Our run in the Isuzu FA Trophy has ended in the fourth round after a narrow 2-1 defeat at home to Boreham Wood on Saturday.
We were beaten courtesy of two impressive second-half strikes, first by Matt Rush just after the hour-mark before Jon Benton effectively sealed The Wood’s victory six minutes before stoppage time.
Although Andy Robinson did manage to pull one back during the added minutes, it would not be quite enough to prevent the Hertfordshire outfit from entering the last-16 of the competition.
Still, Warren Feeney was far from disappointed with our performance as he praised the way we “equipped [our]selves against…one of the best teams in the league.”
Moreover, we have the ability to rectify our loss tomorrow evening, as we return to league normality by travelling to South East London, where 20th-place Welling await us…
Before the cup clash, Warren alluded to making line-up changes for fitness and morale reasons.
He certainly swapped around our starters, as only four from our New-Year trip to Salisbury remained.
As perhaps expected against a team one point off the top of the table, the first-half chances came the visitors’ way.
They could have opened the scoring after just eight minutes after Lee Ndlovu found Charles Clayden inside the box.
But luckily for us the ex-Charlton Athletic winger fired wide with a first-time shot.
Clayden was found again just five minutes later as he sent a cross into the box, which was snuffed out with a heroic header by Jordon Thompson to safety.
At this point Will Buse hadn’t been tasked with making a save, although things would change for our reliable shot-stopper just six minutes later, Clayden being at the forefront once more.
The wide man’s cross lofted towards Jayden Richardson, whose volley was smartly kept out by our goalkeeper who dived to his left to hold onto the ball.
Soon enough the game crept up to half-an-hour when Euan Pollock was forced off with a suspected head injury, though our forward was able to walk off the pitch.
Three minutes later saw Clayden continue to terrorise us as he sent in another dangerous-looking cross, only for a collective sigh of relief to be released as the ball landed on the roof of the net.
This incident appeared to send a message to our players, who soon properly threatened The Wood’s goal for the first time nine minutes before added time.
Our move began when Leo Hamblin picked out Brooklyn Genesini with a cross, before Brooklyn’s powerful volley was bravely caught by the skipper Nathan Ashmore.
By now the game petered out somewhat, although Busey would have work to do two minutes before the fourth official’s board was held aloft.
The keeper gathered a header from approx. six yards out, and smartly held onto the ball to prevent Rush from shooting at goal on the rebound.
Then, in the fifth and final minute of additional time, Brooklyn was picked out by Keelan O’Connell, although his quick shot was fired just wide as neither side could take the lead in the first half.
After The Wood were the firmer side in the opening first-half minutes with their opportunities, we would draw blood first after the break 13 minutes in when a thunderous strike from Christie Ward from long range was forcefully pushed away by Ashmore with both hands.
A minute later, Robbo was clipped approx. 25 yards from goal near the left-hand side, giving Jaiden Bartolo the chance to open the scoring via a tight-angle free-kick.
The Gibraltar international came close to doing so, curling the ball over the wall but just past the left-hand side netting.
But then, as is often the cruel case with football, just as we had shown clear growth in the game, the opposition would strike back.
It started with a diagonal long-ball across the pitch into the path of Rush, who controlled the ball with a delicate touch before driving towards the edge of the box.
His effort, although not particularly powerful, was into the bottom-left corner and accurate enough to roll past Busey and give The Wood a 1-0 lead after 61 minutes.
But we continued to search for a goal of our own as goal-machine Brandon Goodship cut in from the left-hand side six minutes later.
His subsequent curler, although deflected, momentarily seemed to cause panic as the ball bounced in the air, before Ashmore caught with both hands.
Though once again, as we appeared to have a level of control in this tough game, the visitors would produce a piece of magic that would further strengthen their grip on the next round.
If Rush’s goal was tough to keep out, Busey had absolutely no chance stopping Benton’s wonder strike.
After taking one touch, the midfielder blasted the ball into the top-right corner from long-range.
As the scoreline was now 2-0 with just six minutes left of regular time remaining, hopes of reaching the last-16 for the first time in 17 years were rendered slim.
But just as the game looked to be over, Robbo responded and gave us a lifeline, after sliding the ball into the bottom-right corner, halving our goal deficit with four minutes left of the five awarded in stoppage time.
Though somewhat anti-climatically compared to the rest of the match, there was no final opportunity as Luke Garrard’s side booked their place in the last-16.
