Boreham Wood and Dartford played out an entertaining 1-1 draw at Princes Park in the FA Trophy, which will see the two face a replay at Meadow Park on Tuesday night (7.45pm).

Ricky Shakes (56) opened the scoring for the Wood in the second half, driving the ball past Deren Ibrahim in the Dartford goal.

However, Tom Murphy was able to equalise for the Darts, who sit top of the National League South. 

Dartford’s Alex Brown was sent off for a second bookable offence shortly after his sides equaliser, but Dartford remained tight at the back and kept out a late Wood onslaught.

With Keiran Murtagh suspended for the tie, Tom Champion pushed into midfield with skipper Mark Ricketts, while Jamie Turley joined the back three.

The returning Turley nodded narrowly wide from Bruno Andrade’s free-kick, just minutes into the first half.

Dartford have dominated the National League South for much of this season, and showed their quality, with some early pressure.

Grant Smith was forced to use his feet, to slickly flick the ball past Dartford forward Murphy, who had chased down a loose ball.

Ryan Hayes’ curling free-kick was then forced wide by the towering David Stephens, the subsequent corner was thrashed clear by the Wood.

The Wood countered following the clearance, with Kane Smith playing an impressive long-ball down the channel to Andrade. The forward pulled it back for Smith, but he dragged his effort wide.

Smith was then on the attack again, but he sent his effort over the crossbar.

The opening half an hour had been an end-to-end event, and Angelo Balanta countered for the visitors, he had Shaun Jeffers alongside him, but Dartford recovered to clear.

Wood stopper Smith sent a thumping long-ball up from his area, and it was heading into the opposition box, but again Dartford were able to clear.

The teams returned for the second half in similar fashion and Smith played a paced ball down the right-wing for Balanta, but he was pressured out of play.

The Wood made their breakthrough in the 56th minute, Andrade had laid the ball off to Turley, who curled it into the opposition’s box. The ball landed at the feet of the unmarked Shakes, who powered it past Ibrahim, via a deflection off Danny Harris.

Dartford had re-awoken following the opener and a corner caused chaos in the Wood penalty area. Smith missed his initial punch, but made no mistake the second time and clawed the ball from the multiple Dartford attackers.

An Andrade free-kick from 30-yards looked dangerous, but no one could get onto the end of it, and it sailed out for a goal kick.

Dartford equalised shortly after, Tom Murphy drove forward, cut inside and fizzled the ball past Smith.

Just two minutes after their equaliser, Alex Brown was given his marching orders by the referee, for a second yellow card, after a challenge on Tom Champion.

The Wood were desperate to make their numerical advantage pay, and Andrade fired a shot from 20-yards, but it drifted wide.

Shakes attempted a long-distance effort of his own; he had won the ball deep in the Dartford half, but he thumped his shot over the woodwork.

Holman had entered the field with just over 10 minutes remaining, and lashed a strike from 20-yards, but Ibrahim was able to catch and hold his effort.

Luke Garrard’s side continued to push forward, but Dartford were defending in numbers, and holding on.

Andrade snatched the ball down the right-hand side, and blasted at Ibrahim, but the stopper dived low and held his strike.

Four minutes of injury time were played, but the Darts held on for a hard-fought 1-1 draw.

The Wood: G Smith, K Smith, Woodards (Shakes 25), Ricketts ©, Wells, Stephens, Champion, Andrade, Jeffers (Holman 78), Turley, Balanta

Subs not used: Burbidge, Sach, Thomas

Dartford: Ibrahim, Harris, Onyemah, Bonner, Vint, Brown, Hayes, Bradbrook ©, Mills (Pavey 78), Noble, Murphy (Della-Verde 86)

Subs not used: Pugh, Mfula, Cue

Goals:

The Wood: Shakes 56 

Dartford: Murphy 67

Red card: Brown 69

Attendance: 607

 

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