Injuries and Injury Time Defeats - It's hard being a fan sometimes (Wood 1 Truro 2)

This post has been a while coming, mainly because I have been so busy at work and at home (oh to be a journalist, where I could waffle on for a living), but partly because I didn’t really want to go over Saturday’s game at all. It was, and this is the first time I have felt this since following Wood, pretty devastating. The result did detract from what was a really great game of football and a nice day all round, so let’s get into it, shall we?

I took my now usual place (behind the home dugout, about 7 rows up) for kick off, where I struck up conversation with a gentleman who turned out to be centre back Charlie O’ Loughlin’s dad. A fine man, we spent most of the game passing comment on the action and discussing Charlie’s various moves around the country, what brought him to Wood (a chartered surveyors job in Welwyn Garden City) and his thoughts on the people behind the scenes (‘They are good people here, I can tell from a mile off if they aren’t’). I was worried that if there was any defensive howlers, I would have to bite my tongue, but Mr O’ Loughlin was first to acknowledge if his son was not up to scratch, which was very rare in his defence!

With Wood ravaged by injuries (much more on that later), it was quite the experimental side put out by Ian Allinson. New signing Mark Jones, an experienced left back from Braintree started at right back, Luke Wilkinson was pushed into a holding midfield role and out wide Sam Lechmere made his home debut, having also joined Wood from Braintree alongside Jones.

Despite the arduous journey that Truro had to make to Meadow Park, they shot straight out of the blocks with some flowing interchange that wouldn’t have been out of place in the Champions League, let alone the Blue Square South. With Barry Hayles working as the target man up front, this allowed Andy Watkins and Les Afful the opportunity to drag the Wood defence all over the pitch. Despite only being able to play with the ball at his feet, Hayles had that extra little bit of class I had feared, and gave his side time to move into threatening positions whilst he expertly held the ball up. Together, Watkins and Afful were a different class and looked threatening right from the off. It was therefore no surprise when Wood conceded their now customary early goal, with Marcus Martin allowed time and space to head in Scott Walker’s cross in the third minute. Wood were yet again caught cold from kick off, and this has become a real problem already this season. Whether this is down to sharpness, a lack of concentration or whatever, it needs to be eradicated soon because this season Wood have often found themselves with mountains to climb after only 10 minutes, particularly with clubs who can effectively shut up shop after taking a lead, as was seen with Havant in the opening game of the season.

In all honesty, Wood could have and should have been 4-0 down within the first twenty minutes. Unable to cope with the fluid passing and quick movement of Truro, Wood were carved open time and time again and Michael Jordan was called upon on more than one occasion to make a crucial save. In a unfamiliar role of holding midfield, Luke Wilkinson at first struggled to find his feet and positioning, but as the half went on he grew in confidence and drove the team forward. However, Wood were really on the cosh and myself and Mr O'Loughlin both agreed that if Wood could get to half time only one goal down , then perhaps things could change in the second half, particularly with the strong wind that would be supporting them. Our wishes were answered and Wood could not get down that tunnel quick enough after quite an abject first half performance.

Big changes were needed at half time, and Ian Allinson was brave enough to take a chance in the hope of salvaging a result. Daniel Brathwaite, who spent most of the first half making me think the wrong brother was released, was replaced by Inih Effiong, he of all attitude and no effort from my last visit to Meadow Park. With Mark Jones switching to his natural left back position, Charlie Hunter dropped into right back with Daniel Bryant dropping back into midfield to partner Wilkinson. The changes were bold, but they paid off and Wood looked like a completely different team in the second half, with Effiong do a superb job of leading the line. Constantly encouraged by Assistant Manager Darren Currie, Effiong put in the sort of performance that made you understand why there was so much fuss around his transfer from St Albans. Always looking for the ball, Effiong held it up well, kept play flowing and had an array of tricks and flicks, all of which amazingly came off. It was fitting then that he was the man to equalise for Wood, running through from a long ball from Charlie Hunter to finish with the utmost of calm, chipping the onrushing keeper without breaking stride. A fantastic goal and a glimpse of the sort of player that lurks inside Effiong when he wants to play.

With much more of a natural balance in the team following Hunter's move to right back and Jones to left back, Wood began to dominate proceedings, and should have put the game to bed. Sam Hurrell blasted over when well placed, and perhaps the best chance of the whole game fell to Sam Lechmere, who had all the time in the world to pick his spot, perhaps too much time, but fired his shot wide from 15 yards out. By this point you could sense that if Wood didn't finish Truro off soon it would come back and haunt them, and this was only reinforced when Luke Wilkinson, who once he had found his feet put in a sterling performance, drilled a shot from 25 yards only an inch wide. Wood had Truro on the ropes, but could not finish them off. Almost predictably, the Cornishmen had managed to play rope a dope and were soon to deal a knockout blow.

