ANOTHER DRAW FOR THE WOOD
Aldershot Town 3-3 Boreham Wood
Saturday 20th March 2021, 3.00pm
The EBB Stadium, Vanarama National League
An uncharacteristic mistake from Nathan Ashmore means Boreham Wood come away from Hampshire with their seventh draw in their last eight matches in the Vanarama National League.
Wood were unchanged for the third match running having played well in their previous two matches against promotion chacers Torquay United and Notts County. The visitors started the match on the front foot but it was the Shots who had the first real chance after ten minutes when Josh Rees’s goal bound effort was cleared of the line by Gus Mafuta.
On thirteen minutes, Boreham Wood took the lead with an excellent pass from Tyrone Marsh which found Kane Smith and his exquisite first touch enabled him to play the ball into the Shots area where Giles Phillips diverted the ball into his on net beyond keeper Ryan Hall.
Shots forward Ricky Miller rolled back the years by producing a fantastic chip over Nathan Ashmore but fortunately for Wood, it hit the crossbar. Wood were the dominant team for the rest of the first period but were kept in check by some excellent Aldershot defending and more chances were at a premium. Mafuta had a half chance but his effort went wide. Phillips went on a good run for the Shots but Jamal Fyfield got in the way, just as he was about to pull the trigger.
The game exploded after the break. In the first few minutes of the half, Miller went close for the hosts as did Marsh for Wood. Aldershot equalised on fifty-four minutes when Toby Edser scored. Boreham Wood didn’t take this lying down and Corey Whitely restored their lead three minutes later with a fantastic run and shot that gave Ryan Hall no chance at all. Three minutes later Kabs Tshimanga was fouled in the area by keeper Hall and the referee had no hesitation in awarding a penalty. Tshimanga despatched his penalty with aplomb to make it 3-1.
As we know, a two goal lead doesn’t guarantee anything and Josh Rees struck a fantastic volley beyond Nathan Ashmore to halve Wood’s lead on sixty-four minutes. The visitors looked like they’d restored the two goal advantage when Tshimanga put the ball in the net following a Corey Whitely corner but the referee ruled it out for a foul on the goalkeeper much to the confusion of the commentators on the Aldershot Town streaming who assumed the goal had been given therefore giving false hope to watching Boreham Wood supporters!!
On seventy-eight minutes Aldershot equalised when Edser’s cross was nodded back across goal by Mohamed Bettamer to Josh Rees and with Nathan Ashmore already committed, the Shots captain had the easy task of putting the ball into an empty net for his second goal of the match and their equaliser. Unfortunately Boreham Wood, shellshocked by the turnaround, didn’t really look like retaking their lead afterwards. If anything, the home side had the better of the final period of the match. Aside from the fact that Boreham Wood had a two goal lead, a draw was the right result on the balance of play.
A disappointed Luke Garrard said afterwards, “This sums up our season. The manner in which we’re conceding goals is very poor. There is so much frustration. I have to look at how we are letting the goals in. I can’t question the attitude of the players though. It’ll be nice to have a break before our next fixture against Sutton.”
Aldershot Town: Hall, Lyons-Foster, Rees, Panayiotou (Kandi 79), Whittingham, Nouble, Anderson, Edser, Phillips, Colombie (Ogie 90), Miller (Bettamer 57).
Subs not used: Sendles-White, Rowe.
Boreham Wood: Ashmore, Smith, Fyfield, Pearce, Ilesamni, Whitely, Ricketts, Mafuta, Murtagh (Francis-Angol 85), Tshimanga, Marsh (Rhead 77).
Subs not used: Huddart, Woodards, Mingoia.
Man of the Match: Kane Smith.
Match report written by Brett Lewis (Non-League Paper & Wood Army member).
