Finishing The Sole Reason For Defeat!
F A Cup 4th Qualifying Round.
Woking 2 Boreham Wood 1,
by John Mead.
Nobody inside the ground would have denied that Wood’s performance deserved at least a replay against the Vanarama Conference Premier high flyers.
A disappointed Ian Allinson was quick to point out, “ We have now lost four games 2-1 this season away from home and in all of them we have created enough chances to have comfortably run out winners. I felt there was little to choose between the two sides overall except the standard of finishing. That we created the more clear cut chances shows how good their two goals were.”
That takes nothing away from a fine performance in what was a highly entertaining cup tie. An early chance fell to Graeme Montgomery who failed to hit the target when left unmarked wide on the left. The Cards then looked comfortable in possession and began dominating the early stages.
However Wood’s attacking prowess and speed on the break led to the best chance of the game after 12 minutes. Junior Morias slipped a fine pass forward plating Lee Angol through on the left. His resultant shot was straight at Jake Cole in The Cards goal.
Kevin Betsy then forced a fingertip save from James Russell at the other end as his cross cum shot drifted dangerously under the crossbar. Wood were forced to soak up a lot of pressure from a side that were showing some real quality.
Another chance fell to Angol when Luke Garrard delivered a superbly weighted ball down the right, with the pacy striker holding off an opponent before shooting across goal and just wide of the post.
Then a minute later Angol went through on goal again with Morias the provider. This time he tumbled to the floor under the challenge of Jake Newton right on the edge of the area, with referee Mr Amey waving play on.
Wood were now really giving Garry Hill’s side something to think about. A sixty yard pass from Callum Reynolds was perfect for Matthew Whichelow on the right wing. He drove into the area and laid into the path of Angol who shot over when well placed.
John Goddard was then played in to test Russell from just ten yards out, with the Wood keeper doing well to hold onto the effort. Russell then saved with his feet to deny Betsy as the home side continued to threaten, before a fine tackle by Jordan Brown denied leading scorer Scott Rendell, who was kept relatively quiet by the Wood defence all afternoon.
Wood spurned another opportunity after the break when two defenders failed to deal with a Garrard ball forward. Morias seized possession but his first touch let him down and Cole was quickly out to atone.
Goddard then hit one from the edge of the area that drew a theatrical flying save from Russell that led to four successive corners. The defence did well but could do nothing to prevent Guiseppe Sole scoring his 100th goal for his club after 56 minutes. Newton accelerated down the right wing getting beyond the defence to deliver the perfect cross for Sole to nod home.
To their immense credit Wood’s response was immediate. Just sixty seconds later Angol ran across goal feeding Montgomery on the left. His low cross was forced home at the far post by Ricky Shakes and Wood were level.
Back came the hosts with Garrard forced to do some last ditch defending before they regained the lead four minutes after conceding. It was all about pace and crosses into danger again. This time Chris Arthur powered down the left flank before delivering for Sole who stole in to guide his shot beyond Russell.
Sole was denied a hat trick from a free kick by a brilliant tip over from Russell before Allinson went for broke. With thirteen minutes remaining he introduced David Moli and Scott Thomas going to a 4-3-3 formation. It was Wood who looked the likelier to score thereafter and with two minutes remaining and the home side reduced to defending their lead it looked as though they had achieved their goal. Sam Cox threw in from the right with the ball flicked on to Morias. He sent a header to the left hand post where Moli got the touch that beat Cole, only for the assistant linesman to rule out the goal for offside.
Wood battled until the final whistle but will not be featuring in Mondays televised draw. In summary Ian Allinson was , “Immensely proud of our performance. I felt the referee could have offered a little more protection to some of our players, but we had a real go today. If there is to be any criticism it was that we sat back immediately after scoring and that led to conceding a second goal inside ten minutes. We turn out attention back to the League now, where today has shown me we do not have to fear anybody. The Chairman has backed me to assemble a fine squad and we are set up to have a real go at it this year!”
Team: Russell, Garrard, Brown, Cox, Hill, Reynolds, Whichelow ( Thomas 77), Shakes, Angol, Morias, Montgomery ( Moli 77).
Subs not used: Noto, Lipman, Courtnage, Johnson, Morgan.
Bookings: Morias, Hill.
Goals: Woking: Sole 56,61.
Boreham Wood: Shakes 57.
Man Of the Match as voted by the fans: Ricky Shakes
