Barnet 2 – 1 Boreham Wood
Monday 26th December 2022
The Hive, Vanarama National League
LATE HEARTACHE FOR WOOD
A late Ryan De Havilland winner for Barnet, consigned Boreham Wood to a heart-breaking defeat at their local rivals on Boxing Day.
After a disappointing performance and result at Southend United in midweek, Luke Garrard shuffled his pack, playing a 4-2-3-1 formation. Erico Souza made his first start since August, Bruno Andrade started for the first time since returning to the club and Josh Rees and Danny Newton also made the starting line-up. Dennon Lewis, Zak Brunt and Lee Ndlovu dropped to the bench with Tyrone Marsh out injured
First Half
Boreham Wood came out the blocks quickly. After three minutes an excellent pass from Jack Payne picked out Bruno Andrade whose shot was well saved by Laurie Walker in the Bees goal. A minute later another Andrade effort went just wide, after he was played in by George Broadbent. That was as good as it got for Boreham Wood in the first half as Barnet then started coming into the game, forcing a succession of corners. Barnet’s Ben Wynter had a header, straight at Nathan Ashmore before Josh Rees’s shot was blocked.
On twenty-six minutes, former Wood player Idris Kanu had a shot from fully twenty-five yards which sailed just wide of Ashmore’s goal. Eight minutes later the host will feel they should have taken the lead. Barnet cut open the Wood defence down the right-hand side and the ball was crossed in to Nicke Kabamba whose shot had Ashmore beaten but Cameron Coxe somehow cleared it off the line. As the first half was drawing to a close, Boreham Wood retreated into their own half with the hosts continuing to dominate possession but thankful, their pressure didn’t result in a goal.
Second Half
The hosts started the second half on the front foot and almost immediately Sam Beard went on a good run and shot wide of Ashmore’s goal on forty-seven minutes. A minute later, Jack Payne shot straight at Walker in the Bees goal. On fifty-five minutes, Barnet took a deserved lead when Kabamba finished well from close range. Luke Garrard reacted by making a double change with Lee Ndlovu and Dennon Lewis replacing Erico Sousa and Danny Newton and this change succeeded in increasing the intensity level.
On sixty-seven minutes, both sides were down to ten men when Bruno Andrade and Barnet’s goalscorer Kabamba both saw red from a seemingly innocuous off the ball incident. For a time, the sending offs seemed to help Boreham Wood more then their host as Kabamba had been an important focal point for the Bees. Wood then upped the tempo and managed to find an equaliser on eighty minutes when Jack Payne bundled home following a goalmouth scramble. With two minutes of normal time left, Lewis had a good chance to win the game but shot over when well placed. Following this near miss, Wood retreated into their own half as Barnet were dominant again. On the fourth minute of added time Femi Ilesamni saw read for a second bookable offence and from the resulting free kick, the ball was played to De Havilland who struck a delightful effort to give Barnet all three points.
It was a disappointing performance again from Luke Garrard’s men. Apart from the first period of the match and in the fifteen minutes after the double sending off, they really didn’t offer much. Boreham Wood have an opportune to put things right in the return fixture next week.
Boreham Wood: Ashmore, Coxe, Ilesamni, Fyfield, Evans, Broadbent, Rees, (Brunt 77), Payne, Andrade Newton (Ndlovu 59), Sousa (Lewis 59)
Subs not used: Williams, Gordon
Barnet: Walker, Collinge, Armstrong (Gorman 77), Okimo. Kabamba, Kanu (Powell 73), Pritchard, Wynter, Beard, Woods (Hall 85), De Havilland
Subs not used: Azaze, Shields
Man of the Match: Jack Payne
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