Blue Square Bet South
Staines Town – 0
Boreham Wood – 0
by John Mead
In a game of little goal mouth action the magnitude of the point earned at Staines Town was put into perspective by the Wood players after the final whistle. Midfielder Lee Allinson declared, “We are back to our old selves. It has taken a while to adjust to the pace of this League but today we have built a platform upon which to progress.” His thoughts were echoed by Captain, Mario Noto, who had a busy afternoon breaking up play in the centre of the park. “We are back on track now!” he declared.
It was no coincidence that Daniel Brathwaite returned to the fold for his first competitive game of the Season. He made sure that Staines Town were frustrated the whole afternoon down the right. There was also another superb faultless performance from Lee Kersey who has been a tremendous asset in the heart of defence since rejoining the Club.
Playing with Claude Seanla as a lone striker limited Wood’s goal scoring opportunities, yet it was clear that The Swans having narrowly missed out on the Play-offs last Season were yet to return to full flight this campaign.
Gareth Williams was called upon early to stop an Ali Chaaban effort, before Mario Noto fired a free kick straight at Louis Wells at the opposite end. The Swans sought to unnerve Wood fighting every loose ball, whilst Wood began to enjoy the luxury of a number of free kicks conceded in dangerous areas. Allinson caused Wells to spill one such effort, yet overall Wood struggled to make their territorial advantage count.
Kersey blocked a fierce Chaaban drive before Williams was called upon to make a fine save diving low to his left to stop Andre Scarlett’s near post effort, the closest the game came to a goal in the opening forty-five minutes.
Wood’s almost now customary second half improvement began with Junior Dadson firing hopelessly high, before Luke Garrard went only slightly closer. Swans boss Steve Cordery made the first tactical move by introducing a third striker in the shape of Scott Taylor after sixty-four minutes. A period of pressure on the Wood goal ensued although Williams was hardly troubled by a Leroy Griffiths effort, such was the competency of the Wood back four.
Godfrey went close after a fine interchange of passes by Morgan and Allinson, forcing Wells to dive full stretch to his right to push the low drive around the post.
Dave King made his Wood debut, coming into the midfield for the last seven minutes. The M K Dons Youth product certainly livened things up, setting up Noto for a superb effort that moved in the air, forcing Wells to acrobatically tip over.
Williams was equal to Chaaban’s late effort leaving Ian Allinson the happier of the two Managers, “It was our first clean sheet today and all credit to our defence for that. Staines Town failed to trouble us too much and had we have shown a little more confidence in the final third we would be going home with all three points today. That said, I am content with our point and looking to build on our momentum now.”
Team: Williams, Garrard, Brathwaite, Noto, Kersey, Moran, Dadson , Godfrey, Seanla (Sub – Blackburne 81 mins.), Allinson (Sub – King 83 mins.), Morgan.
Subs (Not used): Hunter, Kirby.
Bookings: Seanla.
Man of the Match: Lee Kersey.
