Wood 3 Dartford 1, Part 2 - Youngsters run riot, Possible Turning Point?, Mini Hampton and Richmond Preview, Match thoughts

Onto the game itself…

As I sat and discussed the Chairman’s article with the locals, someone said ‘Oh here he is’ and I was met with the nauseating sight of Teddy Sheringham and what I had assumed was his daughter but turned out to be his girlfriend. He was of course there to see his son Charlie line up as the dangerman for Dartford. I’m delighted to say that I doubt Teddy had too much fun at the game as Charlie and Dartford had a day to forget. With a youthful line up on display, including debutant Michael Thalassitis, who joined the club on loan on Friday from League One Stevenage Town, Boreham Wood were looking to get 3 points on the board and start turning their season around.

Wood got off to a blistering start within 40 seconds, as Chez Isaac, in his first contribution to what would be a man of the match performance, received the ball 35 yards out, looked up and unleashed an absolute howitzer into the top corner, leaving Dartford Keeper Andrew Young helpless as he dived in vain to try and keep out the shot. 1-0 with a Goal of The Season Contender! A fine and unexpected start to say the least.

Unfortunately the lead was only to last 5 minutes, as Dartford equalised due to some shambolic defending from a set piece, with a corner (which was given after a lapse of concentration from Daniel Brathwaite almost led to a goalscoring chance) being allowed to pinball around the box before being fired home by Elliott Bradbrook. The groans of frustration could be heard from the stands as we thought it might be a case of ‘Here we go again’, but thankfully it wasn’t to be.

The next 10 minutes were all Dartrford, and Elvis Putnins was called upon on more than one occasion two keep the scores level. First, he dived low down to his left to keep out a goal bound deflection, and secondly showed both excellent bravery and agility in making a double save from point blank range . Three vital stops which gave Wood confidence and perhaps shook Dartford a little, as they were being repelled by Putnins and his backline, who after a shaky start (sound familiar?) were beginning to hold their own, with O’ Loughlin and Wilkinson imperious at centre back, as well as Mark Jones playing out of position at right back, but coping admirably.

Wood’s second was a product of skill and endeavour. David Bryant, who again ran tirelessly whilst showing some excellent touches and is seemingly coming into his own up front, worked his way through three Dartford defenders, before the ball broke loose to Michael Thalassitis, who showed great composure in front of goal to bury it into the bottom corner for 2-1. A debut goal, and a well deserved one at that. The initial loan period we have is one month, but judging by Thalassitis’ endeavour, skill and finishing ability, Wood will look to keep hold of him for longer. Again, at 18 he is another youngster in the setup, but importantly he is one who is looking to prove himself and give his all for the team (Maybe a certain Mr Effiong could take notice?). Bryant then had a great chance to make it 3-1, with two chances in quick succession, but both were foiled by a combination of goalkeeper and defenders. As the half came to a close, Bryant almost turned provider again for Justin Cochrane, enjoying his second spell at the club and the captain’s armband, but the midfielders shot was deflected just wide for a corner. Wood went into the break 2-1 up and deserving of more, and I must admit I was fearing our prolifigacy in front of goal would come back to haunt us. Still, 2-1 up against the team sitting in second was a good start for me.

Thankfully my fears were ill founded as would put on a dominant display in the second half and never really looked like losing. With Chez Isaac outstanding in the middle of the park, both in defence and moving forward, Wood began to move the ball around freely and create more chances. After Luke Wilkinson failed to capitalise on time and space with a poor shot, Wood went 3-1 up with a moment of quick thinking genius. Nathan Koranteng, who had looked threatening if a little clumsy in the first half, picked up the ball just inside the Dartford area, brought the ball on 20 yards, and with the crowd and Dartford expecting him to cross, caught The Darts cold with a left footed drive which rasped into the bottom corner. It was a great strike and a great moment, as it came by complete surprise and the joy on the scorers face was clear to see for all the fans as he raced to celebrate with his team mates. It was also clear to see the relief from Ian Allinson, who had to have been feeling a lot of pressure with the recent result at Slough and the Chairman’s comments prior to the game.

