WE WON! WE FINALLY WON! Here's how the day unfolded:
I arrived in Borehamwood on Saturday afternoon nursing quite the hangover, and was relieved to say the least when my brother offered me a lift to the game (It's a 15 minute walk, but I was just getting over the brick wall). With kick off approaching within the next fifteen minutes, we took advantage of my FREE CAR PARK SPACE and pulled up at the ground. Optimistic of a positive result, I took my now traditional seat behind the home dugout (for optimum comedy moments) and waited for the game to begin (My brother had to stifle his laughter as the players lined up to face at most 75 people in the main stand during the pleasantries before kick off).
Wood put out one of their strongest sides so far this season, with their (hopefully) now established defensive line of Brathwaite, O' Loughlin, Wilkinson and Sankofa providing the steel at the back, McMahon pulling the strings in midfield and the tireless David Bryant giving his all supporting the forwards. The only surprising admission was Pelly Ruddock, who started on the bench after impressing so much in the previous fixture at home against Basingstoke, replaced in the side by Simeon Akinola,
It only took four minutes for my hangover to intensify ten fold when a complete lack of communication between Elvis Putnins and his defence allowed Alex Osborn to fire home from close range. I must admit I lost my rag a bit (I know, I'm such a rational person normally), with my anger aimed directly at our loanee goalkeeper. For all his qualities (and he showed many of them in this game) he simply has to be more dominant in his area. Don't let your defender make his mind up, get rid of the bloody ball. Argh, it can be so frustrating seeing these same simple mistakes undermine the teams performance, yet I suppose I should sort of be used to it by now. Sharpen up Elvis, before you leave us in the Heartbre..... no I'm too good for that. In his defence he almost redeemed himself shortly afterwards with a fantastic one handed save after more hesitancy at the back, but still - lessons must be learned from if we are to improve.
Do you know what else cropped up again in this game? AWFUL REFEREEING. I know I say this every week but this referee was easily the worst I have seen at every level. I'm surprised it didn't end in a situation like this, such was the quality of the officiating. It got to the point where I had to sit back and laugh at this incredibly inept attempt to keep order, whilst both sets of benches were left caught between dumbfounded and auditioning for a role in Sexy Beast 2. The players took the leniency as an indication to kick lumps out of each other, and at times I was surprised that the game didn't end up 9 vs 9. Whilst I am all up for a game with a few meaty challenges (check out the fight at 1:23), there was obvious recklessness going out on the field, and it wasn't only physical. Daryl McMahon took offence at one of the referee's many poor calls and openly shouted in his face, along with pointing his finger. Mario Noto came over to restrain and calm the fiery Irishman, and even then it took a while for him to simmer, luckily escaping with a yellow card in the process.
Thankfully, McMahon channeled his aggression and from here on in gave his best performance of the season so far. He was everywhere, looking for the ball, wanting set pieces, backheeling past defenders and looking generally a cut above the rest. In the 25th minute, Mario Noto won a free kick on the edge of Thurrock's half. McMahon took it and placed it beautifully onto the head of the towering Luke Wilkinson, who firmly headed it home to level up the scores. Wilkinson has quickly re-established himself as one of the first names on the team sheet and is a natural leader at the heart of the defence. In fact, I would be very surprised if he wasn't recalled by January, but fingers crossed he'll stay at Meadow Park. I mean, it's got to be nicer than Dagenham, hasn't it?
After the referee failed to give the most blatant spot kick of all time for a foul on David Bryant (imagine Ronald Koeman on David Platt, except Koeman is actually a professional wrestler and spears Platt to the ground), and Inih Effiong wasted at least 187 goal scoring chances (more on him later), Wood took the lead. Effiong's quick free kick released McMahon, whose trickery bought him enough time to put in a superb cross with his weaker right foot onto David Bryant's head, who made no mistake to pick up his second goal in as many games. Wood went in at half time good value for their lead.
We were joined at half time by Brooner, who cycled from Caledonian Road to catch the second half. Yep. He cycled. From Caledonian Road. To Meadow Park. I can't even walk up a flight of stairs without the need for an oxygen tank, let alone ride a bloody bike from Holloway to Hertfordshire. I recovered from this stunning revelation by enjoying a well earned burger and cup of tea. Burger was pretty good, as I come to expect now, and the tea was a pleasant surprise, as I could tailor it to my milky and sugary needs , and even use a teaspoon! I'll be popping over there again next half time.
