MATCH PREVIEW: Boreham Wood vs Chippenham Town | National League South | Saturday 25th January 2025
Harry Minton previews our trip to Borehamwood
Bluebirds are back in league action this weekend as they face a tough away trip to current league leaders Boreham Wood.
Last Time Out
On Tuesday night the boys in blue were involved in a dramatic game at home to Worthing which saw new striker Hamzad Kargbo, on loan from Newport County, make his debut for us with twenty minutes off the bench.
Tom Mehew would give us the lead in the 26th minute from a good strike just outside the penalty area hard and low into the corner. He then had another good chance to double our lead from a good set piece taken by Luke Spokes.
Worthing grew into the game and got their equaliser a few minutes before the interval when Danny Cashman and Muhammadu Faal struck up some great passing together, with the latter unleashing a strike from a similar position to where Mehew’s goal was scored from. The ball crashes off the crossbar and rather unfortunately it bounces off Will Henry’s head and rolls into the net.
A sucker punch for Gary Horgan’s men just before half time.We started the second half brightly with the likes of Caine Bradbury and Leone Gravata testing Chris Haigh in the Worthing goal.
Harry Parsons had a half chance, that flashed wide of Haigh’s near post.In the 83rd minute after Faal showed incredible skill to get past Nat Williams and a composed finish past Henry to make it 2-1 to his side with seven minutes to go plus injury time.
We were not done there though, four minutes later Gravata plays a beautiful ball over the top of the Worthing backline from just over halfway .
Substitute Aaron Amadi-Holloway generated enough power on his header for it to loop over Haigh and into the back of the net in front of quite a jubilant home crowd.
Ecstasy would become agony at the TSS however though as in the 96th minute. Following a Worthing corner and a bit of pinball in the area and the ball eventually finds its way into the net after a touch (we’re still not sure).
A tough one to take for our boys after playing really well against a top side, just falling short in the final moments Gary Horgan said in his post-match interview that we are trying to become one of those top seven teams.
Well, if we want to start showing that we can become one of those teams then a huge three points on the road this weekend against a fantastic Boreham Wood side at the moment would be the perfect start.
The Opposition
Our opponents Boreham Wood, founded in 1948 and play at the 4,500 capacity stadium Meadow Park (also home to Arsenal Women FC).
The Wood are seven-time Herts Senior Cup champions, the most recent title coming in 2019. Although they will not be winning the competition this year as they recently lost in the quarter finals 4-1 away to ninth tier side Wormley Rovers.
The club are also three-time Isthmian League Division One champions and in 2015 Boreham Wood were promoted to the National League, the fifth tier of English football for the first time in the club’s history after defeating Whitehawk in the playoff final 2-1 after extra time.
They had a few good seasons in the National League, reaching the playoff final in 2018 at Wembley, though sadly losing out on a first promotion to the EFL after losing 2-1 to the 2000 League Cup runners up Tranmere Rovers.
They would go on to make the playoffs once more in 2020, losing in the semifinals to eventual winners Harrogate Town 1-0 and they would also make the playoffs as recent as 2023. Though again the Wood suffered heartbreak in the semis losing 3-2 to Notts County who went on to achieve promotion to the EFL, beating Chesterfield on pens in the final.
Boreham Wood were relegated to the sixth-tier last season after nine years in the National League, finishing just a point adrift of York City who stayed up by the skin of their teeth.
The Wood have started this season in red hot form, they currently sit top of the league and have only suffered one defeat at home in the league all season, a 2-1 loss to Worthing at the start of September.
One to Watch
Kwesi Appiah is a huge threat to look out for, the centre forward is currently the top scorer in the whole of the National League South so far with eighteen goals. Us boys in blue will have a tricky task of keeping him quiet during the game. Appiah did score the winner in the reverse fixture at the Thornbury Surfacing Stadium in the first half from a corner. The goal did look a bit dubious with what looked like a strong claim for a foul in Chippenham’s favour. However, the Wood came away with all three points that day in a game where the Bluebirds limited them to very little chances.
Never an easy game at this level, but if we can take our confidence of scoring goals from the game against Worthing and the confidence from the last time, we faced Boreham Wood, you never know we could be in for a huge three points.
COME ON YOU BLUEBIRDS!!!
