Boreham Wood were made to settle for a 3-3 draw against a dogged Tamworth side despite dominating the match

Luke Garrard gave competitive first-team debuts to goalkeeper Luca Gunter, left-back Tyler Golden and winger Tarryn Allarakhia. Fellow new signings Ollie Bainbridge, Danny Cashman and Farheen Ali Fahid took their place on the bench. Despite the speculation regarding Abdul Abdulmalik this week, the outstanding wide man also took his place on the bench.

Boreham Wood controlled a lot of possession early on, but it was the visitors who had the game’s first chance on three minutes when Joe Rye played in Kieran Donnelly, who mishit his shot when well placed.

Eight minutes later, Teo Kurtaran forced a good save from Luca Gunter. On 15 minutes, a well-worked free-kick from Zak Brunt found James Clarke, whose well-struck shot was well saved by Jas Singh in the Lambs’ goal.

Kurtaran shot from distance on 25 minutes, but it went well wide. Wood had an excellent chance to take the lead on the half-hour mark when Lewis Richardson headed over from close range.

A minute later, Matt Rush had the ball in the Tamworth net, but it was ruled out for a foul in the build-up. Wood started to ramp up the pressure and Tylor Gordon forced Singh into a good save on 41 minutes.

Just before the break, the visitors took the lead against the run of play. In injury time at the end of the half, the Wood defence were at sixes and sevens, and Kieran Donnelly was able to steal in and put the ball into an empty net.

Wood could have been level immediately afterwards when a lovely turn and shot from Brunt went just wide. In the fourth minute of injury time, Rush was able to steal in at the far post from an inch-perfect Brunt cross to give Wood a deserved equaliser going into the break.

HT: Boreham Wood 1-1 Tamworth

Wood came out for the second half looking to put the visitors to the sword, and two minutes after the restart, Allarakhia had a good chance but dragged his shot wide.

On 57 minutes, Nathan Tshikuna struck a shot from the edge of the penalty area that was deflected into the path of Donnelly, who finished well to restore the Lambs’ lead.

The introduction of Abdul Abdulmalik and Danny Cashman gave Wood renewed energy, and both had a significant impact on what was to come.

On 67 minutes, Abdulmalik went on an excellent run down the left before crossing the ball to Rush, who finished with aplomb.

Two minutes later, Wood went in front when Brunt played in Danny Cashman, whose square pass found Rush, who put Wood in front and completed his hat-trick in the process.

Wood were now in complete control, and it seemed a matter of time before they scored again. The impressive Cashman went close on 80 minutes but skied his shot when well placed. The Crawley Town loanee tried an audacious overhead kick moments later, but he couldn’t get a real connection on the ball.

As the game moved into 10 minutes of stoppage time, the visitors picked things up and, on 90+4, Jordan Liburd struck a shot against the crossbar.

Seven minutes later, a mistimed tackle from Cashman in the penalty area gave referee Aaron Jackson no choice but to award a penalty, which Benjamin Milnes converted to give the Lambs a share of the points.

FT: Boreham Wood 3-3 Tamworth

Boreham Wood: Gunter, James (Bainbridge 67), Golden, Bush, O’Connell, White, Brunt (Marshall-Miranda 90+6), Booty, Richardson (Abdulmalik 56), Allarakhia (Cashman 67), Rush.

Subs not used: Ali Wahid, Kensdale, Stapelberg.

Tamworth: Singh, Lyttle, Fairlamb, Rye, Liburd, Kurtaran (McGlinchey 77), Bramble (Creaney 90+4), Tshikuna (Hutchinson 77), Roberts, Acquaye (Milnes 77), Donnelly (Dyson 89).

Subs not used: Lovett, Parkes.

Written by Brett Lewis.