Save for a worrying moment when Ryan Hayes saw his curling effort hit the inside of the post and roll along the line and out, Wood shut up shop and were very good value for their win. It was a true team performance, which given the noise around the place beforehand was probably the only option. Both O’ Loughlin and Wilkinson excelled at centre back (O’ Loughlin was a big miss in the loss to Slough), both Koranteng and Sam Lechmere ran constantly at Dartford’s defence, causing problems all game. Mark Jones, despite being on his weak side all game, was exceptional and kept the Dartford forwards relatively quiet down his flank, and both David Bryant and Michael Thalassitis (who had a debut to remember) were excellent up front, full of running and ingenuity. My man of the match award was a very close run affair, with Elvis Putnins, who made at least 4 outstanding saves, missing out to Chez Issac, whose all round display was Wood’s best of the season. Getting Wood off to a great start with a wonder strike, mopping up in midfield and always looking to start an attack, the young Watford loanee was fantastic. Well done that lad. The fact that it came in front of Wood’s largest crowd of the season (due to the travelling support) made it all that much sweeter. Not to mention old Teddy.

Wood lined up as follows

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.

This Saturday sees Wood travel to Hampton and Richmond Borough for a re-arranged game due to both teams exits from the FA Cup. How embarrassing. I will be making the journey down to the Beveree Stadium for the game, and am very much relieved it’s been moved to this Saturday as the country approaches Winter.Maybe Vince Cable, patron of the club, will be in attendance so I can share my forthright views on his part in the absolute state the country is in. But I digress.

It’s a game Wood will be looking to win, with Hampton sitting bottom of the league with just 6 points after 11 games so far this season. Wood, having shot up to the heady heights of 17^th will surely see last weekends result against Dartford as an opportunity to springbnoard their season and push on. With no injury/team news coming out of Wood, the team that beat Dartford should be more than capable of going down to Hampton and coming back with the three points. Blue Square bet have Wood at slight favourites at 13/10, and I’m going to go with them for an overdue away victory for Wood.

Admission is £11, and the journey is only 40 minutes from waterloo (actually easier for me than going to Meadow Park!), so if you are stuck without something to do, why not pop along? I’ll be the one shouting too much in the away end.

As always, thanks for all support, reads, RTs, shares etc. It is always appreciated, trust me. I can be found on twitter @wearethewood, or in the comments section below. Or even at a game, just come up and say hello! All constructive criticism will be met with me rushing to the toilets to have a good old weep.

Until next time…..

WE ARE THE WOOD!

FA Cup Exits and Dartford Visit: This Week at Wood

I was on a balcony at a wedding reception in Cornwall when I found out Wood had been knocked out of the FA Cup at the first attempt, millions of miles (or so it felt after driving down from London) from Beaconsfield where the game took place. By all accounts Wood were awful and didn’t deserve anything, but after two great results back to back it is so frustrating to go out in such a sloppy manner. The season may still be young but it is being characterised by Wood’s amazing ability to take two steps forward and one step back.

Alas, I can’t comment too much on a game I wasn’t at, but highlights of the game are here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RbnT0rqi0EA&feature=youtu.be

The first goal aside, Wood should be very disappointed with the sloppiness of the goals conceded against them, as well as the countless chances allowed to their lower league opposition. It is this lacklustre approach which is undermining Wood’s start to the season, no matter how bad our injury crisis may be (Charlie O’ Loughlin, one of our mainstays at centre back was missing, and Elvis Putnins got held in traffic before the fixture). It’s the simple things that need sorting out, and at this level the simple things should come naturally (although having watched Arsenal capitulate in the North London Derby maybe I am being a bit too harsh). What’s more disappointing is that a half decent cup run can bring in some good money to the club, as well as bringing in some more people through the gates, some of whom may return. Again, I wasn’t at the game so I can’t go on.

Ian Allinson, however, was obviously at the game, and had this to say:

"Slough Town were always going to be a threat to us today as I warned the players. It is a shame that they did not take heed but it was always going to be difficult with the absence of central defender Charlie O'Loughlin and with goalkeeper Elvis Putnins arriving at the ground after the team sheet was put in on top of all the other walking wounded."

