Wood produced an excellent performance to beat relegated Morecambe and secure a fourth-place finish in the National League, confirming a home Eliminator tie in the play-offs.

Luke Garrard made one change to his starting lineup from last week’s win against Hartlepool United, with Erico Sousa coming in for Leon Ayinde.

Buoyed by their vocal crowd, Morecambe started on the front foot, forcing two early corners. It took some desperate defending from Femi Ilesanmi and Charlie O’Connell to prevent early goalscoring opportunities. After three minutes, Abdul Abdulmalik chased a loose ball and attempted to round Shrimps goalkeeper Jamal Blackman, but the former Chelsea stopper did well to block. Three minutes later, a neat move involving Abdulmalik and Matt Rush ended with Sousa firing over. On 12 minutes, Tom White’s effort drifted just off target against his former club.

Wood continued to turn the screw, and, on 21 minutes, Zak Brunt struck the outside of the post following a good move involving Abdulmalik and White. Four minutes later, Sousa saw a goal bound effort deflected just wide. On 27 minutes, Wood took a deserved lead when a stray pass from Raheem Conte fell to Brunt, who played an excellent through ball to Abdulmalik and the Wood number 10 made no mistake, cutting in onto his right foot before burying the ball past Blackman.

Eight minutes later, Brunt nearly added a second but was denied by another fine save from Blackman. Rush then forced the Shrimps keeper into yet another good stop two minutes later. Just before the break, the hosts registered their first effort on goal when Jack Nolan drew a solid near post save from Ted Curd.

HT: Morecambe 0–1 Boreham Wood

Soon after the restart, Brunt had another opportunity, attempting to chip Blackman, who gathered comfortably. Three minutes later, Morecambe attacked well and, after a good move, Dan Ogwuru fired wide when he should have scored. On 51 minutes, Brunt picked out Rush, who rounded the keeper but was forced too wide and could only square the ball across goal, with no one there to apply the finishing touch. Shortly afterwards, Ilesanmi fired over on his weaker right foot.

Brunt continued to pull the strings in midfield, and, on 66 minutes, he had another chance to double Wood’s lead, but saw his effort wide. Three minutes later, a delightful one-two between Brunt and Rush ended with the latter forcing Blackman into another good save. The hosts showed real spirit during this spell and, were it not for some excellent defending from Chris Bush and O’Connell, they might have created more. A spate of substitutions from both sides disrupted the flow of the game, which suited Luke Garrard’s side.

On 90 minutes, Wood added a second when Abdulmalik played in substitute Joe Newton, who finished well. Then, in the fourth minute of added time, Lewis Richardson supplied the third with a stunning strike from outside the area to ice the cake.

FT: Morecambe 0–3 Boreham Wood

Morecambe: Blackman, Conte, Edwards (Jameson 80), Hogan, Lewis, Sangare (Tollitt 73), Ogwuru (Wright 61), Song’o (Campbell 73), Fogarty, Akindileni (Fairclough 80), Nolan.

Subs not used: Scales, Popov.

Boreham Wood: Curd, Clarke, Ilesanmi (Newton 8), O’Connell, Bush, White, Brunt, Booty (Reynolds 80), Abdulmalik, Sousa (Richardson 61), Rush (Landers 84).

Subs not used: Coxe, Henry, Clayden.

Man of the Match: Zak Brunt.

Match report written by Brett Lewis.