Deep into injury time, and with both sets of fans likely happy with a point after an end to end battle, Wood gave away a free kick about 25 yards out from goal. Do I really need to tell you what happened next? Well, I suppose I have to.

Turning to Mr O' Loughlin, I expressed my concerns with language that would likely not be allowed pre-watershed, and he responded with, 'I would be absolutely gutted if this went in'.

Truro's Scott Walker then proceeded to curl a beautiful freekick into the top corner.

My stomach sank and I held my head in my hands. I was absolutely gutted. It was at this point that I realised that I had actually begun to form an emotional bond with this team. The final whistle went shortly after and I applauded a proud effort, despite massively hurting inside. I said my goodbyes, stopping to chat to Colin Perry who became the first person to recognise me from this blog, and I can only apologise Colin if I wasn't great company. Colin himself is a local lad, whose blog Stag of Herts is a very good read, mainly focusing on Mansfield Town's trials and tribulations. Check it out. As I made my way back to the station, I rang my dad to tell him about the game, and even he could detect how gutted I was. It was another example of how cruel football can be, at all levels of the game. And no, I won't be making any jokes about how the sun ain't gonna shine anymore.

The main positives from the game were Inih Effiong's excellent showing, which I hope is kept up, and the composure of Charlie Hunter when switched to right back. His ability to find a forward with a cunning pass was much needed in the second half, and he wasn't afraid to get stuck in as well, despite his lack of height, especially going in on established veterans such as Barry Hayles. Other notable performances came from Luke Wilkinson, Mark Jonesand Sam Lechmere, who look to be astute signings from Braintree. One last shout out to the travelling fans from Truro, who sung their hearts out and are a credit to their team. I look forward to the return match!

Wood lined up as follows:

Team: Jordan, Wilkinson, Jones, Hunter, O’Loughlin, Smith, Lechmere, Brathwaite (Sub – Effiong 45 mins.), Bryant, Akinola, Hurrell.

Subs (Not used): Scott-Morris, Yala, Currie, Putnins.

The news only got worse for Wood as it was confirmed that Marion Noto, Daryl McMahon and Luke Garrard are all out until possibly December, which is obviously awful news for the club. Noto has never fully recovered from the injury picked up in the friendly against Arsenal, and it seems as if the only course of treatment is for him to have an operation on his ankle. Joining him under the knife is Wood's other main creative source, Daryl McMahon, who has also had some problems with his ankle, this time with a ruptured tendon. Thankfully it doesn't look like Luke Garrard will need surgery, but will still need some hard rehabilitation before rejoining the team, possibly in late November.

For any team to have their two main creative midfielders and their main holding midfielder out is cruel, and Wood are really feeling it. Despite Luke Wilkinson's impressive efforts in the holding role, he is a centre back out of position and is needed back at the heart of the defence. Noto and McMahon are desperately missed going forward, particularly in dead ball situations. Their losses are also felt because they are three senior players in a young team, with Noto and Garrard being Team and Club Captains respectively. In a rare piece of good news, Elvis Putnins is close to returning after a back injury, and was on the bench vs Truro, and Osei Sankofa, whose energy at right back was missed in the first half against Truro, should soon be joining him after recovering from a groin strain.

To help ease the pain of these losses, Wood Chairman Danny Hunter has loosened the purse strings to bring in a number of fresh faces. Joining Mar Jones and Sam Lechmere will be Karl Beckford, formerly of AFC Wimbledon, Kettering and Aldershot, as well as Chez Isaac, who has joined the club on loan until January from local friends Watford. It was mentioned in the programme notes on Saturday that Justin Cochrane had returned to Meadow Park, although I am waiting for this to be confirmed with my own eyes, as no mention of this has been made on the website. I welcome all of these players to Meadow Park, and hopefully they can help Wood move in the right direction. With Isaac and Beckford both signed to fill roles left vacant by the injuries detailed, this should hopefully bring a better balance to the side. More on the injuries and new signings here.

Wood travel to Eastbourne next, with a preview up tomorrow. As always, thankyou for your continued views and support, and please continue to share this blog amongst friends, bloggers, boards and rich Saudi investors. I can be found on twitter @wearethewood, as well in the comments section below.

