Boreham Wood 1 – 1 Brentford
Wednesday 12th July 2023
Mangata Pay UK Stadium Meadow Park, Pre season friendly
It was another tough test at the Mangata Pay UK Stadium Meadow Park as we welcomed Brentford FC just 48 hours after we welcomed their Premier League counterparts, West Ham Utd.
Bentford started more dominantly with the first big chance of the game falling to Dervisoglu who fired over the bar from close range, after a long range strike from Maghoma was saved by Ashmore into his path. The Bees maintained their pressure as they looked for the opener, on the 11th minute Lewis-Potter broke down the left hand side and fired towards goal, Ashmore once again saved well and the follow up volley from Olakigbe was blasted over the bar.
It didn’t take too much longer from Brentford to break the deadlock when Rico Henry showcased his Premier League quality down the left hand side, he drove to the byline and fizzed in a low cross. Dervisoglu was there to turn the ball in and give the Bees a one goal advantage on the 18th minute.
Brentford could have doubled their lead just over 5 minutes later when Lewis-Potter cut onto his right foot from the left hand side, he unleashed a powerful strike that was brilliantly saved by a diving Ashmore to keep his side in the tie.
The biggest chance for the Wood came during the 25th minute when Ndlovu placed his effort wide just inside the area after Balcombe was on the floor having dropped down to deny the first attempt. 10 minutes later another chance fell the Wood’s way when Marsh received the ball on the edge of the area, he attempted to drill the ball low into the corner but Ellery Balcombe made as good save down to his right.
The final chance of the first half came from a long distance strike from Rico Henry, his effort from around 30 yards looked to be heading for the top corner but the ball continued to rise over the bar, meaning the Wood would be going into the break trailing by 1 goal.
HALF TIME: Boreham Wood 0-1 Brentford
Both teams brought out two new XI’s for the second half with only Agbontohoma, Marsh and Ashmore, continuing on from the first.
The Wood started brightly in the second half with the first chance falling to our trialist who did well to hold off his defender before striking goalwards. His effort was blocked by recent Brentford signing, Ji-Soo Kim. Not even a minute later, another chance falls into the path of the trialist this time his shot is deflected out for a corner. From the resulting corner, Erico delivered a dangerous ball into the area which found the head of Bush, his header was placed downwards towards goal forcing Matt Cox into a brilliant save to keep the Bees in front.
The pressure continued to build as the Wood were pushing for an equaliser, on the 55th minute Mo Sagaf did well down the right hand side to pull back a cross into the path of Marsh, his shot however just missed the far corner. That was his final chance of the game as we introduced another trialist to the game on the 60th minute.
Finally we found a way through on the 68th minute after some nice build up play down the left hand side. The ball was whipped in dangerously towards Jamal Fyfield who controlled the ball down which led to it falling nicely for Timmy Abraham to calmly slot the ball past Cox and bring the scores level.
After the goal the Wood enjoyed a lot more possession but couldn’t convert it into big chances. No side looked likely to secure a winner and the referee blew his whistle for full time.
FULL TIME: Boreham Wood 0-1 Brentford
Another big challenge for Luke and the squad but one with a lot of positives to take away, the Wood will now travel to Bishop’s Stortford on Saturday for a different challenge compared to the teams we’ve faced already.