DEFENDERS GUIDE CUP KINGS BACK ON TRACK

PLAY-OFF chasing Boreham Wood quickly put their FA Cup heartbreak behind them with a comfortable victory at previously in-form Altrincham, who crashed to two defeats in a week.

Tuesday night’s agonising extra-time defeat at Accrington Stanley was soon forgotten as goals in either half from defenders Will Evans and Femi Ilesanmi earned Wood a first win in seven, and first away win in the league since early October.

“I’m very very happy, that’s a massive, hard fought three points,” boss Luke Garrard said.

“We’ve travelled 800 miles since Tuesday, and fair play to the boys to still put in a performance that deserved three points.

“He [Altrincham boss Phil Parkinson] doing a fantastic job, they’re a fantastic side who went ten unbeaten.

So to come here and get a win and a clean sheet is massive.”

Garrard’s men dominated the first half with Josh Rees stinging the hands of Ollie Byrne on 17 minutes from a fine half volley.

But the Wood did take the lead eight minutes later when towering Evans rose highest in the box to head home Rees’ corner.

Wood nearly doubled their lead five minutes later in exactly the same fashion. Again Evans got the better of his markers from a Rees corner, but this time his powerful header struck the crossbar.

Altrincham woke up later in the half but failed to register any meaningful openings as Wood’s defence held firm.

And Wood made them pay four minutes into the re-start when Chris Bush’s deep cross from the left was nodded in at the far post by wingback Ilesanmi.

The Robins pushed on, and did calve out a few massive chances as the visitors began to sit back. First, Isaac Marriott headed over from close range when it looked easier to score on the hour, before Fleetwood loanee Chris Conn-Clarke saw his top corner bound effort brilliantly tipped over by Nathan Ashmore seven minutes later.

Alty’s frustrating afternoon was nearly made worse late on as Bush’s chipped effort nearly caught out Byrne on the break, and Rees saw his close range effort expertly parried onto the post by the Altrincham stopper in stoppage time.

Robins assistant boss Neil Sorvel said: “It was a hard game; they’re tough to play against. They made us play their game. It’s like an arm wrestle, and we lost.

“They’ve just played a League One team, who couldn’t score against them in 120 minutes from open play, so we knew it was going be tough. But we were just not convincing enough in the box, and they limited us to half chances really.”

“We’ve lost some key players recently, which are tough to replace, and we’ve still got new players trying to bed in.”