Off-colour Rovers suffer cup upset against Boreham Wood
Connor Dossi-White reports on Bristol Rovers’ FA Cup tie against Boreham Wood at the Memorial Stadium
BRISTOL Rovers were dumped out of the FA Cup by Boreham Wood in the second round on Sunday, losing 2-0 at the Memorial Stadium.
Goals from Will Evans and David Stephens put the visitors two to the good before half time, with both coming from poorly-defended setpieces, and the Gas were unable to muster a meaningful response, meaning it is Boreham Wood who will excitedly watch today’s thirdround draw in hope of pulling a big tie out of the hat.
The National League side reached the fifth round last season, beating EFL opposition in Bournemouth and AFC Wimbledon along the way, before losing 2-0 to Everton, and their manager Luke Garrard masterminded another FA Cup upset in BS7.
Rovers started on the front foot when Lewis Gibson drove forward from defence, giving Antony Evans a chance to open the scoring for the home side but his curling effort went wide.
The Gas would continue to dominate the ball and Aaron Collins came close after bursting through the right channel, but he was denied when Jamal Fyfield came in to block his shot.
Minutes later, Rovers came close to taking the lead. Collins received the ball out wide and delivered a cross into the box, but a last-ditch clearance stopped Ryan Loft from getting on the end of it.
Rovers were relatively flat in possession but they still had a degree of control until the visitors made the most of a set-piece in the 18th minute. Zak Brunt played a low corner to the edge of the area which was met by a first-time strike from George Broadbent, hitting teammate Evans on the way to beating
James Belshaw in the Gas goal. Boreham Wood thought they had their second of the game soon after when Lee Ndlovu rolled the ball into the back of the net after Broadbent hit the post with a header, but the assistant’s flag for offside came to Rovers’ relief.
But they would be two behind soon after. Failed clearances from another poorly-defended corner in the 30th minute allowed the Wood to double their lead, with Stephens finding himself in the right place in the penalty area to loop the ball over Belshaw with a header after several chances to avert the danger were not taken by the Gas.
Barton was justifiably dissatisfied by his team’s performance and he made a quadruple substitution at the interval, but the Gas could not breach Boreham Wood’s dogged defence, finding it difficult to sustain any form of pressure.
Rovers finally started to make their mark on the National League side in the closing stages on and started to mount attacks after an improved spell of possession. Josh Coburn almost brought Rovers back into the game but he narrowly missing the target after Trevor Clarke drilled a low cross into the penalty area.
But Boreham Wood rarely looked like conceding, so disjointed was Rovers’ performance in each third of the pitch, and they navigated their way to the final whistle unscathed, booking a place in the third round for the second year in succession.