Blue Square Bet South
Boreham Wood 3 Dartford 1
by John Mead
Three goals from three promising teenagers saw off high flying Dartford in some style. Wood have collected seven points from their last three matches, which lifts the side out of the relegation zone to a more respectable seventeenth position.
Wood have now played four of the top five sides and remain unbeaten in that mini-League, a statistic that bodes well for the rest of the Season.
This was a brilliant game for the neutral with eighteen year old Chez Isaac on Loan
from Watford opening the scoring for Wood after just 48 seconds. He lashed home a remarkable thirty five yard effort from an inside left position that had power, pace and swerve, leaving the diving Andrew Young clutching at thin air as it bulged the top left hand corner of his net.
However Wood again conceded inside five minutes, which on this occasion only effected the entertainment level of a brilliant game of football. A corner from the right was not cleared and Elliot Bradbrook fired home from eight yards to gain parity. Dartford were rampant at this stage with Charlie Sheringham’s low cross cut out by the impressive Isaac, before the restored Elvijs Putnins showed an agility that only he possesses to make a remarkable double save. He blocked a close range Sheringham effort before unbelievably flinging himself to the left to block what looked like a certain goal from the rebound, hit by Tom Bonner.
That may well have been the turning point of the game even after just twelve minutes
as the visitors looked to recover from their early setback. It allowed Wood to fight back and eighteen year old Loan signing Michael Thalassitis on his Wood First Team debut showed the attacking qualities that Wood fans had been waiting for.
After sixteen minutes The Darts blocked quick-fire goal bound efforts from
Thalassitis, Isaac and Luke Wilkinson before Wood went ahead a minute later. Isaac fed David Bryant who wriggled past three defenders before laying into the path of Thalassitis. He timed his run to perfection bursting through to brilliantly slot home beyond Young.
Putnins then diverted a tricky deflected back pass to safety in what was a frenetic
start before Wood started to stamp their authority on the game. Bryant enjoyed a renewed freedom with the support he received from Thalassitis and broke through the defence to almost get the better of Young who needed two attempts to keep his side in it.
With Putnins absolutely commanding from set pieces and Charlie O’Loughlin reading
the game superbly The Darts were restricted to long range efforts. Justin Cochrane went close just before the interval, his effort deflected just wide after Daniel Brathwaite’s long range ball was knocked down by Bryant.
Wood continued to stamp their authority after the interval and Wilkinson spurned a
guilt edged chance after fifty-two minutes shooting weakly when unmarked from another fine Sam Lechmere delivery from a corner. Nathan Koranteng put Wood further ahead after 56 minutes. Running onto a fine lay off from Thalassitis he looked to go round a defender down the left before cunningly pulling the trigger hitting a low left footed drive that Young had no answer to.
Tony Burman rang the changes sending out Ryan Hayes and Danny Harris for The Darts, but they were often thwarted by a superb Mark Jones who was as impressive in
the right back role as in his normal position on the opposite side of the defence.
Lechmere caught Young out of position with a looping cross from the right that almost allowed Thalassitis to add to the tally. Hayes went close to pulling one back with a curling effort from the right which hit the inside of Putnins’ right hand post before running across the line.
O’Loughlin then cleared a Hayes cross from the right off the line as Wood became only the second side to defeat the second placed Kent side this Season.
For Wood boss Ian Allinson the improvement was “down to a number of factors. We have needed fire power up front and bringing in Michael Thalassitis gave us that. He also allowed David Bryant to express himself. We needed to stand tall against Dartford who are a very tall and physical side and we did that today. Chez Isaac was outstanding and having Charlie O’Loughlin available was obviously a great bonus. We have had a lot of disruptions from not only injuries but players making themselves unavailable and attitudes. Hopefully that is behind us all now.”
Team: Putnins, Jones, Brathwaite, Cochrane, O’Loughlin, Wilkinson, Lechmere, Isaac, Thalassitis (Sub – Effiong 79 mins.), Bryant, Koranteng (Sub – Beckford 84 mins.).
Subs (Not used): Hunter, Akinola, Jordan.
Bookings: Brathwaite, Wilkinson.
Goals: Boreham Wood: Isaac 1, Thalassitis17, Koranteng 56. Dartford: Bradbrook 5.
Man of the Match: Chez Isaac.