Until next time....

WE ARE THE WOOD!

First Win + Another Defeat = Topsy Turvy Bank Holiday Weekend For Wood, plus news and views.

It's been a busy few days so let's get straight into it...

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!

Pre-Season Continues: Effiong signing ignites local rivalry, Currie delivered to Meadow Park

I tell you what, the timing of this blog has been poor to say the least. Anyone who has been through the process of moving home knows what I mean - from viewings to sorting all your stuff out, it never seems to end. Add into this a few days of riots across London, and you get one delayed blog. Anyways, on with the show - thankfully my new home looks like it follows one of my original rules for following a team, as it is an easy commute into Borehamwood (a DIRECT train! Imagine that! This will likely never run on the weekend but one can dream, can't they?), so win win all round.

This Saturday sees the dream begin in earnest, as Boreham Wood start their league campaign against Havant and Waterlooville. I will post a full preview tomorrow, as there has been much a brewing in the world of The Wood.

Firstly, and most importantly - I was thanked on the club's official website for the purchase of my season ticket! Boreham Wood, let's face it, are not going to be drawing up waiting lists any time soon, so it's a nice touch for those who have decided to invest their time and money into seeing them to get a thank you in return. I think the most you would get from Arsenal is 'your money is due in 5 days, pay up in full now or we'll take it off you'.

Now, onto more pre-season business…

'Tapping Up' is a phrase that I associate with the Barcelonas, Real Madrids, Chelseas etc of the footballing world. It's certainly not a phrase I would ever expect to hear in the Blue Square South, which is why the accusations made by St Albans towards Wood were surprising to say the least. Let's have a look at the situation…

Over the last couple of weeks, Boreham Wood completed the re-signing of Inih Effiong from local rivals St Albans City.Having already featured in pre-season, Inih is a young, pacy, exciting striker who has shown both for and against Wood that he can be a real danger in the box. 19 years old, and a local lad (just up the A1 in Hatfield), the announcement of his signing was met with joy from Wood fans, and anger from St Albans City chairman, Ian Ridley.

You may remember Ian Ridley for a number of reasons. You may remember him from being a football journalist for amongst others, The Daily Mail. You may remember him from writing, in conjunction with Tony Adams, the excellent 'Addicted'. And if you are a Non League fan, or in particular a Weymouth fan, you may remember him from taking over the seaside club in 2003, appointing Steve 'Contrary opinion for Cash' Claridge as player/manager and almost getting promotion to the Conference in the process. As previously mentioned, Ridley is chairman at local rivals St Albans City, who are currently languishing in the horrifically named Evo-Stick League Southern. Effiong's departure to Wood, and not Farnborough as they expected, brought out quite the reaction in Ridley, who, assumingly using his links, began to intimate through the press that there was foul play on Boreham Wood's behalf in their quest to sign the youngster. The St Albans City FC official site carried the following statement:

"Supporters, quite rightly, will be wondering what has happened to Inih Effiong and the club feels the time is right to explain as fully as we can, given the limitations of proceedings that are in motion.

At the start of pre-season training, the player made it clear that he no longer wished to play for St Albans City FC.

We were disappointed about that, especially as we believed that the player would make good progress under our new manager David Howell, who has a track record of bringing on young players and helping them find places in the full-time professional game, to the benefit of all parties.

Nevertheless, we respected the player’s wishes and allowed him to talk to, and train with, other clubs. The understanding was always that these clubs were aware that St Albans City were due compensation for the player under Football Association regulations, since the player was Under 24 and had been offered terms for re-engagement at the end of last season.

The player began training with Farnborough, who conducted themselves correctly and contacted St Albans City FC. Acceptable compensation was amicably agreed between the two clubs.

We have now had it confirmed, however, that the player has signed for Boreham Wood FC.
Not having received an offer of compensation for the player, we have now taken the decision to report the matter to the Football Association and we expect a tribunal to be established that will rule on the level of compensation that St Albans City FC is owed. "

Ooof. Strong words indeed, and the threat of FA involvement and a possible tribunal was surely a worry. However, there was something which I believe St Albans did not understand - the difference between a player being out of contract and a player being offered 're-engagement' terms. Now, don't look at me as I'm likely as confused as most of you, so please consult the following link for The FA's wording . Still confused? Don't worry.But this seems to be the crux of the argument- was Effiong was under contract, offered re-engagement, accepted re-engagement or a whole mixture of all of them?

