Boreham Wood were undone against a determined Scunthorpe United side, who blew Luke Garrard’s side away with a devastating first-half performance. While Wood were better after the break, they were simply left with too much to do to come back.

Luke Garrard named an unchanged line-up from Saturday’s win at Braintree Town, with one change to his starting line-up from Boxing Day’s thrashing of Wealdstone, as Lewis Richardson replaced the injured Erico Sousa.

It was the visitors who dominated the first half as they outmuscled and bullied Boreham Wood. They forced a succession of corners early on and nearly got off the mark on the fifth minute when Danny Whitehall’s free-kick was deflected narrowly wide. Two minutes later, Oli Ewing had a shot deflected just wide of Ted Curd’s goal. Whitehall again went close on nine minutes, but his weak shot was easily gathered by Curd. On 21 minutes, Callum Roberts tested Curd at his near post, but the Wood keeper was equal to it.

Five minutes later, Matt Rush had the ball in the Iron net, but there was a foul on Whitehall in the build-up. On 27 minutes, the visitors took a deserved lead when a couple of ricochets in the Boreham Wood defence led to what looked like a tap-in from Whitehall. Roberts added a second on 39 minutes with an excellent shot from outside the area which gave Curd no chance. Four minutes later, the Iron could have had a third when Whitehall outmuscled Chris Bush before laying the ball back to Tyler Denton, who fired wide. Just before the break, Scunthorpe added a third. Denton put in a superb cross from the left and, when Whitehall dummied it, Zain Westbrooke made no mistake with an excellent finish.

HT: Boreham Wood 0–3 Scunthorpe

Luke Garrard predictably rang the changes at the break by bringing on Marley Marshall-Miranda, Lewis Richardson and Luke Norris, with the aim of breathing some life into his team. This worked, as Wood were much better in the second half as a result. Out of the three substitutes, Luke Norris was the most impressive with an excellent centre-forward display, much like Whitehall for the visitors in the first half. On 54 minutes, Bush had a long-range effort which went wide. Three minutes later, Bush and Abdul Abdulmalik combined down the left and Bush delivered a cross which was just out of the reach of Rush. On 71 minutes, Zak Brunt struck a free-kick straight at Iron keeper Rory Mahady. Eight minutes later, Brunt went close again but fired over from outside the area.

On 84 minutes, Norris gave Boreham Wood a glimmer of hope with a tidy finish. A minute later, Abdulmalik nearly made things really interesting with an excellent shot which looked destined for the far corner of the goal before cannoning off the bar. Wood continued to knock on the door, but a determined Iron defence held firm. In fact, the last chance of the game fell to the visitors when Declan Howe somehow missed from two yards out when it looked easier to score.

FT: Boreham Wood 1–3 Scunthorpe

It was a disappointing night for Boreham Wood against an excellent Scunthorpe side, but Luke Garrard’s men will learn from this. He will want his team to go to Altrincham on Saturday and right the wrongs of tonight as they come up against another team who will raise their game against them.

Boreham Wood: Curd, Robinson (Richardson 46), Newton (Marshall-Miranda 46), Reynolds, Bush, O’Connell, Brunt, Booty, Abdulmalik, Clayden (Norris 46), Rush.

Subs not used: Coxe, Ilesamni, Payne, Kensdale.

Scunthorpe United: Rory Mahady, Horton, Belehouan, Evans, Whitehall (Ubaezuonu 74), Roberts (Howe 88), Rowley, Ewing (Beestin 88), Westbrooke, Denton, Barrows (Starbuck 69).

Subs not used: Jones, Dawson, Hurst.

Man of the match: Chris Bush.

Match report written by Brett Lewis.