Blue Square Bet South
Boreham Wood 0 Truro City 0
by John Mead
Truro City earned their first point on the road since going into administration. Arriving in Hertfordshire with just twelve players to choose from, they took full advantage of Wood’s inability to convert a van load of chances. Were it not for James Russell’s superb save to deny Marcus Martin from the penalty spot, the visitors may have been celebrating something altogether quite remarkable at the final whistle.
Wood welcomed back Captain Mario Noto for his first start since the opening game of the Season, with Omer Riza dropping to the bench. Greg Morgan also got the nod over David Hutton.
An early scare for Wood came after six minutes when Charlie O’Loughlin conceded a needless foul on Andy Watkins who had already ran out of grass. Lee Hodges set up Ben Williams at the far post whose header skimmed the crossbar.
Wood should have been ahead after twelve minutes when Cliff Akurang teed up Mauro Vilhete who with just Luke McCormick to beat skewed his left footed shot wide of the post. Chez Isaac took full advantage of a through ball from Ben Nunn shooting just wide from an acute angle.
Wood looked nervous with an array of wayward passes from the midfield which gave the visitors hope. Yet in fairness City never looked like scoring and Wood had the lion’s share of chances. A poor back pass from Williams was picked up by Vilhete who supplied Akurang who could only muster a weak shot that was deflected into the ‘keeper’s arms.
A defence splitting ball from Noto sent Vilhete through yet McCormick was on hand to keep the scores level at the interval. Wood re-emerged with a vitality that was missing before the interval with Vilhete seeing his shot charged down for a corner. He then tested McCormick with a shot on the turn after some fine footwork from O’Loughlin, with the City ‘keeper producing the goods to keep his side in the game.
A quite superb driving run and back heel from Morgan sent Vilhete through again who angled his shot away from McCormick and just wide of the right hand post. Watkins had a couple of half chances on the counter for the visitors, before Graeme Montgomery swung over a corner that Callum Reynolds headed just wide.
Brentford Loan forward Luke Norris replaced Akurang for his Wood debut as Wood dominated proceedings. Isaac laid up for Montgomery whose superb left footed volley was well saved by McCormick.
Against the run of play Danny Carne drove forward down the left and was clipped entering the penalty area. James Russell guessed correctly and threw himself low to his left to deny Marcus Martin who almost made amends from the resultant corner, his header requiring a fingertip save from Russell.
Omer Riza entered the fray and his guile led Wood into total domination. It seemed only a matter of time before the winner would manifest itself. Riza receiving the ball just inside the area brought it under control at close quarters before setting up Norris. His shot was destined for the bottom right hand corner of the net until McCormick got down the pull off the save of the game, in doing so giving the City diehard fans something rare to celebrate on the road.
The result leaves Wood ten points adrift of the top three sides in fourth place yet with games in hand.
Wood Boss Ian Allinson spoke of his frustration after the game, “We seemed to snatch at chances and were not clinical in the box. I tried to change things around yet we should be grateful for James Russell’s penalty save. That said, were it not for a world class save from their ‘keeper, from Luke Norris we would have been celebrating! They came here with just twelve players, a Manager who plays in defence and with all their problems we should really have taken something more from the game.”
Team: Russell, Nunn, Jones, Noto, O’Loughlin, Reynolds, Vilhete, Isaac, Akurang (Sub – Norris 65 mins.), Morgan, Montgomery (Sub – Riza 77 mins.).
Subs (Not used): Effiong, Hutton, Beckles.
Booking: O’Loughlin.
Wood Man of the Match: Callum Reynolds.
