Leighton Town 2 Northwood 0
Tuesday 24th March 2026
| NORTHWOOD | |||
 |
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| 1 | Dani Cruz (71m) | ||
| 2 | Mack Miskin | ||
| 3 | Bryan Mankumbani  |
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| 4 | Richie Mbele | ||
| 5 | Hamid Seisay | ||
| 6 | Andrew Osei-Bonsu © | ||
| 7 | Ali Bangura | ||
| 8 | Seth Patrick (104m) | ||
| 9 | Arel Amu | ||
| 10 | Hamza Miezou (55m) |
||
| 11 | Tahjae Anderson (84m) | ||
| Substitutes | |||
| 12 | Freddie Ford (71m) | ||
| 14 | Mohamed Ali (84m) | ||
| 15 | Mohammed Diaby (55m) | ||
| 16 | Nathan Tormey (104m) | ||
| 17 | Tommy Cooney | ||
Leighton: Dan Hosier, Kyal Williams (Jamie Breen 97m), Tolu Ikuyinminu, J'ardell Stirling (Daniel Tagoe 105m), Sam McClelland, Lewis Thorpe, Leo Farruch |
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With eight League matches to play and the Woods needing to win most of them to have any chance of avoiding the drop, a trip to play the league leaders Leighton Town would not have been the ideal piece of scheduling.
Dani Cruz returned in goal for his League debut while Hamza Miezou started for the first time but the Woods were missing young QPR defender Gabe Cuthbert who has switched to join Uxbridge for the remaining weeks of the season. The home side had their usual sprinkling of ex-Northwood players with Dan Hosier between the sticks, Kyal Williams at wing-back and Sydney Ibie and Godlove Oppong paired up front. They were all to play a huge role in the eventual win for Leighton.
It was a cold night with a strong wind behind the home side for the first-half and it was soon joined by plenty of rain too. Cruz made a comfortable early save from Leo Farrukh but could do nothing about the opening goal which came after 13 minutes as Williams got forward well to tuck home a BJ Christie cross from the left.
The conditions proved difficult for both sides and although Leighton had a lot of the ball throughout the first-half, they created little in front of goal. The only chance that Northwood managed to forge was when Tahjae Anderson had an effort blocked while Alie Bangura burst onto a ball into the box bit was given offside.
The rain had increased to monsoon levels at the start of the second-half, briefly making visible puddles on the pitch and the Woods did threaten early on as Bangura hit a shot that Hosier fumbled before recovering to gather the loose ball.
It was after 58 minutes that Cruz came out of goal to save at the feet of Ibie but was caught in the head in the collision that followed. A long injury break followed with the Woods goalkeeper concussed and then suffering with a neck injury before being carried off to wait for an ambulance.
Freddie Ford came on as a substitute with centre forward Arel Amu donning the gloves and he was quickly into the action, saving well with his feet from a shot from substitute Pap Jawara.
The Woods were still searching for an equaliser and a cross from Ford saw Seth Patrick swing a shot goalwards but it drifted wide and Leighton put the game to bed on 81 minutes when a long ball dropped kindly to Oppong. Amu hesitated and the home side’s top scorer swept it past him to double the lead.
There were 18 minutes of stoppage-time added but without much incident and it was Northwood who went closest to scoring as Mack Miskin brought a ball down on the edge of the box and chipped a shot but it was just over the bar.
There was good news the following morning as we heard that Dani Cruz had been discharged from Hospital after an overnight stay and plenty of tests, given the all-clear. The Club sends sincere thanks to everyone from Leighton for their help on the night, especially physio John Rutherford.
REPORT by Alan Evans
