Blue Square Bet South
Boreham Wood 1 Truro City 2
by John Mead
Scott Walker’s 93rd minute free kick ensured the sun ain’t gonna shine anymore for
another week at least for Ian Allinson’s men.
It was another poor start that cost Wood the points on the day. Conceding after just three minutes it looked like another uphill struggle for Allinson’s injury ravaged side. It was the fourth time in eight outings that the side had conceded inside the first six minutes of a game.
Stoppage time hero Walker provided the left sided cross that was perfectly measured for Marcus Martin who stole in between Daniel Brathwaite and James Smith to head
downwards beyond the stretching Michael Jordan. Wood are resigned to the fact that their three most influential players, Mario Noto, Luke Garrard and Daryl McMahon will be out of action until December. That is the whole of the midfield engine room which leaves the Club in dire straits.
Players are being brought in and Sam Lechmere made his First Team debut, joining old team mate Mark Jones who both won the League title with Braintree Town last
Season.
Jones was asked to play an unfamiliar right back role, whilst Luke Wilkinson came out of defence to bolster the midfield . Both players were a credit to the Club on the afternoon.
Wood struggled to regroup after the early shock and the visitors looked capable of
running riot with centre forward Andrew Watkins in stunning form. He twice got beyond the Wood defence testing Jordan who was on top form to keep the score line respectable.
Lechmere, the stand out player in Wood’s two fixtures against The Iron last Season began to show his pedigree delivering some telling crosses, which highlighted the desperate need for some fire power in front of goal. He had a great chance to open the scoring when Simeon Akinola and Charlie Hunter combined to release the wide player only to drag his shot just wide of the post.
Wood improved as the half wore on without really testing the Truro City defence. All that changed in the blink of an eye after the interval, with Inih Effiong replacing Daniel Brathwaite. This allowed Jones to revert to his left back role with the hard working David Bryant dropping back behind the new front pair. Effiong put the fear into the Truro defence who were time and time again unlocked by his presence and deft touches and turns. Were it not for a lack of experience on occasions Wood could have been celebrating a much needed win long before the final whistle.
Sam Hurrell went close at the far post blasting his effort over the bar after a superb through ball from Hunter, before Effiong broke from the halfway line getting into a superb goal scoring position with options before getting stage fright and shooting tamely wide.
He atoned with the equaliser after fifty-three minutes when a long ball forward allowed him to glide effortlessly past his marker before coolly finishing with a chipped effort beyond the advancing Tim Sandercombe.
Lechmere was just wide of the target minutes later after Effiong supplied the pass as
Wood’s superiority usurped that of the visitors’ in the opening half hour of the game. City for their part weathered the storm. A rising Wilkinson drive was inches wide of a post with eight minutes remaining, before the Daggers Loan player headed wide. Then came the heartbreak for Wood, with Walker hitting a superb unstoppable free kick into the top right hand corner of Jordan’s goal from twenty five yards out to steal the points with just seconds remaining.
For Ian Allinson it was, “Not a time to panic. We can do nothing about the fact that we need to rebuild our entire Squad due to injuries. It was a known fact that with the shape of our Squad if we picked up injuries we would struggle. We have brought in Sam Lechmere who needs games to get match fit. Like Mark Jones they are two lads with a great pedigree yet neither had played a game this Season before joining us. I am fully aware that in seven of our eight games we have conceded in the opening twenty minutes and that needs to be addressed. We started slowly but I feel got to grips with the game sufficiently to have gone on and won it. That said we need a proven goal scorer as a top priority to bolster our options.”
The Club also announced the signing of Karl Beckford who arrives from Tooting &
Mitcham United, having previously featured for Aldershot Town and AFC Wimbledon. The twenty-six year old midfielder was coincidentally unavailable through injury for this game!
Team: Jordan, Wilkinson, Jones, Hunter, O’Loughlin, Smith, Lechmere, Brathwaite (Sub – Effiong 45 mins.), Bryant, Akinola, Hurrell.
Subs (Not used): Scott-Morris, Yala, Currie, Putnins.
Bookings: Wilkinson.
Goals: Boreham Wood: Effiong 53. Truro City: Martin 3, Walker 90+3.
Wood Man of The Match: David Bryant.
