A brilliant second-half hat-trick by Wood’s top scorer Kwesi Appiah was enough to give Boreham Wood an emphatic win against local rivals St Albans City.

Luke Garrard made five changes to his starting line-up from Saturday’s FA Trophy win against Eastbourne Borough, with Josh Hare replacing David Agbontohoma at the back, Jack Payne, Tom Whelan, and Jon Benton replacing Gus Mafuta, Tyrone Marsh, and Mo Sagaf in midfield, and Kwesi Appiah starting instead of Junior Dixon up front.

Boreham Wood controlled the early exchanges and laid siege to the visitors’ goal, but a resilient Saints defence matched Wood’s attackers. Job Benton had the first shot of the match on eight minutes but fired well over the bar. The visitors soon began to get into the game and forced a series of corners. On 19 minutes, Shaun Jeffers forced Nathan Ashmore into a good reaction save after being played in by Giorgio Rasulo.

The next chance fell to Lee Ndlovu on 25 minutes, but he fired straight at Saints keeper Michael Johnson after being put through by a fantastic pass from Chris Bush. Shortly afterwards, Jeffers headed just wide from a corner. Wood started to turn the screw again in the build-up to half-time, and Femi Ilesamni crashed a shot off the crossbar on 37 minutes following some lovely ball control from the Wood veteran.

Wood were nearly made to pay three minutes later when Charles found himself one-on-one with Ashmore, but his shot was weak, allowing the Wood stopper to make the save. Almost immediately, Ilesamni, who got into a lot of attacking positions in the first half, fired over.

HT: Boreham Wood 0-0 St Albans City

The second half was a different game, dominated from start to finish by Boreham Wood. Four minutes after the restart, an inch-perfect pass from Benton found Ndlovu with a free header, but he couldn’t keep his effort down. Just before the hour mark, Appiah gave Wood the lead with a bullet header. Wood’s top scorer nearly added a second four minutes later, but his shot was well blocked by James Clarridge.

On 70 minutes, Appiah added a second when he took advantage of a great pass from the outstanding Ilesamni, finishing well at the back post. It wasn’t long before Appiah completed his hat-trick with an excellent curling shot that gave keeper Johnson no chance. Wood continued to control the game and looked like adding to their haul. Appiah proved he is human after all by missing a good chance created for him by Jayden Richardson.

Local bragging rights go to Boreham Wood, thanks to the efforts of a striker who was sitting in the stand in the early part of the season before Luke Garrard returned to the club. Appiah has been a goal machine since his return to the starting line-up. This was Boreham Wood’s fourth win in a row in all competitions, and they now rise to fourth in the Vanarama National League table.

FT: Boreham Wood 3-0 St Albans City

Boreham Wood: Ashmore, Richardson, Ilesamni, Bush, O’Connell, Hare, Payne, Whelan, Benton (Mafuta 74), Ndlovu (Dixon 65), Appiah (Marsh 87).

Subs not used: Agbontohoma, Abdulmalik.

St Albans City: Johnson, James, Miccio, Long-King, Charles (Allen 86), Jeffers (Wilkinson 82), Banton (Banton 66), Catiglione (Payne 75), Rasulo, Lench (Sweet 80), Clarridge.

Man of the Match: Kwesi Appiah.

Match report written by Brett Lewis.