Pre-Season Friendly
Tooting & Mitcham United 2 Boreham Wood 1
by John Mead
This was a poor show from Wood who looked nervy, tired and uncommitted, which was certainly not in the script.
The unveiling of Darren Currie and the return of Sam Hurrell will not be celebrated by those who made the journey through horrendous traffic to South London.
The start was delayed by fifteen minutes due to half the Wood Squad being stuck in traffic and it was hard to see the join between the delay and the final whistle in their performance. Thankfully the Reverend Spooner provided the much needed entertainment having seemingly been hired for the afternoon as the announcer.
“Iffie Omoghi” was no nearer the truth than Wood were to scoring first half, managing not a single effort on goal. With the anticipated arrival of “Polly Ruddock” one was only glad that Andy Gray was absent from proceedings.
Tooting boss Mark Beard would have had plenty to be proud of. They did turn up both on and off the pitch and tackled and harried making the lives of the Blue Square Bet South side unbearable. They soon got to grips with Wood’s slow motion football and keenly jumped in to wrestle possession on numerous occasions.
The lively Jordan Wilson stole possession deep in the Wood half, pinging a ball forward that needed a defensive header from Michael Jordan, outside of his area, to protect the stalemate.
Wood did create some decent moves, until the penalty area loomed up, and thereafter it went awry. Tooting made life difficult with some fine defensive performances from Osa Obamwonyi and Moussa Diarra coupled with an accomplished midfield showing from Karl Beckford.
The Terrors deservedly took the lead after thirty-seven minutes when Luke Wanadio, who had full control of the right wing throughout, got beyond Daniel Brathwaite to cross for the easiest of finishes by Captain Jamie Byatt.
Minutes later Wanadio set up Lee Newman from a similar move, yet his shot was deflected and gathered by Jordan.
When Ollie Palmer replaced “Ingi Effingooh” after the interval it seemed Mr. Spooner was trying to describe Wood’s first half performance, which did the trick as Ali Chaaban got away their first shot on target after fifty-three minutes.
Ex-Wood striker Fola Onibuje made it 2 – 0 when Brathwaite missed ‘keeper Simon Leckyl’s clearance, allowing the giant ex-sprint champion, time to sell Jordan a dummy before firing home.
A fine run and cross from Osei Sankofa found Palmer at the near post whose knock down fell for Luke Garrard yet his final touch let him down just yards from goal.
Pelly Ruddock provided a spark for Wood after his introduction with some spirited running and a fine shot on goal.
An unfortunate injury to Simeon Akinola gave the Reverend his chance to atone, perfectly annunciating the reintroduction of “Inih Effiong”, with two minutes remaining.
Spooner, who had stumbled delightfully through the team sheet all afternoon, had finally redeemed himself it seemed.
That was until the final minute when Sankofa released Palmer with a fine long ball. The Woking Loan forward went to ground, his giant forward partner stepped up and sent Leckyl the wrong way from the spot.
It was a fridge too bar for Spooner, declaring that “Iffie Enniong” had pulled one back!
For Wood boss Ian Allinson it was “a very disappointing afternoon that resembled a training session on our part. It was Darren Currie’s first game since May and Sam Hurrell had only been back two days from America. For a side brimming with talent we gave the ball away in the wrong areas and I certainly expected more.”
Team: Jordan, Sankofa, Brathwaite (Sub – Hunter 63 mins.), Garrard, Wilkinson, O’Loughlin (Sub – Yala 77 mins.), Hurrell (Sub – Ruddock 72 mins.), Chaaban (Sub – Akinola 63 mins.), Effiong (Sub – Palmer 45 mins.), McMahon, Currie.
Sub (Not used): Lewis.
Bookings: McMahon.
Goals: Tooting & Mitcham United: Byatt 37. Onibuje 62. Boreham Wood: Effiong 90 (pen).
