London Lions 1 Northwood 1

Saturday 7th March 2026

NORTHWOOD




1	Ryan Kelly
2	Solomon Alidor-Hamilton (59m)
3	Mack Miskin
4	Seb Robbemond
5	Gabe Cuthbert
6	Andrew Osei-Bonsu ©
7	Gabriel Ipanga (74m)
8	Richie Mbele
9	Ali Bangura
10	Revin Domi (79m)
11	Osa Otote (53m)
Substitutes
12	Kieron Lake-Bryan (59m)
14	Freddie Ford (79m)
15	Harry McKenna (74m)
16	Bryan Mankumbani
17	Claudio Nzang (53m)
	Lions: Nathan Bloohn, Benjamin Weinberger , Joshua Shack , Nathan Merris , Ben Bellman, Zak Jackson, Ben Barnett (Austin Lipman 71m), Zan Appleson-Fidler (Adam Burchell 83m), Max Davis (Joe Leslie 65m), Solomon Jacobs (Daniel Creese 85m), Max Daniel Kyte

The Woods finally picked up their first league point of 2026 with this draw at London Lions but there was a feeling afterwards that they probably should have picked up all three having dominated for long periods of the match, but they allowed the home side to end a run of three successive defeats.

After impressing in defeat against Beaconsfield Town in midweek, Tommy Cooney’s new-look side included three more new faces in midfielder Seb Robbemond, on dual-registration from Newark & Sherwood United and Claudio Nzang, loaned from Leyton Orient while there was a return to the club for Gabriel Ipanga who made a handful of appearances for the club last season.

It was the Woods who started much the better and there was only two minutes on the clock when the Lions defence failed to clear several times and eventually a good ball in from Ipanga was brought down by Alie Bangura but a block rebounded luckily to goalkeeper Nathan Bloohn.

A minute later, Osa Otote made inroad down the other flank and went for goal but his shot was comfortable for Bloohn to keep out, he also saved from Bangura again soon after and the home ‘keeper came to his sides rescue again on seven minutes as he blocked another effort when Otote raced into the box having won the ball on the halfway line.

It wasn’t totally one-way though as Woods goalkeeper Ryan Kelly was also called upon to keep out a good strike from Max Kyte just before that and on 18 minutes, he also had to push away a long-range effort from Max Davis.

Back came Northwood through Otote, cutting in from the left and setting up Revin Domi for a shot which took a deflection off a defender and looped up and over for a corner. Nothing came of that but almost immediately a great ball from Andrew Osei-Bonsu picked out the run of Bangura but Bloohn was out quickly to just avert the danger.

Despite that dominance, it was London Lions who grabbed the lead when Ben Barnett was given far too much space outside the area and he was able to arrow a shot inside Kelly’s left-hand post for a neat finish. It was still the Woods who dominated proceedings though. Domi wasn’t far wide of the near-post with a strike from the right-side of the penalty area and then Otote got success on the outside of his marker and cut the ball back invitingly but that was cleared.

Ipanga tried his luck from distance on 35 minutes but it flew over the bar and then more good work from Otote saw him set up Mack Miskin who swept the ball goalwards but it was again deflected over the top. Miskin swung in the resulting corner and it gave Sol Alidor-Hamilton with a free header at the back post but he steered it wide of the target.

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PHOTOS by James Brown

So, the Lions still found themselves a goal ahead at the break but the Woods finally got a breakthrough five minutes into the second half when Ipanga swung in a deep cross from the right and Bangura showed great positional sense to cushion a header back across goal and inside the first-half with Bloohn left a spectator.

Nzang replaced Otote three minutes later for his debut and then Domi went close once more with a shot that again showed the Lions were willing to defend well with another block that deflected wide. Alidor-Hamilton picked up a knock and had to be replaced by Kieron Lake-Bryan on the hour and the home side had a good effort on goal three minutes later when Ben Bellman saw his excellent header from a corner tipped over acrobatically by Kelly.

The Woods still pushed to try to get ahead in the game and after 70 minutes Bangura went close again when he robbed Barnett just outside the box and tried to curl an effort past Bloohn but the ‘keeper was equal to it diving and putting out a strong hand which pushed the shot wide.

Northwood rolled the dice with a couple more attacking substitutions, Harry McKenna and Freddie Ford replacing Ipanga and an injured Domi but it failed to produce any real chances in the final fifteen minutes. It was the Lions who almost grabbed the win after 87 minutes when they broke quickly down the right and a cross picked out Zak Jackson whose effort rose and came back off the crossbar before it was cleared. It would have been a real steal.

REPORT by Alan Evans



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