Blue Square Bet South
Boreham Wood 0 Welling United 1
by John D. Gill
It was a game of two real chances to score. Greg Morgan had the opportunity to give Wood the lead after two minutes, and Luis Cumbers had the chance to score straight from the restart of the second half, which he did and it proved to be the winning goal, for Welling United.
Wood Manager Ian Allinson made two changes to his starting line-up, with Greg Morgan replacing Jordan Hibbert and Nicky Nicolau replacing Danny Green.
Wood started the game on the attack and in only the second minute Greg Morgan reached the Welling United penalty area with only ‘keeper Mitchell Walker to beat, but rather than shoot at goal he squared the ball to Ali Chaaban, and his effort was blocked by a defender, and the chance was gone!
Wood, looked strong in defence and continued to attack the visitors. Gareth Risbridger passed the ball wide to Nicky Nicolau, but his cross shot went high and wide of the crossbar. Welling United had to wait until midway through the first half before they gained a corner kick, which came to nothing.
Then Lee Clarke tried a long range shot which Elvijs Putnins managed to fingertip over the bar. This was quickly followed by a cheeky shot from Wood Skipper Mario Noto from just inside the Welling half, which almost caught Walker out, but he managed to catch the ball over his head at the second attempt. This was followed by a Nicky Nicolau left footed free kick which Walker dropped but Ola Sogbanmu shot wide of the far post, and another chance went begging.
Welling eventually created a spell of pressure on the Wood defence as the first half came to a close, but the Wood defence was equal to all their efforts.
Half Time 0 – 0
Within thirty seconds of the restart Luis Cumbers had given Welling United a 0 – 1 lead. The ball was quickly played forward from the kick off and both Cumbers and Andy Pugh ran clear upfield. Mike Cestor failed to stop them with a challenge and Luis Cumbers rounded ‘keeper Putnins before shooting into the empty net.
Wood never really recovered from the shock goal and Welling began to play with a confidence they lacked in the first half. Wood tried to change things with three second half Substitutions, but to no avail! Elliott Godfrey returned to First Team action for the last half an hour, following a spell out through injury.
Wood finished strongly but shots from Jordan Hibbert and Mario Noto were off target.
Boreham Wood Team: Putnins, Garrard, Cestor (Sub – Godfrey 58 mins.), Moran, Wilkinson, Noto, Morgan, Risbridger (Sub – Hibbert 53 mins.), Chaaban (Sub – Adjei 75 mins.), Sogbanmu, Nicolau.
Subs (Not used): Green and Kamara.
Man of the Match: Luke Wilkinson.
