Blue Square Bet South
Eastbourne Borough 1 Boreham Wood 1
by John Mead
Draw number fifteen of the campaign means Wood have taken just four points from a possible fifteen at the business end of the Season. With their share of the spoils The Sports edged to within a point of mathematical safety. Wood’s point sees them slip a further two points behind the chasing Play-off pack and although mathematically the Season goes on, it would take some freak results to change their fortunes now.
Wood enjoyed the majority of possession yet were lacking again in the final third. Graeme Montgomery smashed a fourth minute free kick into The Sports wall, before James Russell showed good hands in the Wood goal to deny Elliott Charles.
Cliff Akurang was the livelier of the Wood strike partnership, yet chances for both sides were at a premium until Wood went close after twenty-eight minutes. A corner played short was delivered to the far post where Callum Reynolds smashed his shot against the crossbar, before Michael Thalassitis was thwarted by a fine stop from ‘keeper Danny Potter, on the rebound.
Poor finishing from Greg Morgan wasted another good chance from a free kick in the second half before Borough stunned Wood by taking the lead. Sam Cole skipped free down the left and his cross was met by Charles whose header appeared to be saved on the line by Russell but he could not prevent it crossing the line.
The response from Wood caught The Sports out cold as within thirty seconds they were level. A ball curled with the outside of the boot from Montgomery played Morgan through on goal and when Potter failed to gather cleanly Thalassitis stormed in to fire home the equaliser.
What was a relatively even game now took on a more one sided bias with Wood winning corner after corner. Charlie Moone forced Potter into a tip over before more wayward finishing from Wood failed to alter the outcome of the game.
Ian Allinson praised his side’s “Effort and application, remember most of them needed a day off as we had to leave early for the journey. We enjoyed the majority of possession yet our end product was again poor. We wasted our corners and lacked a consistency up front. That has been our undoing as we know we are good enough to beat any team in the Division on the day. We are still mathematically not out of it, so we will be looking for maximum points from our last three games.”
Next up for Wood is the visit of the Champions elect, Welling United, searching for the one point they require for the title.
Team: Russell, Garrard, Jones (Sub – Hastings 77 mins.), Moone, O’Loughlin, Reynolds, Morgan, Isaac, Thalassitis, Akurang, Montgomery.
Subs (Not used): Nunn, Pires, Doolan, Knight.
Bookings: O’Loughlin, Montgomery.
Goals: Eastbourne Borough: Charles 54. Boreham Wood: Thalassitis 55.
Man of the Match: Luke Garrard.
