NOW’S OUR TIME FOR RETRIBUTION
Ricketts aims to avenge final woe
THE PAIN of losing in the 2018 play-off final still resonates with Mark Ricketts – and he and his Boreham Wood teammates are more determined than ever to make up for it.
The Wood were beaten by tenman Tranmere Rovers at Wembley two years ago and missed out on their Football League dream.
Manager Luke Garrard has had to largely rebuild his team since then after seeing key players land moves higher up, with things coming together this season.
After only winning two of their first nine matches, a 15game unbeaten run propelled them up the table and into the play-off positions where they finished fifth.
Although midfielder and captain Ricketts reckons their previous experience of the play-offs won’t play such a big part in these very different circumstances, the aim of reaching the Football League is still as strong.
“Normally in the play-offs the crowds are bigger, you have the tension in the game where nerves can creep in more, I think it’s going to be so different,” he said.
“You prepare yourselves as best as you can and try to recreate the form we showed but it is an unknown, it will be alien to everyone.
“There’s a few of us from the last play-off squad and that loss definitely resonates with us still.
“That maybe will help on the motivation side, if there was a reason to need any more motivation than wanting to get into League Two. That loss before should give people that little bit more.”
Garrard is still finalising his squad for Friday’s fixture, needing to tie down goalkeepers Nathan Ashmore and Grant Smith, who were both on loan at the club from Ebbsfleet United and Lincoln City respectively.
Safety
Meanwhile, the players have been working to get back up to speed in their Covid-proof environment which 35-year-old Ricketts, one of the most experienced players in the Wood squad, feels safe in.
“It’s been really thorough,” he told The NLP. “We’ve had lots of emails from the physios explaining what we can and can’t do.
“When we do go into training, all the staff are in PPE, there’s hand sanitisers everywhere, it’s one-way in, one-way out.
“It’s been taken really seriously and a lot of us have families so if it wasn’t done right you’d definitely have your concerns, but we don’t have any worries about going in.
“It’s been a quick pre-season getting fitness in and football. We were given things when we were off but you notice in every pre-season we do that it’s one thing doing running on the training pitch but another thing playing 90 minutes of football. They’re in the same boat as us, though, as are all the teams in the play-offs.”
Wood won at FC Halifax in their only meeting this season and Ricketts is expecting another hard task.
“They’re a strong side and that’s why they’re in the playoffs,” he added. “They’ve got experience at the back and some big strong lads. I imagine it will be a really tough test.”