Northwood 2  Hanworth Villa 3

Tuesday 5th March 2024

 

NORTHWOOD
1	Andrew McCorkell
2	Stephan Langley
3	Deago Dunbar Bonnie (74m)
4	Harry McCorkell
5	Luke Tingey ©
6	Harry Gallagher
7	Harry McKenna (82m)
8	Teddy Stacey
9	Lucas Sinclair
10	Dan Williams
11	Kofi Anokye-Boad
Substitutes
12	Adam Laaref (74m)
14	Carl Stewart
15	Martin Flannery
16	Sam Jenkins (82m)
17	Archie James
	Hanworth: Terry Buss, Kyron Richards, Aston Nunn, Matthew Gbio , Ben Geraghty, George Wells , Theo Crawford, Gagendeep Samra, Kyen Nicholas, Sam Mead (Rayan Djouadj 75m), Sam Merson (Bruno Robertson-Tingle 76m)

Fellow Middlesex club Hanworth Villa are fast becoming the new bogey side for the Woods after this narrow defeat at the Skyline Roofing Stadium brings a fifth successive competitive win for their opponents inside the last two seasons.

Having had the weekend’s trip to Metropolitan Police postponed due to the wet weather, the Woods had been unable to build on their superb 6-0 win at Ashford Town a week earlier but manager Ben Bukowski still decided to name an unchanged starting line-up for the visit of Hanworth with the game going ahead in sticky but playable conditions. 

Neither side got to grips with that surface in the early stages with a shout for a penalty when Lucas Sinclair appeared to be dragged down by his marker on 13 minutes the only real action. Just a minute later, the visitors recorded the first effort on goal with Sam Mead’s strike straight at Andrew McCorkell who saved comfortably. Three minutes later a long-throw from Sam Merson was flicked on and McCorkell had to save from the resulting header.

So, it was from pretty much their first assault on the Hanworth goal that the Woods took the lead after 18 minutes. Dan Williams slipped the ball to Sinclair who shrugged off a defensive challenge to find Kofi Anokye-Boadi and the in-form attacker strode into the box and fired a left-footed strike inside the near post.

The Woods then won a free-kick in a dangerous position but when Villa goalkeeper Terry Buss collected it safely, he immediately pumped the ball forward. It bounced high from the halfway line and Kyen Nicholas got the wrong side of Harry McKenna and nudged him off the ball to be able to touch the ball forward. He took it past the covering Deago Dunbar-Bonnie and then had a simple task to fire past the oncoming McCorkell to level the score on 25 minutes.

PHOTOS by James Brown

Again, the play became scrappy with a chip from Merson that McCorkell took after an awkward bounce being the only action in front of goal.

Clearly, both sides would need to raise their game to have a chance of taking all three points and it was the Woods who had the first opportunity as a corner dropped in the six-yard box, was only half-cleared to Williams who then skied his shot well over the top.

Then it was the Villa’s turn. After 52 minutes Aston Nunn did well down the right and sent over a cross which was just beyond Nicholas at the far post, then Nicholas showed good physical strength again around the edge of the box but fired well wide of the target.

After 62 minutes that pressure paid off with a goal. Nicholas was involved again, bringing the ball down and then just knocking it off to Mead who played a neat flick through for Kyron Richards who was lurking unmarked and he beat McCorkell at his near-post.

It was only five minutes later when the Woods defence was breached again fat too easily again with a quick one-two between Gagendeep Samra and Merson seeing the former race down the right and his cross picked out an unmarked Nicholas who headed home his second of the night.

A comeback seemed unlikely at that stage but just three minutes later, Villa skipper George Wells, who had only just been booked for a mild dissent, then tripped Sinclair on the edge of the box to pick up a second yellow and Hanworth had twenty minutes to play with ten men. The free-kick was Harry Gallagher’s fourth attempt to find something magical and although he struck this one well, it was wide of the target.

As the visitors inevitably played the time-wasting game, both sides made substitutions with Adam Laaref introduced for Dunbar-Bonnie and Sam Jenkins for McKenna. After 82 minutes Gallagher headed cross wide of the post and the Woods were struggling to make any real impact.

However, on 86 minutes, Teddy Stacey slipped a ball through for Laaref who had made space well to chase it into the box. He cut the ball back into a good area for Sinclair to swivel and fire into the rood of the Villa net and suddenly there was a chance.

Sadly, despite the five additional minutes played, Hanworth remained pretty solid at the back and limited the Woods to just one chance as Jenkins found some space for a low shot from just outside the box but Buss was down to collect it safely and it was enough to secure the three points.

REPORT by Alan Evans