It was a disappointing day in the West Midlands for Boreham Wood as they succumbed to a 4-1 defeat at Solihull Moors.

Luke Garrard named an unchanged starting lineup following Friday’s win against Wealdstone.

It was a cagey opening to the match, as neither side was able to really create much early on. Wood controlled a lot of the possession, but they were unable to offer a great deal while in control, apart from a Charlie O’Connell header directly at Laurie Walker following a Regan Booty free kick on seven minutes. The hosts took the lead, however, with their first real effort on goal just shy of the half-hour mark, when Lewis Baines rose highest above several bodies to head the ball past Ted Curd in the Wood goal following a corner.

Nine minutes later, the Moors added a second, and this time it was Darius Lipsiuc who headed home from close range, with Wood conceding from back-to-back set-pieces in quick succession. Abdul Abdulmalik was one of few rays of light for Boreham Wood on a difficult afternoon, and he went close to pulling a goal back before the interval as he cut inside and fired just wide of Laurie Walker’s goal, then forced the Solihull shot stopper into a good save following a similar move.

HT: Solihull Moors 2–0 Boreham Wood

The Wood’s chances of getting anything from the match were all but gone three minutes after the restart, when Lipsiuc scored his second and Solihull’s third with an excellent turn and finish which gave Curd no chance in the Wood goal. It would get worse for Luke Garrard’s side, as Moors had the ball in the net again, this time through Joe Sbarra, whose excellent finish from inside the area was slotted underneath a retreating Chris Bush and into the far bottom corner.

Following the fourth goal, Abdulmalik attempted to give the Moors defence a torrid time down the left-hand side; however, his Wood teammates were not on the same page and rarely got on the end of any of his crosses. Matt Rush forced a good save from Walker past the hour mark, and the former Barnet ’keeper produced an even better stop two minutes later to deny Abdulmalik as he cut in from the left to curl one goalwards. With nine minutes of normal time left, Josh Landers scored his first goal for the club with a neat turn and shot past Walker, albeit a consolation to soften the blows of what was a poor afternoon for the visitors. Abdulmalik did have one more golden chance three minutes later as he curled one from the edge which somehow whistled past Walker’s far post, much to his good fortune, and with that, Moors were able to hold out comfortably for the three points.

FT: Solihull Moors 4-1 Boreham Wood

It was a bad day at the office for Luke Garrard’s men who simply didn’t get going. The Wood’s next outing is at home to Hartlepool United on Saturday.

Solihull Moors: Walker, Green, Whitmore, Baines, McFarlane, Moore (Tipton 77), Worman (Sho-Silva 82), Lipsiuc (Rutherford 82), High, Sbarra, French

Subs not used: Flahavan, Osborne, Wakeling

Boreham Wood: Curd, Clarke (Coxe 60), Ilesanmi (Newton 78), O’Connell, Bush, White, Brunt (Sousa 72), Booty (Reynolds 60), Abdulmalik, Richardson, Rush (Landers 72)

Subs not used: Henry, Richardson,

Man of the Match: Abdul Abdulmalik

Match report written by Brett Lewis