Northwood 1 Biggleswade Town 4

Saturday 27th September 2025

NORTHWOOD




1	Hafed Al-Droubi ©
2	Nasir Sharifi
3	Mack Miskin
4	Chama Torsiello (12m)
5	Bryan Mankumbani
6	Ademide Baruwa (73m)
7	Jordan Ellis (46m)
8	Carl Stewart
9	Dan Williams
10	Devonte Totesaut (73m)
11	Harry McKenna (62m)
Substitutes
12	Henry Atkinson (62m)
14	Freddie Ford (73m)
15	Dylan Kearney (73m)
16	Reece Price-Placid (12m)
17	Jack Smith (46m)

The Woods crashed to a heavy defeat at home to unbeaten Biggleswade Town who moved to the top of the table with this comfortable victory at the Skyline Roofing Stadium.

Northwood came into the game on the back of two wins inside the previous week, maintaining an unbeaten away record but home wins have been harder to come by and they were hit by selection issues for this tough challenge. Regular centre-back Jack Empson, chose to leave the club in the week to take up an offer from Biggleswade Town and then skipper Manny Folarin pulled out late due to a family emergency which left an inexperienced central partnership of Chama Torsiello, who only started his first game a week earlier, alongside recent signing Bryan Mankumbani who made his starting debut. Hicham Bouchareb and Osa Otote also ruled out with injury.

The Waders started strongly and had much of the early pressure but the Woods had a further setback after just 14 minutes when Torsiello pulled up with a hamstring strain and limped off. He was replaced by Reece Price-Placid while Mack Miskin moved into the centre of defence and the visitors took full advantage almost immediately.

Just two minutes after the change, a corner was swung in to the near-post from the left, two attempts at a clearance failed and the loose ball dropped kindly to Josh Steele who simply side-footed the ball into the roof of the net from six yards.

That advantage was doubled just three minutes later in similar fashion, another corner and this time it was Harrison Rookard who slotted home with the Woods struggling to cope with the visitor’s distinct height advantage.

PHOTOS by James Brown

Northwood did create their first opportunity a couple of minutes later when some good approach work involving Carl Stewart, Harry McKenna and Devonte Totesaut led to the latter exchanging passes with Dan Williams to try to get into a shooting position but the return was too heavy.

The difficult task facing the home side got worse on 34 minutes when Nasir Sharifi was adjudged to have used his upper arm to control the ball when defending under pressure from Lynton Goss and Rookard. Not a decision many agreed with but Damani Hunter confidently fired the resulting spot-kick left-footed into the bottom corner to make it 3-0 to the Waders.

Rather than throw in the towel at that stage, the Woods hit back five minutes later. Sharifi’s cross to the far post fell neatly to Ademide Baruwa and he touched it off to Price-Placid who hit a low shot in off the far post for his first Northwood goal.

Trailing 3-1 at the break, Northwood made a further change with joint manager Jack Smith replacing Jordan Ellis and slotting into central defence himself. It shored things up and the visitors were limited to just one early corner which saw a header fly wide of the target.

The home side had a couple of chances themselves with Carl Stewart shooting over and goalkeeper Luke Mewitt making a good save to deny McKenna but the Waders still looked dangerous and they notched a fourth on 62 minutes. Hafed Al-Droubi made a good save from his first effort but could only push it back to the Biggleswade skipper and he accurately hit the rebound inside the far post.

Henry Atkinson had replaced McKenna just before the goal and he did well on 68 minutes, getting forward down the right and hitting a left-footed shot that Mewitt claimed high above his head. Another youngster, Freddie Ford was introduced soon after and he was involved in a move that set up Williams for a shot from 20 yards but that flew over the bar and it was more likely that the Waders might add to the scoreline in the closing stages. Al-Droubi made a couple of fine saves to keep the score down and Hunter clipped the bar with a deep cross as the visitors continued to threaten.

A third successive home league defeat was the final result for a Woods side that never gave up battling in the face of adversity in this fixture but they will need to look to bounce back on Tuesday night when they go again at home to Marlow in another League fixture.

REPORT by Alan Evans



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