Chesham United v Boreham Wood - Boreham Wood Football Club Official Website

Boreham Wood won their second game in a row at the start of the season in the Vanarama National League South with a goal in each half from Lee Ndlovu before a late goal from Nathan Minhas made them sweat at the end.

Ross Jenkins made two changes from last Saturday’s victory against Bath City with Femi Ilesanmi coming in for Charles Clayden at left back whilst Johnny Goddard made his full Boreham Wood debut in midfield in place of Mo Sagaf.

Boreham Wood came out of the blocks flying and Ndlovu just failed to connect properly from a Johnny Goddard cross on two minutes. Just two minutes later, an Erico Sousa corner was headed goalwards by Tyrone Marsh who was denied by Ben Goode in the Chesham goal, but the rebound fell nicely to Lee Ndlovu who made no mistake from close range. After the goal, Boreham Wood continued to dominate, enjoying most of the possession, but their passing in the final third was often wasteful.

On twenty minutes, United’s Nathan Minhas was through on goal, but he was denied by an excellent tackle from Charlie O’Connell as he was about to pull the trigger. Six minutes later Minhas had another good chance, but he fired over. On twenty-nine minutes Erico Sousa went on an excellent run but couldn’t finish from a tight angle. Just a minute later, Ndlovu’s header crashed against the Chesham crossbar with keeper Goode beat. On thirty-seven minutes a Goddard cross was headed into the side netting by Sousa. Four minutes later, some excellent approach play from United ended with Nathan Ashmore producing an outstanding save to deny Mitchell Weiss from range, just as the ball looked like nestling into the corner.

HT: Chesham United 0-1 Boreham Wood

Boreham Wood doubled their lead just two minutes after the restart from an outstanding second goal from Ndlovu. He flicked the ball over two Chesham defenders before holding off a third and finishing well past Goode in the United goal. To their credit, the hosts didn’t lay down and the Buckinghamshire side were always in the game. Joe Grant fired just wide of Ashmore’s goal on the hour mark. The Wood stopper did well to deny Weiss with twelve minutes left on the clock. Tom Whelan could have put the game beyond doubt on eighty-three minutes, but Goode did well to make the save. The hosts got a deserved goal back following a goalmouth scramble in the first minute of stoppage time and then threatened to grab an equaliser, but referee Harrison Blair blew the final whistle and Wood were relieved to secure all three points.

It was a hard-fought win for Ross Jenkins’s men, but they were up against a determined newly promoted Chesham side who made it very difficult for them.