Boreham Wood’s Under 18s survived a late scare to beat Hendon Under 18s 2-1 and progress into the next round of the cup.
It was a blistering start from the Wood, as Cheyce Grant put the home side ahead on 14 minutes, with a stunning long-range strike.
Daniel Creese (19) doubled the lead shortly after, but Hendon pulled one back in the 78th minute, through Ricardo Alexander-Gordon.
However, the home side were able to see out the remaining 12 minutes and sail to a well-deserved win.
The under 18s mirrored the first team’s 3-5-2 system, with Grant and Sam Walsh as wing-backs and a Creese / Theo Costa combo up top.
The Wood flexed their muscles from the off, as Archie Pepper raced past two defenders from the halfway line, he then cut inside and crossed for Iliman Ndiaye, but his effort was wide.
Creese went close shortly after; Grant danced past his marker and crossed for Creese, but his header was narrowly over.
Grant then stunned the crowd on 14 minutes, as he looked up and thumped an extraordinary 30-yard strike into the top right corner.
It was more of the same from the home side after the restart, as Creese flew past three men with power and pace, before slotting into the bottom left corner.
It should have been three, just minutes later; Ndiaye broke forward and flicked the ball above Purdue, but Dujan Panic was back to blast it off the line.
The visitors just couldn’t handle Creese, as he played keep-ball with the Hendon defence before laying off Walsh to drive narrowly wide.
Mathew Forkin was pulling the strings for Hendon, and forced an acrobatic save off Fred Burbidge from a corner.
Grant continued to impress as he curled an outstanding ball around the full-back and onto the feet of Creese, but his shot was blocked for a corner.
Hendon then attempted their own 30-yarder, but Forkin sent it both high and wide.
Grant had the ball in the back of the net again after meeting a through ball, but he was pulled back for offside.
Creese battled the ball off the last man and flicked it past him, but he drove his strike off the leg of the defender and out for a corner.
Hendon then pulled one back through Alexander-Gordon, who poked the ball past Burbidge following a goal line scramble.
Hendon began to push on and Burbidge was forced to pull off a smart save from George Raptis’ driven strike.
Grant went close twice more as they tried to increase the deficit, but slid both his efforts past the post.
Hendon countered and Malachy McGovern was free down the right, but his cross was met by Ionut Radu and pumped clear.
With just injury time remaining, the pressure was eased as Creese won a penalty for the Wood. He was one-on-one with the keeper, when his legs were taken out from beneath him. However, Dan Purdue dove to his left and saved Creese’s effort from the spot.
The Wood: Burbidge, Walsh, Grant, Wickham, Radu, Gibbs, Watson-Noel, Pepper, Costa (Akubude 60), Creese, Ndiaye
Subs not used: Challis, Agyemang, WInt, Dengo
Hendon: Purdue, Mupata (Constantinou), Nakatani-Brown, Panic (Askari-Bedako 78), Ansa-Effion, Alexander-Greenway, McGovern, Forkin, Henry (Jedvic 74), Murphy, Raptis
Subs not used: Tchuda-Costa, Harpin
Goals: Grant (14), Creese (19)