"This is the worst FA Cup result in my career as a manager. We should be beating sides like Slough with or without injuries. We are a Conference side and today we totally failed to show our pedigree. In my opinion we were not good enough and it hurts."

"At present we are bringing in new faces due to our injury problems and today against lower opposition it was evident that some of the squad do not show the desire to play at this football club and they'll be gone before Saturday.

"One or two of our senior players have become disruptive as individuals and we never defended from the front.

"Just how we can go out and defend like we did against Welling United and Chelmsford City and take 4 points, then turn in a shambolic performance like this defensively is unacceptable."

Strong words indeed. I cannot comment on who the senior players who have become disruptive are, and as of yet there is no news coming out of Wood as to new signings being brought into the club, but it is reassuring to see Allinson recognise the weaknesses in the team (both on and off the pitch) and not dress up his words. Hopefully with the backing of Danny Hunter he can put a stop to these problems and get the season going, as the cash cow of the cup is now a memory.

It’s a real shame for me personally as I love the FA cup, particularly in it’s early qualifying stages. A few years ago, a few of us decided to follow Dulwich Hamlet in their first round qualifying match, and if they were beaten we would follow the winner, and so on and so forth until we couldn’t go any further. If you like the sound of this idea, I implore you to do this. It was one of the best times of my life, travelling to unknown grounds, meeting local fans, mourning at the losses of local legends, and getting to the point where you follow a small town just outside Walsall away at Port Vale. We kept a blog for the journey, and looking back through it the other day I must admit I got misty eyed. Ignore the bit about an FA Trophy run, that was nonsense.

Now that Wood can ‘focus more on the league’, our opponents tomorrow are Dartford, who come to Meadow Park sitting pretty in second place in the Blue Square South, level on points with current leaders Woking. They also have in their ranks the league’s 2^nd top scorer Charlie Sheringham, who, you might have guessed, is son of Teddy ‘I’m a complete and utter cretin’ Sheringham. Sheringham Jr has 8 goals to his name in the league so far this term, and will definitely pose the biggest threat to the Wood backline who are looking to get back to some of the defensive solidity they showed against Welling and Cheltenham. That’s not to say that Sheringham is not the only threat, as strike partner Elliott Bradbrook has also started the season with a flourish, and between them the pair have scored 18 times in all competitions. The Wood defence will need to forget about the Slough result in a hurry and remember how resolute and brave they were against Chelmsford.

With Dartford losing just once all campaign, tomorrow promises a bit of a struggle for a Wood team who will likely be set back after last week’s poor showing. However, if there is something to show for the season so far is that Wood tend to raise their game for the bigger sides and generally do well (I doubt anyone would have predicted a 5 point return for games against Woking, Welling and Chelmsford, particularly when the Woking and Chelmsford games were away), so I’m not going to give up hope just yet. The draw is 11/4 with Blue Square Bet and I reckon it’s worth a few quid.

I can’t wait to get back to Meadow Park tomorrow and hopefully see the boys pick up a valuable point or win. Following both t6eams exit from the cup, Wood will be away at Hampton and Richmond next Saturday, which hopefully will tuen into a blessing in disguise as the games begin to build up later on in the season. The only other bit of news, thankfully good this time, is the youth teams progression to the third and final qualifying round of the FA Youth Cup, after beating Bishops Stortford 1-0, with Harvey Scott-Morris grabbing the winner. The youngsters now go on to face Billericay Town, a win away from the big boys. Let’s hope they can make it through.

As a last piece – please go here http://consultations.external.bbc.co.uk/bbc/localradio/ and help The Non League Show be saved from the savage cuts facing the BBC thanks to the current seventh circle of hell government. They are on BBC London, so please click there and answer the relevant questions. Non League Football doesn’t have a great voice in the media, and even if it’s not everyones cup of tea it still offers a place for non league fans to share their thoughts. Don’t let it die.

As always, thanks for all your continued support. I’ve been so busy the last few weeks that I’ve been restricted to one update a week, but now the social calendar is drying up and there isn’t a wedding or a festival every weekend, I can start to focus more on getting back to the blog. I can be found on twitter @wearethewood, and all shares, RTs, opinions are always welcome.

Until next time….

WE ARE THE WOOD!