The Wood kick off their pre-season tomorrow, when they travel to Haringey Borough FC, 7.30pm. Here’s our preview……..
Tickets
Entry to the game will be £5 for adults and £3 for concessions.
The game will take place at Coles Park, based in Tottenham, in the London Borough of Haringey.
Team News
New signings Kieran Murtagh, Paul Benson, Kane Smith, Bradley Ash and Tom Champion could all feature for the first time in Luke Garrard’s new look side.
Dean Wells will miss out as a precaution, following a heavy week of training in Devon.
Youngsters Bradley Sach and Frank Keita will also be hoping for a chance to earn a spot in the first team, having recently signed new deals with the club.
Garrard will have a fully fit squad to choose from ahead of the fixture, with his team recently returning unscathed from a pre-season training camp in Devon.
Form Guide
An impressive 11th placed finish last season could have been even better had the Wood not lost form towards the end of the season.
Garrard’s men picked up just 22 points from their final 25 matches, a run which has since seen a large reshuffle at the club.
Six new signings have already been made while Terry Harris was brought in from Dagenham and Redbridge to replace Jason Goodliffe as Assistant Manager.
The changes have brought an air of optimism to the club and they will be hoping that a positive pre-season can kick-start a succesful campaign.
Managed by Tom Loizou, Haringey play in the Isthmian League Division One North and will provide an interesting test for the Wood’s first pre-season fixture.
From the Dugout – Luke Garrard
“I think that the players are more excited than I am, they are chomping at the bit. The lads have done a lot of work in the last two weeks, and I think that they want to put it into practice now, you can only replicate matches by playing matches.
“You can run and emulate possession and ball-work with drills, but it doesn’t count nearly as much as a match does, they are chomping at the bit.
“It will be a good test, I believe that it is on a 4G pitch and I think that will definitely benefit us.
“It will be Haringey’s second match of pre-season, they played Corinthian Casuals on Saturday. So, naturally, they will be a little more accustomed to the ball than us, and they will have a bit more of a second wind than we will, but it will be a good test.
“It is really about the fitness early on, it is all about getting a baseline fitness into the players.
“I am looking at some certain details that the boys know that I want to see, so it will be very interesting for us and the staff come tomorrow evening.”
