Boreham Wood Under 19’s marched into there second National Cup semi final, with a resounding 5-0 home victory against a much fancied Dereham Town Academy side, who were fresh from a tournament win in Las Vegas. This time out young Wood were playing in the England College National Cup quarter final after having already secured their place in the National League’s Cup semi final a few weeks ago.
The U19s who were without Academy skipper and England Colleges captain Ben Goodliffe, after he signed for Championship side Wolverhampton Wanders last week, were particularly impressive in a ruthless display, that had desire and some fantastic goals.
Young Goodliffes move prompted Ezra Bolt to be moved from his familiar midfield role to centre back and he was a colossal alongside Quba Gordon.
The Wood set about there business with purpose and took the lead after continuous pressure on the Dereham goal, the ball found its way to Frank Keita on the edge of the Dereham box and he powerfully swept home.
The second half saw much of the same dominance from young Wood and it wasn’t long before they made it two when Gordon fired in from a corner. The third came swiftly after, when a long ball from Fred Burbidge found Bradley Sach, who slotted cooly past the on rushing keeper.
The Wood were now looking menacing with every attack and before you could blink it was four when Sach found Sorba Thomas in acres of space and his teasing cross found Alex Morgan to tap in bravely at the back post. There was still time for a fifth, when Wood were given a clear penalty and Frank Keita stepped up to score his second.
U19s manager Cameron Mawer commented after the victory “From the very first whistle we were at it. Our players attitude, discipline and desire were there for all to see and I am really pleased with them. Our Academy are already into three semi finals, but they now have to back this up with six very big performances, because you don’t remember sides that lose in semi finals or finals.
