WOOD STEP UP FOR BOSS LUKE
BOREHAM Wood turned on the style for outgoing boss Luke Garrard with a thumping victory over fellow strugglers Wealdstone to end their sixgame losing streak.
Garrard announced he was to step down after nine years in charge of Wood at the end of the season with last year’s playoff semi-finalists deep in relegation trouble.
But his troops responded with aplomb as goals from Kabongo Tshimanga, Billy Sass-Davies, Matt Robinson and Lee Ndlovu sent them level on points with their visitors with three matches to play.
“The announcement this week has been a weight lifted from my shoulders,” Garrard admitted.
“It’s last chance saloon, there are no more rehearsals. We needed the win today – we had to deal with the pressure and believe in ourselves.
“We were clinical in front of goal which was good. We have three games left and ideally want to win, win and win, to keep us up. It’s backs to the wall, we’ve got to come out fighting.”
It could have been so different, however, had the Stones taken some of their chances in the first half. Sean Adarkwa was one-on-one with Wood keeper Nathan Ashmore on two minutes but screwed his shot wide.
And they were made to pay eight minutes later when Wood took the lead – Angelo Balanta’s cross turned in by Kabongo Tshimanga.
The visitors responded well with Nathan Ferguson denied by Ashmore when he raced clear of the Wood defence.
And Adarkwa found himself bearing down on
Ashmore’s goal but again couldn’t keep his shot on target.
Wood almost punished him again on 42 minutes but Jack Payne’s shot was blocked on the line before the ball ricocheted back to him and he fired over.
Wealdstone came out for the second half showing plenty of attacking intent. Two minutes into the restart, Ashmore produced an incredible save to deny Adarkwa for a this time.
Wood, however, issued a warning when Matt Robinson forced a fine save from Stones keeper Marcus Dewhurst.
And on the hour, Wood doubled their lead when Erico Sousa’s free-kick was headed home by Billy Sass-Davies.
Wood dominated from thereon in and Robinson added a third on 70 minutes with a crisp volley that gave Dewhurst no chance.
And four minutes later, they wrapped it up with a fourth with Lee Ndlovu squeezing the ball in at Dewhurst’s near post.
It’s just one point from a possible 18 now for David Noble’s Wealdstone, who sit on the cusp of the relegation zone on the same points as Wood, albeit with two games in hand. STAR MAN: Matt Robinson (Boreham Wood) ATT: 1,267 ENTERTAINMENT: ★★★★★ REFEREE: Farai Hallam