Pre-Season Review 2024

REVIEW by Alan Evans   PHOTOS by James Brown

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Once events of May came to light, leaving the Woods without a management team or a whole host of players, the pre-season schedule was never going to be easy but it was made more difficult when we heard from several clubs that they would now be playing Harrow Borough in those friendly fixtures rather than Northwood!

So full credit to both Southall and Harefield United who both quickly confirmed that they would still host the Woods during the warm-up fixtures. Colney Heath originally advised that they too were under pressure to play Harrow but eventually the Heathens Chairman confirmed our game at their place would still go ahead for which we were grateful. Oxhey Jets had switched to play Harrow but then offered to help us out by fitting in another game which was staged at their place on Tuesday night. It meant we needed new venues and opponents for at least two more games and thankfully we managed to source a pitch at Rectory Park to play Hilltop and then another at Everett Rovers for a rare Wednesday night fixture though we struggled to find opposition until Colney Heath agreed with us that there was nothing wrong with playing each other twice inside four days! That just left last Saturday’s date, always going to be here at the Skyline Roofing Stadium, to fill but because we were later in finding opponents, most clubs had already been fixed up. Again, we were pleased to eventually find a club that would be prepared to travel and it was a good test against Isthmian South-East side Burgess Hill Town.

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Southall 5 Northwood 1

Having only attended the first training sessions earlier that week, an opening pre-season game against Southall, at their home of Burnham FC, was never going to be easy. The Woods went with twenty players, only four of whom had played for the club previously, against a side fairly unchanged from the one that had reached the Step 4 play-offs last season. Importantly, everyone got some much-needed minutes on the pitch as the home side recorded a comfortable 5-1 victory. It was new striker Manu Oke-William that notched the Woods only goal.

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Northwood 2 Hilltop 1

There had been two further training sessions before we took on Step 5 side Hilltop at Rectory Park, headquarters of the Middlesex FA. There were 19 players involved this time but our opponents took an early lead. The Woods gradually settled and Jemale McKenzie headed home before half-time to level things up. A penalty gave us the opportunity to take the lead early in the second-half but that was saved and it took another header from Manu Oke-William to win the game eight minutes later.

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Northwood 1 Colney Heath 0

The Woods visited the new 3G pitch at Everett Rovers last season for the official opening and notched an 8-1 victory. In midweek, the Woods were the “home” side against Step 5 side Colney Heath who had actually beaten Northwood in pre-season a year earlier. This time our squad of nineteen began to look more like a team than on previous outings and notched a 1-0 victory thanks to a scrambled goal that was knocked in by Jordan Brown for his first of pre-season. Colney’s lively front-line were kept at bay by a good, solid defensive display led by Jemale McKenzie alongside the Woods newly appointed skipper, Harry Gallagher.

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Colney Heath 0 Northwood 2

So, I’m sure fairly unusually for a pre-season campaign, just four days later we visited Colney Heath for a quick return match against the same opposition. Finally, we got to play on grass too after a series of matches on 3G surfaces. One welcome return was in goal with former Woods ‘keeper Dan Hosier making his first appearance having been otherwise engaged watching England in the Euros in Germany over previous weeks. Players were still being looked at though as the management team gave a run out to twenty players during the afternoon including several for the first time. With that in mind, the whole squad did well yet again to keep another clean sheet against a useful side. This time the Woods recorded a 2-0 victory. A second penalty of pre-season was, this time, taken advantage of as Harry Gallagher fired it home early and there was a first goal from midfielder Prince Mbengui to wrap up the scoring as he netted from outside the box.

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Harefield United 0 Northwood 1

The following midweek took us to a nice local derby fixture away at Harefield United. Managed by former Woods legend Wayne Carter and his assistant Mark Hook, the Hares side included several former Northwood players in their starting line-up such as Jack Hutchinson, George Nicholas, Charlie Malin, Max Holland and Gareth Chendlik.
The Woods were without both McKenzie and Oke-Williams for the game so several other players got another chance to impress and there was a great start to the match when Harry Gallagher threaded a lovely ball through to Jordan Brown who showed great composure to take it past his marker and fire into the bottom corner for his second of pre-season. It ended up being a good first-half with both sides impressing but the second-half got a bit scrappy, though it was Northwood who held on to the narrow victory.

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Northwood 0 Burgess Hill Town 4

The Woods pitch was ready for action a week before the competitive season got underway, and the only friendly at The Skyline Roofing Stadium was played. It was our first encounter with another side from Step 4 since the very first pre-season game and with a more settled starting line-up, it was hoped that there would be a much more competitive performance to go with it.

Burgess Hill Town had finished in mid-table in the South-East Division of the Isthmian League last season, the division where Ramsgate and Cray Valley PM, the two sides who ended the Woods' interest in FA competitions, led the way at the top.

But the visitors looked really strong, very organised and fitter overall on the day, controlling the midfield area and taking full advantage of mistakes at the back during the first-half and punished us fully to take a 3-0 lead at half-time. We never really got a look in up front as they also defended solidly and, though we had more chances in the second-half, the Hillians added a fourth and ended up 4-0 winners on the day.

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Pre-Season Goalscorers: 2-Jordan Brown, Manu Oke-William. 1-Harry Gallagher, Price Mbengui, Jemale McKenzie.