Boreham Wood U19s were crowned National ECFA Knockout Cup Champions, after a hard fought victory against Balby Carr at Hereford FC on Tuesday afternoon.
Both sides had plenty of quality within their squad so it was always going to be a tight affair and no surprise that after a tough forty five minutes the game was all square at the break. You could see why Balby Carr hadn’t tasted defeat all season, but Wood knew just that little bit of quality in the final third could be the difference.
In games like this you need your big guns to come to the forefront and what ever Cameron Mawer said at the break certainly worked.
Josh Coldicott-Stevens was instrumental in the Wood taking a quick fire 2 goal lead in the second half. Quba Gordon, attacked a Josh Coldicott-Stevens free kick at the back post and with a diving header beat the Balby Carr keeper to break the deadlock to give the Wood a well deserved lead. Wood had Balby Carr on the ropes and shortly after the score line was doubled. A fantastically worked team goal saw Coldicott-Stevens once again play a superb ball to Blake Nwosu, who picked out Alex Morgan. Morgan cut inside played the ball to Frank Keita who squared for Bradley Sach to slot in from close range.
Wood seemed to be coasting to victory although Balby Carr certainly gave the boys a wake up call when a defensive lapse in concentration, saw Wood unable to clear their lines. They paid the ultimate price with Balby Carr halving the deficit.
Man of the match, Sorba Thomas
Credit to the players though the response was just what gaffer Cameron Mawer would have wanted from them. Within minutes, Wood regained their two goal advantage, with the best goal of the game. Blake Nwosu’s defensive header was directed into the path of Alex Morgan who won a 50/50 challenge from the Balby Carr left back with acres of space in front of him he drove towards goal. With Frank Keita up alongside him he managed to square to the ball to the dynamic midfielder who nearly broke the net with a screamer from 18 yards.
The Wood boys showed tremendous maturity, seeing the game out to secure a 3 – 1 victory and being crowned ECFA National Cup Champions.
On a day where all the boys put in a magnificent shift, Boreham Wood’s Sorba Thomas was named ‘Man of the Match’.
Manager Cameron Mawer said “Today was a fantastic achievement, and one we had targeted back in July before the season started, so I’m very proud of the jobs the lads did today. We will enjoy this victory today, but I will then need to re-focus the boys, as we have two more Cup Finals and the League Championship play offs to prepare for, and hopefully we can add more silverware to the table”.
