Rayners Lane 2 Northwood 0
Tuesday 5th November 2024
| NORTHWOOD | |||
 |
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| 1 | Hafad Al Droubi | ||
| 2 | Junior Paiva (46m) | ||
| 3 | Kelechi Etienne | ||
| 4 | Jack Empson  |
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| 5 | Balu Makumbi | ||
| 6 | Bayan Aman (71m) | ||
| 7 | Archie James © | ||
| 8 | Troy Perez-Duah |
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| 9 | Alex Cathline (46m) | ||
| 10 | Godlove Oppong (56m) | ||
| 11 | Ibrahim Lukulay | ||
| Substitutes | |||
| 12 | Jeremy Stewart (46m) | ||
| 14 | Harry McKenna (56m) | ||
| 15 | Jack Smith (71m) | ||
| 16 | Sam Odusoga | ||
| 17 | Samuel Folarin (46m) | ||
The Woods were unable to follow-up their excellent win at Ware at the weekend and bowed out of the Middlesex Senior Cup, beaten by a more clinical Rayners Lane side who started their defence of the trophy they won for the first time at the end of last season with a solid performance.
There were just a couple of changes to the Northwood starting line-up with Godlove Oppong starting in place of Harry McKenna while Jack Smith was rested and new signing Bayan Aman, a young St. Lucian international who arrived from Hendon on dual-registration, made his debut in the centre of the midfield.
The home side, who had been making a whole host of squad changes over the past few weeks, also made just a couple of changes to their side that had notched an impressive 1-0 win at Hanworth Villa on Saturday.
It was the Lane who settled quickest and Hafed Al-Droubi was soon in action between the sticks for the Woods when he saved from Cyril Ocansey on seven minutes. Six minutes later Rayners Lane should have been ahead as Rio Connell got in behind the defence but he chipped his shot weakly straight to the Northwood keeper.
The visitors were struggling to make much impact in the final third as a midfield battled ensued and it was the Lane who created the next opportunity too. The dangerous Frank Keita burst into the box but as he was about to pull the trigger, Woods defender Balu Makumbi got across with an excellent block to deny him. A goal appeared to be coming though and, on the half-hour, Alex Cathline failed to clear for a second time after a corner and Keita pounced to fire into the roof of the net and put his side in front.
The Woods had failed to break through the Lane defence and made two immediate changes at the break in an attempt to turn things around. Off went Junior Paiva and Alex Cathline who were replaced by Jeremy Stewart and Samuel Folarin.
Five minutes into the second-half, Northwood recorded their first real effort on goal as Ibrahim Lukulay laid a ball off to Kelechi Etienne who attempted to stage a revival of Saturday’s goal with a low strike towards the far corner but this time goalkeeper Endurance Johnson was equal to it.
Northwood were looking brighter as Harry McKenna replaced Oppong and Troy Perez-Duah knocked in a good delivery from the left which saw Jack Empson closing in for a header before Johnson plucked it to safety. Four minutes later the Woods could have been level with Lukulay played Folarin in but it needed a first-time finish and the youngster delayed before twisting, turning and then hitting a shot that Johnson saved comfortably.
Having made those inroads towards an equaliser, Rayners Lane then took full advantage of some sloppy work at the back which allowed Keita to steer home a shot on 63 minutes that doubled their lead and took the prolific strikers tally to fourteen for the season.
Jack Smith was introduced for Aman who had been tidy without making much impact on debut, and he almost immediately pulled one back with a shot from distance which dropped only just over the bar. Four minutes later the substitute had another effort which this time was wide of the target.
At the other end, Keita went close to a hat-trick when he managed to get a touch past Al Droubi but Empson cleared off the line and after that let-off, Northwood did have the ball in the net after 85 minutes as Folarin converted a Lukulay cross but an offside flag brought an end to the young striker’s celebrations.
The end-to-end finish to the game continued as Al Droubi made a fine save to deny substitute Shermadin Artmeladze and then Perez-Duah should have scored as he did well to make space for a shot in the box, only to shoot straight at Johnson who saved well.
There were five additional minutes and after two of them, a cross from Etienne was touched on by Lukulay and Folarin attempted what could have been a clever back-heel but he didn’t get the power on it to beat Johnson who maintained his clean sheet.
And in the final minute of the game Empson picked up a second yellow card for an attempted challenge on a Lane attacker as the home side broke quickly. The final whistle followed seconds later and the Woods were out of the Senior Cup.
REPORT by Alan Evans
