Boreham Wood 0 Woking 0
Blue Square Bet South
30 August, 2010


Woking visited Meadow Park for a 1pm kick-off at the request of the local police, who were concerned about crowd control, yet the men in blue were not to be seen in or around the ground, and most of the 300 crowd were from Woking. The “crown-green� pitch at Meadow Park was in perfect condition and the early cool breeze was soon replaced by persistent sunshine.

Woking started with a 4-1-4-1 line-up, with Lenny Pidgeley in goal, Mark Ricketts impressive at right back, and 17 year-old Chris Bush coming in as replacement cover for suspended Aswad Thomas, to claim my ‘man of the match’. He joins on work experience terms from Brentford. McNerney replaced the rested Alan Inns and, together with Adam Doyle, formed a reliable central defensive partnership. Jerome Maledon took the holding defensive midfield role, with Moses Ademola, Francis Quarm, Sam Hurrell and Toby Little allowed the freedom of midfield. David Gilroy up front never gave up running and chasing, trying to conjure up chances. In truth, for much of the game he was isolated.

The Cards came out in determined mood and thought they had grabbed an early lead in the 4th minute, only for the linesman to rule out for offside Dave Gilroy’s well-taken firm header from a Chris Bush cross. This must have been a very close call as Gilroy seemed to have made the run from behind.

Woking applied persistent early pressure. Within the next six minutes Moses Ademola picked up the ball in central midfield and made a direct run at the Wood back line, slipping the ball to Little, who fired high and wide; Chris Bush had a long shot cleared; and Sam Hurrell had a shot deflected for a corner.

The Whites did not have an attempt on goal until 12 minutes, when Claude Seanla clattered his shot almost over the neighbouring houses.

Jerome Maledon was booked on 16 minutes for a late midfield challenge, stretching with studs showing.

Chris Bush grew with confidence and on 26 minutes made a tremendous determined run through midfield, which characterised his performance throughout. Moments later, he picked up the ball on the edge of the box, drove on into the area and slipped the ball to Dave Gilroy, whose shot was blocked, leading to five or six attempts in the space of a few seconds, the best of these being from Moses Ademola, who hit the post, from Sam Hurrell, and from Dave Gilroy, whose shot was blocked by the keeper. With a cooler head one of these should have found the back of the net. As it was, a free-kick was given for a minor offence; the keeper took the kick quickly and hit the back of the retreating Chris Bush, who was promptly booked by the inconsistent referee, Mr Degarain. This decision upset both the crowd and Graham Baker, resulting in a stern lecture from the official to the Woking manager.

Ricketts was playing well as a marauding right back, and one of several journeys forward resulted in Sam Hurrell sweeping in a good long-range effort, which drifted high and wide For a moment the midfield clicked and good interplay between Little, Maledon and Quarm ended with a firm shot wide by Quarm. With the half closing, Hurrell pick up a loose ball on the edge of the centre circle and his swift and direct run ended with a pass-cum-shot which was floated over the bar by Gilroy. With all the possession and extended periods of pressure, the Cards should have gone in with a least a one-goal lead against opposition still looking for their first win.

Half-time 0-0

Woking had Dave Gilroy booked on 46 minutes for leading with an elbow in a challenge which floored central defender Ryan Moran, and then had to ride a period of pressure from Boreham Wood at the beginning of the second half.

On 53 minutes a Chris Bush cross was almost met by Dave Gilroy, who clipped his header wide of the post.

On 58 minutes Boreham Wood made a double substitution which galvanized their team and Woking were left to wait for breakaways. Quarm released Ademola, who ran into the box and chipped for Gilroy to fire in a shot which keeper Williams did well to parry, and which Hurrell was unable to latch onto.

On 62 minutes David Brathwaite stepped past the right side of Woking’s defence and squared to Lee Allinson, who fired low and hard but his effort was held by Pidgeley. A minute later Jerome Maledon’s short pass to Ricketts let in Junior Dadson and his low cross was met by Claude Seanla but this was also safely gathered by the Woking keeper. Boreham Wood by now had clawed themselves back into the game.

Graham Baker brought on Ollie Palmer for his first game in the Blue Square Bet South, replacing Moses Ademola. Impressive in reserve and youth games, Palmer started nervously and only showed his determination and skill in one run into the box where he left three defenders in his wake, only to fail to get his cross in.

Woking were now skirmishing around the box and unable to penetrate the Boreham defence, with Gilroy more and more isolated. Dali and Faulconbridge had been warming up on the touchline for the final twenty minutes and were desperate to get on and add their weight to help Gilroy. Dali eventually came on for Gilroy for the last two minutes.

This was two points lost against very average opponents, but the one bright note was the performance throughout of young Chris Bush. Individually, nobody had a bad game but collectively the team need to believe in and work for each other in all departments.

Interestingly, Boreham Wood have put in a “7-day notice� for reserve keeper Will Viner. who recently joined the Cards from Barnet. Will warmed up with Boreham Wood and then sat in the stands with those Woking lads not able to play.

Boreham Wood (white shirts, black shorts): Gareth Williams, Luke Garrard, James Hawes (Greg Morgan, 58’), Mario Notto, Lee Kersey, Ryan Moran, Claude Seanla, Elliott Godfrey, Stuart Blackburn (Junior Dadson, 58’), Lee Allinson (David King, 86’), David Brathwaite.
Unused subs – Dwayne Clarke, Ryan Kerby.
Bookings: Seanla 85’, Brathwaite 91’

Woking (yellow with black trim): Lennie Pidgeley, Mark Ricketts, Chris Bush, Francis Quarm, Joe McNerney, Adam Doyle, Moses Ademola (Ollie Palmer, 69’), Jerome Maledon, Dave Gilroy (Gomez Dali, 88’), Sam Hurrell, Toby Little
Unused subs – Alan Inns, Craig Faulconbridge, Ola Sogbanmu
Bookings: Maledon 16’, Bush 29’, Gilroy 46’, Ricketts 54’

My MOTM: Chris Bush

Referee: Mr. A. Degarain

Attendance: 301