Boreham Wood 1-0 Welling Utd
Mangata Pay UK Stadium, Meadow Park
14th October 3.00pm, Emirates FA Cup 4th Qualifying Round
It wasn’t pretty, but a late Tyrone Marsh free kick was enough to secure victory against a well organised Welling United team and a place in the FA Cup First Round for Boreham Wood for the ninth time in eleven seasons.
Luke Garrard made two changes from last Saturday’s defeat against Chesterfield with Jamal Fyfield coming in for Billy Sass-Davies at the back and Angelo Balanta replacing Tom Whelan in midfield.
It was a bright opening for the visitors when Anthony Papdopoulos’s shot was deflected wide in the first minute. Boreham Wood then started to dominate possession and forced a succession of corners. It took seventeen minutes for Wood to register their first shot when an excellent nod down from Tyrone Marsh played in Lee Ndlovu who fired over. Two minutes later Tristian Abrahams shot just wide for the Wings as the Wood defence switched off. Erico Sousa went close for Boreham Wood on twenty-five minutes but shots straight at goalie Ben Winterbottom after he cut in from the left.
Seven minutes later, some good interplay between Marsh and Sousa, ended with Marsh firing just over the crossbar. Three minutes later, there was another excellent move involving Marsh and Angelo Balanta, but this time Winterbottom saved well from Marsh. Unfortunately, the Wings keeper got injured in the process and after some lengthy treatment, he had to be replaced. Just before the break, Balanta headed just wide following a Cameron Coxe cross.
HALF TIME: BOREHAM WOOD 0-0 WELLING UNITED
Buoyed on by their vocal support, the visitors came out on the front foot and very quickly, Jack Burchell struck the Wood post with Nathan Ashmore well beaten. On fifty minutes, Cameron Green crossed the ball to Dominic Odusanya who just failed to get on the end of it. Two minutes later, Ndlovu forced a good save from Wings sub keeper Javarn Pitterson. On fifty-six minutes Cameron Green fired just over following a good run. Balanta then forced another good save by Pitterson in the Welling goal.
Balanta had a good chance for Wood on sixty-six minutes, but his effort was deflected wide. For the next period of the match, the visitors controlled a lot of possession but couldn’t break Boreham Wood down. On eight-four minutes, substitute Timmy Abraham went close for Wood. Two minutes later, the match was settled when Marsh’s struck a brilliant freekick into the top corner giving Welling keeper Pitterson no chance. The visitors weren’t finished yet and exerted a lot of pressure on the Wood goal. Kain Adom fired over from a tight angle much to the relief of the Boreham Wood side.
It was a welcome victory for Luke Garrard’s men in a match where they were up against it for long periods. Apart from the quality of Marsh’s freekick, you wouldn’t have known these two sides were in different divisions. The main thing is, Boreham Wood go into the hat for the First-Round draw tomorrow afternoon
FULL TIME: BOREHAM WOOD 1-0 WELLING UNITED
By Brett Lewis
Boreham Wood: Ashmore, Coxe, Sousa (Stephens 86), Ilesamni, Bush, Fyfield, Payne, Robinson, Balanta (Abraham 73), Marsh, Ndlovu
Subs not used: Abayomi, Whelan, Griffiths, Sass-Davies
Welling United: Winterbottom (Pitterson 40), Lema, Green, Odusanya, White (Adom 29), Papdopoulos, Kassarate, Burchell, Tanga, Abraham, Byrd
Subs not used: Curran, MacAllister, Pitterson, Bayford, Kamara, Muwonge
Man of the match: Matt Robinson
OUR CLUB. OUR TOWN. OUR COMMUNITY.