Wood chairman Danny Hunter responded to these claims, which were fast spreading across non league websites, papers and messageboards, with a quite brilliant lengthy statement aimed at Ian Ridley in particular, with the aim for quashing these rumours once and for all. The full statement can be found here, but here are some choice cuts:

“It’s very simple really, Inih’s contract ran out on April 30th 2011, which was confirmed by the Football Association. St Albans say they offered him re-engagement terms, which is totally different to a player being on contract. If Inih was offered re-engagement terms, he did not accept or respond. Which means that 28 days after any re-engagement offer, a player is free to speak and sign for who he pleases – in Inih’s case, he chose us!”

“Let’s be clear about Boreham Wood’s conduct, we only spoke to the player in mid July, ten weeks after the end of last season. Unfortunately since then I’ve had nothing but phone calls and threats of malpractice from St Albans City Chairman Ian Ridley, who doesn’t seem to want to listen or understand the rules set out by the F.A.”

Continuing on , and in regards to Ian Ridley, this was my personal favourite passage:

“Mr Ridley has also left me messages on my phone accusing my secretary of falsifying a pre season team sheet at Billericay, which again is nonsense. Mr Ridley has accused BWFC of illegal payments to Inih, which after last year’s payment problems at St Albans City, is rather rich.”

“Their Chairman clearly has to grasp, that it is not in anyone’s interest for Boreham Wood Football Club and St Albans City, not to have a reasonable relationship, as we are neighbours for God's sake!”

Finally, speaking in regards to youngster Lee Close turning out for St.Albans after being offered re-engagment terms, Hunter stated;

“All I’ve asked of Lee is that he speaks to whoever he is eventually going to sign for and let them know BWFC have offered him re-engagement terms, as laid out by The F.A… Unlike Mr Ridley, I did not begin to verbally bully a youngster. I certainly did not begin a website or media circus and I did not wrongly claim that I had a player contracted, when we are talking about re-engagements.”

This will probably sound extremely childish on my behalf, but I absolutely love stuff like this. Accusations of tapping up, falsification of documents, public statements denouncing each other, it all makes for a very entertaining read. The fact that it involves our local rivals, in my opinion, makes it even better. Now this isn't me using a platform to stoke up rivalries to get people to act in a stupid manner, it is just that I think most people enjoy local rivalry, and things like this, however frustrating they may be for the losers, should be taken at face value and well... just laughed off a bit. Of course if this was the other way round I would probably be outraged, but for now I can enjoy the pantomime surrounding a 19 year old's transfer from one non league team to another. And at the end of the day, it is more exciting then the whole Cesc Fabregas transfer saga, eh?

Effiong's controversial re-signing meant that Wood's other recent dealings in the transfer market went largely unnoticed. Over the summer months, Wood have brought in eleven new players to Meadow Park, of varying experience but comparable abilities. The latest signing is perhaps their biggest coup of the window altogether, which is saying a lot considering the caliber of some of the arrivals this summer. Following the news that Jason Goodliffe had to sadly stand down due to family and work commitments (something that is oft overlooked at this level - most players and staff still have to work), Wood announced that Darren Currie would be taking his place as Player/Assistant Manager, and also joining Luke Garrard, Super Mario Noto and Daryl McMahon as part of the PASE coaching team.

Currie brings league experience to Wood, having played for Shrewsbury, Plymouth, Barnet, Wycombe, Brighton, Ipswich, Coventry, Derby, (sadly) Luton, Chesterfield and finally Dagenham and Redbridge. Like Daryl McMahon, Currie is a playmaker and his experience will be invaluable to a team looking to push forward this season. How many games he will play in his duel role remains to be seen, but you would imagine someone with such talent and experience would appear more often than not, despite his aging legs. Welcome aboard Darren, and all the best in your time at Meadow Park. For the rest of you, here is a youtube compilation of Darren.


In pre-season friendly action, Wood rounded off their campaign with defeat at Tooting and Mitcham on Saturday. I don't think I can quite match the official sites report in terms of hilarity, so I won't bother. The report can be found here.

That's all from the latest round up of pre-season news and feuds from me, join me tomorrow for a preview of Wood's first home game of the season, which brings the visit of Havant and Waterlooville. As always feedback is appreciated, and please continue to share this blog amongst friends and other fans. Although it's a small number, we have surpassed the 1,000 views mark which was very pleasing to me. I can be found on twitter @wearethewood, as well as the comments section below.

Until tomorrow….

WE ARE THE WOOD!