Boreham Wood and Gateshead played out an entertaining 3-3 draw at the international Stadium, in the FA Trophy. The tie will now go to a replay, which will be played on Tuesday, January 16 (7.45pm) at Meadow Park.
Kieran Murtagh had opened the lead for Luke Garrard’s side in the 51st minute, smashing the ball past Gateshead stopper Dan Hanford from close range. Kane Smith doubled the lead just four minutes later, with a long-range strike.
The Wood looked set for the next round of the trophy, but a 76th minute penalty for the Heed, turned the tie on its head.
Jordan Burrow scored from the spot, before netting twice more to complete his hat-trick, in injury time.
Having gone behind, the Wood showed character and resilience to battle back and net a 95th minute equaliser, through a Bruno Andrade penalty.
Danny Woodards lined up alongside Jamie Turley and Tom Champion in the back three, with Michael Folivi making his debut upfront, partnering Joe Quigley.
Folivi looked bright in the opening exchanges, he met a through ball from Smith and whisked past his marker, but he was then muscled off the ball.
Smith then nut-megged Neil Byrne with a pass to Folivi, who squeezed past two Heed defenders, but they were able to recover and thrash clear.
A sublime Maradona from Murtagh took him straight past Russ Penn and he fed Quigley, but his strike was blocked.
Despite impressing early on, a clear-cut had been missing for the Wood, and Folivi thought that he had one shortly before half time. The loanee cutback on Byrne in the area and sent the defender packing, but his shot was easily dealt with by the home defence.
Wes York broke on the counter attack for Gateshead and drove through the recovering Wood defence, but he was brought down for a free-kick by Folivi, before he could strike. The subsequent free-kick came to nothing.
Quigley was found in the area by Blair Turgott on 47 minutes, but his 10-yard strike was blocked and sent wide.
The Wood had their breakthrough shortly after the 50th minute; some excellent footwork from Quigley kept the ball away from three markers, before he teed off Murtagh. Murtagh then cracked a powerful strike past Hanford.
Luke Garrard’s side doubled their lead just four mintues later; Kane Smith had been left in too much space on the right-hand side and launched a left-footed strike from 20-yards, that struck the post on its way past Hanford.
Two more chances followed, as Quigley curled an effort wide from just outside of the area and Folivi saw a similar effort blocked for a corner, after countering for the Wood.
Jordan Preston’s introduction for the home side had added a new dimension to their play, with his crosses looking dangerous. However, his forwards were struggling to get anything onto the end of them.
On the attack, Folivi flicked the ball around his marker, but his strike was defended well by the home side.
Burrow had been found in the Wood box, but he was stopped by a superb sliding challenge from Kane Smith, just as he was about to strike.
With left than 15 minutes remaining, Noah Chesmain brought down York in the area, with the referee pointing straight to the spot. Burrow stepped up and confidently blasted the ball past Grant Smith and into the top corner.
Five minutes later and the home side had equalised, with Burrow meeting Preston’s cross and heading past Smith.
Andrade had been brought on from the bench in the hope of netting a winner, and met Murtagh’s curled through ball, but his strike was blocked.
In the second minute of injury time, Burrow completed his hat-trick, heading past Smith once again, having met Scott Barrow’s cross.
But it wasn’t to be the final action of the game, as Andrade was taken down in the penalty area by Theo Vassell, in the 95th minute. The forward stepped up and drove the ball past Hanford, to level the scores once more and send the Wood Army into raptures.
The Wood: G Smith, K Smith, Woodards, Ricketts ©, Champion, Murtagh, Quigley (Balanta 78), Turley, Folivi (Andrade 86), Turgott, Chesmain (Shakes 78)
Subs not used: Jeffers, Jarvis
Gateshead: Hanford, Vassell, Barrow, Byrne ©, Fyfield, York, Peniket (Burrow 32), Johnson (Bell 60), McLaughlin Penn, Hannant (Preston 60)
Subs: Kerr, Burrow, MacLeod
Attendance: 284 (17 away)
Goals:
The Wood: Murtagh 51, Smith 55, Andrade 95
Gateshead: Burrow 76, 83, 92
