Lewis fired up by new strikers
Boss hoping faces will end scoring problem HAYES & YEADING
United have been lacklustre in front of goal this season and Pat Cox, who left the club back in early December, remains top of the scoring charts with seven strikes.
You have to look all the way down to Dean Inman, a centre-half, and winger Rhys Murrell-Williamson to find Hayes & Yeading’s joint leading scorers on two goals apiece.
However, boss Phil Babb has brought in plenty of new firepower in recent weeks as the likes of Elliot Benyon and former Reading prospect Nicholas Bignall have pitched up.
And manager assistant Lewis reckons that fresh impetus will help find a first league win in six games when they make the short trip to Wealdstone this weekend.
“I honestly think we’ve turned the corner,” Lewis said.
“The boys trained on Saturday as we didn’t have a game. We’ve got to get some minutes into some players so they need to be working. We try and win every game.
“We had a real problem scoring goals but we think we’ve addressed that.
“Nicholas Bignall is going to be a good player for us and he’s only just getting himself fit. Junior Ogedi-Uzokwe is something of a wild card for us and he could be anything.
“Elliot Benyon has been fantastic as well and Tom Derry from Aldershot looks like a good player.
“We’re really positive. Jim Fenlon wasn’t fit enough to play when he first arrived but he’ll get there and will be signing on the left.
“We’ve got one or two areas we still want to strengthen, but when we do that we hope the results will turn for us. “The boys have en fantastic
training and opefully we’ll e that soon on he pitch. It’s isappointing to ose Matt Ruby ut he thinks he eeds some time away from the game.” Lewis was last week sensationally linked with an incredible bid to take control of Conference Premier side Torquay.
Lewis was a guest in the director’s box for their 2-1 defeat at Altrincham and was in Devon for a meeting at the club last week.
However the United assistant confirmed to the Gazette he was only playing a minor role in the changes to be made at Plainmoor’s academy setup.
He will be making no financial investment, adding: “People have put two and two together and come up with seven.”
Hayes & Yeading are through to the Middlesex Senior Cup semi-finals after knocking out Wealdstone 2-1 on Monday night. NORTHWOOD returned to winning ways this week in spectacular fashion as they put five past Egham Town.
Despite defeat last week, braces from Niko Muir and Ismael Ehui (pictured) meant they cruised to a 5-1 victory in their Southern League Division One Central clash, having been beaten by St Ives seven days earlier.
The Woods were looking to avenge a 4-1 defeat in the reverse fixture in September and it did not take long for Muir to open the scoring as he got on the end of a Rob Hastings cut back.
Muir grabbed his seventh goal in 10 games as he cut in from the left and let fly a powerful shot that soared into the top corner and doubled his side’s lead.
Any chance of an Egham comeback was ruled out when Josh Andrew was given a straight red card in the 64th minute.
Northwood dominated with the extra man and increased their lead in the 75th minute when Muir unselfishly squared the ball for Ehui to tap into an empty net.
Danny Williamson grabbed a consolation for Egham in the 86th minute, but this only spurred on the home side as Ehui netted his second in the final minute of normal time, before Nana Asamoah completed the scoring deep into injury time.
Northwood will host Daventry Town this weekend as they look to build on this impressive performance.
Meanwhile, old habits die hard as AFC Hayes returned to losing ways with Barton Rovers putting four past them at Farm Park. They will look for a much improved performance when they host Aylesbury this Saturday.
Tony Choules’ Uxbridge played out a thrilling 3-3 draw with St Ives, but would have been disappointed not to take all three points after they went in at half time with a 3-1 lead. They will travel to Barton Rovers next weekend.
In the Spartan South Midlands Premier Division, Hillingdon Borough drew 3-3 on the road at Hadley with Anthony Hickey, Paul Somers and Lewis Kock getting on the scoresheet for Boro.
Harefield threw away a 2-0 lead at London Colney to lose the game 3-2.
Both sides have home fixtures next weekend facing Wembley and Hoddesdon Town respectively.