The BW PASE Academy enjoyed three further success stories over the weekend, as Alex Morgan, Daniel Creese and Jack Gibbs were all handed squad numbers, ahead of the game against Dunfermline Athletic.

The young trio joined fellow PASE Academy player Fred Burbidge on the bench for the Irn-Bru Cup tie against Dunfermline.

The prestigious fixture saw Boreham Wood become the first National League side to feature in the Irn-Bru Cup and the four players can proudly claim to be part of that history, having featured in the squad.

Wood boss Luke Garrard, who is also the manager the PASE Academy, asserted his view that they are fully deserving of their place in the squad.

Garrard said: “They quite rightly got their squad numbers and I made it apparent before my team talk, to give the three of them a round of applause.

“Obviously, Fred Burbidge has been in and around it for the last 18 months as well, so he is a little more accustomed to the squad.”

The four academy players were a major part of last season’s academy success, which included our Under 19s winning the prestigious ‘Champion of Champions’ again to become National Champions of England and Wales.

Skippered by Gibbs, our Under 18’s also earned themselves a League and Cup double.

Creese and Morgan were two of the club’s record-breaking five players selected to play for England Colleges last season.

The four of them will be hoping to follow in the footsteps of another academy graduate Sorba Thomas, who has featured eight times for the first team already this season. With the exciting young attacker having started in the Wood’s last four matches.

These young players are further proof of the amazing opportunities that lie within our nationally renowned PASE Academy.

Garrard continued: “I think that our structure breeds positivity. We are a club that has a massive youth academy and the work that Cameron Mawer and the coaches are doing has been fantastic.

“I think that the boys have earned their squad numbers and I am hopeful that they can keep knocking on the door.

“They train regularly with the first team, they are getting better as young men and I am hopeful that they can continue with that progress.

“Hopefully, you never know, we could have another Sorba Thomas on our hands.”

Both Gibbs and Morgan enjoyed a taste of first team action in the Herts Senior Cup last season, coming off the bench for the Wood.

Goalkeeper Burbidge also proved to be the hero in the Herts Senior Cup, helping the Wood to a penalty shootout win over Stevenage.

All four regularly train with the first team, alongside other players in the academy, and having earned their squad numbers, they will hope as the season progresses to force themselves further into Garrard’s thinking.

So, for all budding players out there, have you got the right attitude, discipline and desire to succeed within our acclaimed PASE Academy? If you have – then you could be the next young player to feature for the Boreham Wood first team, become an England colleges international, earn a Football Scholarship to the United States or simply improve yourself through our varied and bespoke football/education programmes…

The academy is currently holding open trials throughout September and this is your chance to join a truly magnificently structured sports education programme!