Boreham Wood won on the road in style, putting four goals past Sutton United.
A blistering start from Luke Garrard’s men had them two goals up inside of six minutes, thanks to Angelo Balanta and Keiran Murtagh.
Justin Shaibu added a third inside of 25 minutes and Joshua Umerah confirmed the win with a fourth in the second half.
Garrard made three changes to the side who drew with Barrow on Saturday, as Shaibu, Danny Woodards and Tom Champion all came into the eleven.
The Hertfordshire based side got off to the best possible start thanks to Balanta. A pin-point cross-field ball from Woodards was fed to Shaibu by Ricky Shakes and he pulled the ball back to Balanta to fire home from close-range.
The Wood would then double their lead just three minutes later as Murtagh scored for the second time in a week. A clearance from the Sutton defence was met by Murtagh outside of the area and he looped a powerful header over Jamie Butler.
Having been blown away in the opening 10 minutes by Boreham Wood, Sutton desperately attempted to claw their way back into the game, and Charlie Clough headed wide from a corner.
The home side then went even closer to an opener of their own, when Dale Bennett found Ross Lafayette with a low ball at the far post, but he was unable to hit the target from a tight angle.
Sutton had lost just once in their opening 10 National League matches but were three behind and effectively out of the game after 23 minutes. Shaibu beat his marker for pace down the middle and slotted past the helpless Butler.
Sutton’s top scorer Lafayette then attempted an ambitious effort from long-range in retaliation, but Ryan Huddart held the strike with ease.
Tommy Wright snatched the ball from David Stephens on the by-line and dragged it back for Josh Taylor, but he slid his shot across the face of goal and out for a throw-in.
Taylor chased down a back-pass from Woodards to Huddart, but went to ground before he could reach it and called for a penalty. However, the referee gave him a yellow card for simulation and waved the calls away.
Sutton returned from halftime fighting and Jamal Fyfield was forced to hook the ball away from Lafayette in the area, with the striker closing in on goal.
The Wood then put the game to bed before the hour mark. Although, it was a scrappier goal than the others, as Champion forced it into the area and Shaibu poked it across the box for Umerah, who took a touch and slipped it through a sea of defenders and past Butler.
It was nearly five before the 60-minute mark as well, when Umerah released Shaibu one-on-one with Butler, but the ‘keeper made himself big and Shaibu crashed his effort against the post.
Substitute Jonah Ayunga met a long free-kick from Sutton in the Wood area and headed it goal-wards, but Champion cleared his lines.
Craig Eastmond then fired a bouncing effort from 25-yards at Huddart’s goal, but it soared high and wide as the home side continued to frustrate.
There was one last chance for the hosts as Bennett found Eastmond in the box, who rattled the crossbar with a powerful effort that bounced on the line and out.
The Wood: Huddart, Woodards (Parry 89’), Ricketts ©, Stephens, Champion, Murtagh, Fyfield, Hackett-Fairchild (Umerah 19’), Balanta (Ilesanmi 44’), Shaibu
Subs not used: Balcombe, Smith
Sutton United: Butler, Bennett, Beckwith, Clough, Davis (Ayunga 45’), Lafayette (Drinan 57’), Eastmond, Beautyman, Wright, Wishart, Taylor (Bailey 63’)
Goals:
The Wood: Balanta 3’, Murtagh 6’, Shaibu 23’, Umerah 54’
Attendance: 1,677
