| 9 | Sam Folarin | ||
| 10 | Jon-Jo Bates (74m) | ||
| 11 | Bradley Clayton | ||
| Substitutes | |||
| 12 | Denis Nortey (74m) | ||
| 14 | Jack Smith | ||
| 15 | Jamie Dwyer (84m) | ||
| 16 | Josh Williams | ||
| 17 | Alex Cathline (84m) | ||
Northwood produced an astonishing first-half display to blow away mid-table Biggleswade and secure three more valuable points in their battle to beat the drop and also notching their best home win since September 2016, on a sunny afternoon at the Skyline Roofing Stadium.
Stefan Powell returned to the centre of the Woods midfield; Jack Empson was back at right-back while Jon-Jo Bates started his first game since joining Jack Smith in their joint management roles just under two weeks ago.
The visitors added to the sun
shine by wearing a kit of bright “hi-viz” safety yellow shirts and they made a bright start to the game in the opening ten minutes with a couple of good balls into the box and Ethan Kessel going close.
But on 11 minutes, the Woods got themselves into the lead as Bradley Clayton did well to get past a couple of markers and find Bates in the box who shot across debut goalkeeper Sam Watkiss and into the far corner. It was the first time in over twelve years that the Woodsattacking midfielder had netted forthe Woods in a previous spell at the club.
Biggleswade looked for a way back with Dan Hosier doing well to cut out a dangerous cross from Sonny Coughlin-Brown before former Woods midfielder Charlie Hayford picked out Lawrie Marsh with a free-kick but his header came to nothing.
The Woods were looking much sharper on the break though and the they doubled their lead after 29 minutes when a corner was played short to Troy Perez-Duah in space on the edge of the area and he took a touch away from the closing defenders before squeezing a shot in at the near-post. And just a minute later a long-ball played forward from defence gave Sam Folarin a chance to run through and he took a good touch before slotting past Watkiss to make it 3-0.
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PHOTOS by James Brown
The visitors had Kessel booked for diving in the penalty-area on a rare attack while Bradley Clayton swung in a left-footed curling free-kick which Watkiss just managed to tip over the bar to deny him. The fourth goal wasn’t far away though and Biggleswade hadn’t learned from earlier as Perez-Duah turned provider, playing a corner to the corner of the area and this time it was Rio Connell who was in space and let fly with a shot that saw him net his first for the club.
The Northwood defence still had to be strong to repel the visitors attempts to get back into the game before half-time and then, in the final minute before the break, Sam Folarin drove into the box and squared to Bates who did a clever drag-back and then knocked in his second of the game to give the Woods an incredible 5-0 lead.
It was no surprise that Biggleswade rang the changes at half-time, a double substitution and a reshuffle of the side and they went close early on when a ball from substitute Jared Lines almost picked out Coughlin-Brown. The visitors then rolled the dice further with a triple substitution on 64 minutes.
A minute later, Connell went close for the Woods, cutting in from the right and firing a shot that was only just over the top and after 71 minutes, Northwood went further ahead. He received the ball on the left and some clever footwork saw him create enough to blast a shot across the keeper and inside the far post.
It pretty much killed off any further resistance from the visitors. Bates made well to great applause from the Woods faithful as Denis Nortey replaced him for his Woods debut and he caused a few problems for the beleaguered FC defence and after a further change, substitute Alex Cathline set up Clayton for a cracking strike that crashed back off the crossbar.
In the final minute of normal time, Sam Folarin battled into the box once again and when the ball bounced up, he seemed likely to complete his hat-trick but this time Watkiss was equal to it, pushing his header wide of the post.
With Leverstock Green, as expected, picking up a further three points with a victory over relegated North Leigh, it means that the Woods remain in the bottom three but they now look to their midweek home game against play-off possibles Thame United, their game in hand to their rivals, with renewed confidence.
While the 6-0 victory was the Woods biggest win at home since a similar 6-0 result against Histon back in 2016, it was the first time they had scored five goals in the first half since beating Chertsey Town 8-3 in October 2013. However, at half-time on that occasion, it was 5-1 and the last time that Northwood had led by five goals at the break was way back in April 1992 when, on the way to a league record 12-1 success over Beckton United, they were 7-0 to the good at the break!
REPORT by Alan Evans
