Pre-Season Friendly
Boreham Wood 1 QPR X1 3
by John Mead
Ian Allinson can take many positives from this performance as he looks to hone his Squad to an affordable size. The score was rather harsh on Wood, who dominated the second half against an accomplished and skillful youthful Rangers side.
For the spectator it was a real value for money evening with both sides contributing to a match of high quality.
Wood went behind after nine minutes to a goal that was worth the entrance fee alone. The ball fell to Brad Simmons thirty yards from goal and his screamer of a volley was never going anywhere other than the top left hand corner of the net.
The Hoops did very well in closing Wood down and in defence the local side relied on a fine challenge from James Smith to rob Antonio German of a fine scoring opportunity. However Wood never totally cleared from the attack and when Bruno Andrade skinned Luke Garrard running into the penalty area he tempted the Wood Captain on the night to stick out a leg. This allowed German to send Michael Jordan the wrong way from the penalty spot after twenty-two minutes.
German nearly increased the lead further with a brilliant first touch and follow up shot that drew a fine stop from Jordan. Orchestrated throughout by the impressive Daryl McMahon Wood finished the half the stronger side. Stringing together eight one touch passes McMahon then supplied the cross for triallist Evandro Delgado who tested Gaz Deane in the Rangers goal.
The momentum paid off when Barrie Matthews supplied Ellliott Godfrey, who played a lovely one two with Ali Chaaban who sent the Canadian born striker through on goal. His back heeled finish into the bottom left hand corner was a fine end to a quality move, reducing the deficit after forty-one minutes.
Ian Allinson made four half time Substitutions which resulted in his side dominating proceedings. There was a renewed solidity to Wood’s shape and they held possession for long periods. Morice Sharif managed a shot that went just wide in a rare moment of possession for the visitors.
Chaaban sprinkled his quality feeding McMahon, who wide on the right hit a blistering rising drive that was only repelled by a breathtaking fingertip save from Deane. After 73 minutes the young and the not so young joined the Wood attack when Simeon Akinola and Lawrence Yaku entered the fray. McMahon picked out Akinola from a right sided corner whose downward header looked like a certain and well deserved equaliser, only for a defender to somehow deflect the effort onto a post.
Two minutes later and Akinola rose again with his header falling to Yaku who
miss-hit wide of the target. Then against the run of play Rangers broke down the right. Jake Downs delivered a fine ball for Connor Hubble to run onto and his diving glancing header left Cameron Baker-Owers in the Wood goal little chance. The final score in no way reflected the overall game, with Wood unfortunate not to have influenced the result further.
Team: Jordan (Sub – Baker-Owers 81 mins.), Sankofa, Kamara (Sub – Hunter 45 mins.), Garrard, Smith, E. Brathwaite (Sub – D. Brathwaite 45 mins.), Matthews (Sub – Ademola 45 mins.), McMahon, Chaaban (Sub – Yaku 73 mins.), Godfrey (Sub – Akinola 73 mins.), Delgado (Sub – Lawal 45 mins.).
Goals: Boreham Wood: Godfrey 41. QPR: Simmons 9, German 22 pen., Hubble 85.
