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MATCH REPORT: ALDERSHOT VS BOREHAM WOOD
It was another bad day at of the office, one which Luke Garrard described as “below par” as Wood returned from Aldershot empty handed.
Once again individual errors cost the Wood dearly as Garrard’s men could not get themselves into the game.
Garrard made four changes from the defeat to Guiseley. Daniel Uchechi, Matt Paine and Jamie Lucas dropped to the bench whilst Anthony Jeffrey missed out owing to suspension. In came fit again Bruno Andrade and Ricky Shakes with David Stephens and Conor Clifford also returning to the starting XI.
In the opening period neither side really took control of the game, with much of the game being played in the middle of the park.
The first chance of the game fell the way of the Wood when, after a neat turn, Angelo Balanta was fouled a good 30 yards from goal. Bruno Andrade took the free kick but despite getting the ball over the wall and down again it didn’t quite have enough curl on it to find the back of the net.
It was a bit like a skating rink for the Wood players as one after the other they seemed to slip at crucial moments and this was indeed the case as Aldershot took the lead. A wide pass from Jim Kellermann found Bernard Mensah and, just as Ben Nunn looked likely to intercept the ball, he slipped to give Mensah a free run to the by-line. The pacey winger crossed for Scott Rendell and the experienced forward got across his man to beat Grant Smith at the near post.
After taking the lead Aldershot took control of the game and had plenty of the ball without really troubling the Wood back four or testing Smith as the half came to a close.
Mensah almost doubled the home side’s lead within minutes of the second half starting with a snap shot on the turn which stung the palms of Smith who did well to hold on.
Smith was called into action again and this time had to be at full stretch to pull off a fantastic save from Dion Conroy. The lively and impressive Idris Kanu got the better of Femi Ilesanmi sliding the ball inside to Conroy whose first time effort looked to find the top corner. However, Smith was equal to his shot pushing his effort over for a corner.
Wood were then the masters of their own downfall. After being awarded a free kick inside the Aldershot half, and with the big defenders up in the box, Nunn took a short free kick looking for Kenny Davis. The ball was easily intercepted leaving the Wood defence stranded upfield. Mensah sprayed the ball wide for Kanu who used his pace to find an extra yard of space on a one on one with Ilesanmi before cutting inside and beating Smith with his left foot.
Garrard made two positive changes introducing Jamie Lucas and Rhys Murrell-Williamson, changing to a 3-5-2 formation. However, Wood were unable to muster any chances of note and Aldershot managed to see the game out to claim the three points.
Boreham Wood: Smith, Nunn, Ilesanmi, Ricketts, Stephens, Devera, Davis, Clifford (Murrell-Williamson), Shakes (Lucas), Balanta, Andrade
Not used: Woodards, Uchechi
