HORNCHURCH 1 BOREHAM WOOD 4
The lowest attendance of the season and arguably the poorest performance of the season. Urchins were without Donny Barnard who went off with an injury against Ramsgate, and Mark Janney returned to the starting line up. Boreham Wood were without ex-Urchin Ollie Adedeji, who was out with injury. It started well for Hornchurch, kicking towards the windmill end of the ground. A long penetrating pass by Simon Parker allowed Dean Green to race through, and keeper Anstead rushed out of his area to hammer the ball wildly away. A minute later it was a repeat performance, when Mark Janney put Parker clear through the middle, and once again Anstead raced way out of his area to kick clear. It was yellow balls night, as the league have ruled that matches must be played with yellow balls in December and January, but this soon changed when the last of these went sailing into the river Ingrebourne, to be replaced with a white ball, which promptly went the same way.
And when Andy Tomlinson sent Parker through, the keeper repeated the performance, this time heading away. It was looking good, especially when a quickly taken free kick saw Dean Green round Atta and Donovan, but his low cross into the middle eluded everyone.

There were already signs that the visitors were wasting time, and the East Side grew annoyed with the referee for not taking action, although Louis Lee was booked for a foul. Boreham Wood took the lead with their first attack of the night, when a free kick was awarded about ten yards out from the edge of the area, with many thinking it should have gone the other way. The wall lined up, Lee Allinson lurked close to the ball, but it was CHRIS WATTERS who took the kick and sent the ball screaming over the wall and into the net.

It could have been two a minute later when Watters found himself in yards of room on the left, but a quick intervention by McFarlane averted the danger. Urchins were struggling against a team who packed their defence, though Elliot Styles nearly found the net in spectacular fashion when he won a tackle inside his own half, and the ball almost bounced over the keeper’s head as the ball sailed upfield and goalwards.

It was Styles again who won a midfield ball and sent Parker away on the right and Simon was scythed down on the edge of the area by Yemi Atta, who was fortunate to escape with a yellow card, and he was followed into the book by Wes Daly who had protested too long and too loudly for the referee’s liking, but Andy Tomlinson’s free kick drifted wide of the goal. Parker then homed in from the right and Atta tackled to concede a corner which Janney took and Anstead caught with on hand.

And then Boreham Wood increased their lead when CHRIS WATTERS again found yards of space on the left and sent over a chest high cross, which was going nowhere until Jim McFarlane chested it into the net. And a minute later it could easily have been three, when Dale Brightly came out of his area to deal with a high ball, completely misjudged the bounce, and the ball sailed over his head to Sean Sonner, who gleefully punted it goalwards, but Andy Tomlinson had got back in time to clear off the line, to concede a corner, which dropped right at the feet of Watters, who hammered his shot just high and wide, just missing a passing owl.

A Green cross found Kris Lee, whose shot was touched away for a corner, which Tomlinson took, and Lee’s goal bound shot was blocked on the line. Green then played a neat ball to Goodfellow, but he was dispossessed by Watters who played the ball inside to Sonner, who promptly returned it to Watters, whose first time cross was intercepted by Purdie. Just before the interval, Urchins got back into the match when Kris Lee sent SIMON PARKER clear and he netted with a low shot from the edge of the area.

With no yellow balls located, it was white ball time once again in the second half. Urchins stepped up the pace and the visitors wasted as much time as they could get away with, thanks to a very lenient referee, who kept looking at his watch but doing little to speed up proceedings. A Tomlinson free kick was headed on by Paul Shave to Jim McFarlane, but the whistle went before McFarlane’s shot had entered the net. At the other end Sonner broke clear but Purdie tackled well to intercept, and McFarlane dealt capably with Watter’s break away rush. Tomlinson, Janney and Lee combined well but Lee’s cross was headed away by Wordsworth, and a goal looked likely when Janney put Parker clear, and Simon cut inside from the right, but Anstead saved well. Billy Coyne and Ross Wall came on, and a Wall pass to Parker resulted in a corner which Tomlinson took. Anstead punched clear, the ball fell to McFarlane, but he put his shot wide.

Dean Green then won another corner, and Tomlinson’s centre found Wall, who heeded on to Goodfellow, whose header was caught right on the line by Anstead. At the other end, Billy Coyne headed Mason’s cross out for a corner which was played short to Watters, who hit his shot wide. Boreham Wood scored their third when a ball was hammered out of defence out to the left side of the pitch , and JOEL MASON was waiting in the middle, completely unmarked, to score. Dave Sadler came on for Mark Janney, but Urchins were unable to penetrate the packed defence, and concede a fourth when a long goal kick fell to SEAN SONNER who ran on and slotted the ball home.

The closest Urchins came to pulling a goal back was when they forced two successive corners, both taken by Tomlinson, but a series of late substitutions by the visitors disrupted the match, and although only five minutes were added on for time wasting, it made little difference, and Boreham Wood did not look like conceding any more goals.