It wasn’t pretty, but a late Kwesi Appiah goal was enough to see off Eastbourne Borough and ensure Boreham Wood are in the hat for the Isuzu Fourth Round draw of the FA Trophy on Monday.
Luke Garrard made five changes to his starting lineup from last Monday’s dramatic win at Chelmsford City, with David Agbontohoma replacing Josh Hare at the back, Mo Sagaf, Gus Mafuta, and Tyrone Marsh replacing Jack Payne, Tom Whelan, and Jon Benton in midfield, and Lee Ndlovu coming in for Kwesi Appiah up front.
The visitors moved the ball around well in the early stages and had the game’s first chance on six minutes when, after a nice turn, Courtney Clarke forced a good save from Nathan Ashmore. Wood’s first effort on goal came nine minutes later when Femi Ilesamni fired over on his weaker right foot after a good run. A minute later, Tyrone Marsh forced a good save from Sports keeper Joe Wright from a free kick.
On 18 minutes, following a trademark Chris Bush throw-in, Marsh shot narrowly wide. The visitors then went up the other end, and Jayden Davis’s shot went well over the bar. Boreham Wood started to play some nice passing football over the next period of the match, but the only shot they had during that period was a Charlie O’Connell effort on thirty-two minutes, which Wright easily gathered.
HT: Boreham Wood 0-0 Eastbourne Borough
The second half was largely dominated by the visitors as Boreham Wood struggled at times to get out of their own half. Just after the restart, Eastbourne could have taken the lead when Michael Klass’s shot was well saved by Ashmore. Almost immediately, Mo Sagaf was denied by Sports keeper Wright. On 51 minutes, some sloppy defending by O’Connell enabled George Alexander to get a shot in that was saved well by Ashmore. Six minutes later, Mafuta fired over the crossbar after a Sagaf corner. On 60 minutes, another defensive error, this time from Chris Bush, presented a chance for Davis, who fired just wide. 10 minutes later, Ashmore pulled off another excellent save to deny Davis when his shot looked like going into the corner.
For the third game running, Luke Garrard rang the changes with Tom Whelan, Kwesi Appiah, Jon Benton, and Abdul Abdulmalik coming on to try and wrestle control of the match away from their dominant visitors. The move worked once again when, on 80 minutes, an inch-perfect cross from Benton found fellow substitute Appiah, whose control and finish gave keeper Wright no chance for the only goal of the game. The goal knocked the stuffing out of the Sports, and Wood had a couple of opportunities to add to their lead. On 89 minutes, Abdulmalik was one-on-one with the keeper but was forced wide and unable to get a shot in. A minute later, another perfect Benton cross was headed goalwards by Appiah, but Wright somehow pulled off a save. The visitors weren’t finished, and in the final minute of stoppage time, a dipping shot by Dominic Odusanya just cleared Ashmore’s crossbar.
In the end, the quality of the Boreham Wood bench was the difference between the sides. Eastbourne were the better side for the most part, and if it wasn’t for Nathan Ashmore in the Wood goal, they would have been out of sight. However, they were unable to do anything about the quality of Benton’s cross and Appiah’s finish.
FT: Boreham Wood 1-0 Eastbourne Borough
Boreham Wood: Ashmore, Richardson, Ilesamni (Abdulmalik 75), Bush, O’Connell, Agbontohoma, Mafuta, Sagaf (Whelan 59), Marsh (Benton 66), Ndlovu, Dixon (Appiah 66).
Subs not used: Payne, Hare, Busse.
Eastbourne Borough: Wright, Clarke, Woollard-Innocent, Barry, Kensdale, Finney (Quick 46 / Diarra 88), Odusanya, Johnson (Ballard-McBride), Klass (Sesay 87), Davis (Pavey 82), Alexander.
Subs not used: Weston, Gbadebo.
Man of the Match: Nathan Ashmore.
Match report written by Brett Lewis.
