Dartford v Boreham Wood

Report

Dartford 1-1 Boreham Wood Match Report

Joe Brophy

A tremendous effort from Dartford as they forced a midweek FA Trophy first round reply against National League Boreham Wood after a 1-1 draw at Princes Park.

Wood struck first through Ricky Shakes early in the second half before Tom Murphy levelled proceedings.

The jubilation turned to misery as the Darts then had to play the final 21 minutes with ten men after Alex Brown was given his marching orders for two bookable offences.

Darts boss Tony Burman was attempting to see a bigger reaction after last weekend’s surprise loss and he made three changes with Danny Harris, Tom Bonner and Ryan Hayes all starting in favour of Richard Sho-Silva, Lyle Della-Verde and Andy Pugh.

Wood begun the game the brighter of the two sides as they had the lion’s share of possession, but it was the hosts who should have gone in front.

First, Hayes’ swinging cross from the right wasn’t properly connected with by Murphy before keeper Grant Smith was alive to beat away Lee Noble’s effort from range.

Wood had one half chance to speak of during the first forty-five as Kane Smith engineered the space on the edge of the box but could only shoot over.

As in the first half, Wood dominated the early second-half possession and finally it paid off for the visitors.

Jamie Turley’s deep cross bamboozled the Darts back line, and substitute Shakes was alone at the far post to smash into the roof of the net with 56 minutes played.

It only took 11 minutes for Dartford to be back on level terms however.

Murphy’s powerful run brought him to the edge of the penalty area before cutting inside and firing a low right-footed shot that beat Smith at his near post.

Any hopes of finding a winner were dented two minutes later when card-happy referee Lloyd Wood reduced the Darts to ten men when he dismissed Brown for his second yellow card, a mere six minutes after his first booking.

Noble then had the opportunity to be either side’s hero. First, he almost put Dartford back in front with a powerful header from a corner that was cleared off the line, before an error with four minutes remaining allowed Andrade to almost steal the victory for Wood but Deren Ibrahim got down low to the rescue.

Attendance: 607

Man of the Match: Lee Noble

Dartford: Ibrahim, Harris, Onyemah, Bonner, Vint, Brown, Hayes, Bradbrook, Mills (Pavey 78mins), Noble, Murphy (Della-Verde 86mins). Subs not used: Pugh, Mfula, Cue.

Boreham Wood: G Smith, K Smith, Woodards (Shakes 25mins), Wells, Stephens, Ricketts, Champion, Balanta, Jeffers (Holman 78mins), Andrade, Turley. Subs not used: Burbidge, Sach, Thomas.