After watching 20 minutes of the second half from behind the goal (a novel approach that resulted in exactly 0 goal scoring chances), we returned to our usual place to see out the game and Wood's first valuable three points of the season. Outside of the ever ludicrous display from the man in black and his Chuckle brother assistants, the only real chance to add to Wood's tally came from substitute Pelly Ruddock, who broke away following a Thurrock corner, only to take one touch too many, allowing the Thurrock keeper to block his attempt. When the final whistle blew, the sense of relief was noticeable among the players and management side (NB:Darren Currie is great value on the sidelines), as well as the pitiful attendance, which may have been the lowest I have seen at a game, yet was reported to be in the 180 range. Must have included both teams, all the backroom staff, the catering and the PA then.
Positives from this game - the defence looked good again, and Wilkinson and O'Loughlin again looked to be forming a decent partnership. But the star of the show was Daryl McMahon, who finally began to show his true class with a great display and two assists. Great stuff.
Negatives - here we go.....
It's perhaps a bit harsh to start laying into Wood after their first win, but there were some noticeable faults out there:
- Elvis Putnins' lack of command in his area, which cost us an early goal.
- Mario Noto and Daryl McMahon cannot play together: Play one, but two creative midfielders who want to play the ball in midfield sometimes leaves us stretched, as noted on this day. A true Lampard/Gerrrard conundrum for Ian Allinson.
- Inih Effiong: I could have written a whole post about how apathetic Inih was in this game. This was a true non league Emmanuel Adebayor performance, meaning that there was largely no effort and a lot of attitude. Inih is only 19 but could play at a higher level if he put in a bit of graft and actually ran a bit. Lamentable finishing aside, the amount of times where wide men would get the ball into a decent area only to see Effiong trundling up to the edge of the box was so frustrating it was unreal. My general feeling of ill will towards him was only heightened by the news that St Albans are to be paid compensation after The FA ruled in their favour after a lengthy row (see my previous posts for full details).
Wood lined up as follows:
Team: Putnins, Sankofa, Brathwaite, Bryant, Wilkinson, O’Loughlin, Akinola (Sub – Ruddock 76 mins.), McMahon, Effiong (Sub – Palmer 81 mins.), Noto, Hurrell.
Subs (Not used): O’Leary, Smith, Hunter.
As has been the case with Wood this season, my hopes were too high for their trip to Staines, who were languishing below Wood in the league on Bank Holiday Monday. Staines shot out of the blocks and were comfortable 2-1 winners, with Simeon Akinola scoring the consolation goal in injury time, his first for the club. The match report can be found here.
Whilst I was not at the game (and there is a good reason, which will be shared with you fine readers next week), I was disappointed to read that Stephen O'Leary, a recent signing from (eurgh) Luton, failed to turn up for the game after only one match for Boreham Wood. I am yet to hear the reasoning behind the no show, but I can only assume it must have been serious for such a poor show of professionalism. To add to Wood's woes, Elvis Putnins was injured in the warm up, leaving Michael Jordan, who I believe had been told to find a club to go out on loan to, to make his first appearance of the season. Wood boss lamented the side's poor display up front (again), stating,
"Our forward play was poor all afternoon as we are playing off the back foot all the time. Add to that the fact that some of the team are giving away possession in key areas continuously we need to evaluate where we are as quickly as possible.”
Wood now find themselves languishing in 20th place, and 'quickly as possible' will come this weekend, as Wood travel to Weston Super Mare, a game I am gutted I cannot be at as I am at the End of The Road festival, like the awful Non-League fan that I am. In brighter news the Staines game saw Mark Jones make his debut for Wood, having joined from Braintree, where he spent 11 successful years. Welcome aboard Mark!
That's it from me for today, and this week - but there will be another post before I depart, as a fellow Non League fan tells you why you should spend a day this weekend at Non League Day, and in particular, Hendon FC.
As always, feedback is appreciated, and your continued support even more so. I've got a really exciting post coming up next week which should make for some good reading if I say so myself, and hopefully this will be the start of this blog really going somewhere! I can be reached here on on twitter @wearethewood.
Until next time....
WE ARE THE WOOD!
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