REPORT | Boreham Wood 4-0 Wealdstone

Wealdstone suffered a 4-0 loss to fellow relegation battlers Boreham Wood at Meadow Park.

Goals from Kabongo Tshimanga, Billy Sass-Davies, Matt Robinson and Lee Ndlovu completed the win for Luke Garrard’s side.

After the Stones’ devastating last-minute defeat to Solihull Moors on Bank Holiday Monday, David Noble made just one change to the starting line-up, with Sean Adarkwa returning from injury to lead the line.

Wealdstone nearly made the perfect start within the first minute of the match as skipper Alex Dyer threaded Adarkwa through on goal, but Stones’ top goalscorer fired agonisingly wide.

Instead, it was a disastrous opening for Noble’s side as they conceded in the 6th minute of play when Erico Sousa drilled a ball across the face of the goal and Tshimanga pounced to bundle the ball home past Marcus Dewhurst.

The Stones had the opportunity to equalise in the 18th minute when Kallum Cesay burst down the right wing and drove a inviting ball across the box, but Tarryn Allarakhia was just unable to connect.

Two minutes later, Wealdstone had another bite of the cherry as Ferguson was slipped through on goal for a one-on-one with Nathan Ashmore; however, the Guyanese international was denied by the Wood’s shot-stopper.

Boreham Wood could have doubled their advantage in the 22nd minute when Sass-Davies rose highest to head Sousa’s corner on target, but Dewhurst responded with a solid save.

With end-to-end action during the early exchanges, the Stones nearly levelled in the 29th minute, only for Adarkwa’s effort to be flashed just wide of the far post.

As the first-half entered the final ten minutes, Wealdstone target-man Adarkwa had another shot on goal which was well-saved by Ashmore.

The Wood then should have doubled their lead in the 42nd minute when Sousa’s teasing corner was met by Jack Payne, but the captain was thwarted by a vital goal-line clearance.

The Stones returned from the interval on the front-foot and danger-man Adarkwa looked like he had equalised within two minutes of the restart, but Ashmore reacted with a superb finger-tip save to preserve the score line.

It was then the turn of Dewhurst to showcase his acrobatics four minutes later, producing an excellent reflex save to keep his team in the game.

On the hour mark, the Stones’ fortunes took another turn for the worse when the Wood doubled their lead; Sousa’s pinpoint free-kick was headed home by Sass-Davies at the far post.

The Wood then trebled their lead in style ten minutes later as Robinson hit a half-volley from the edge of the box, which dipped into the bottom right corner past Dewhurst.

The final nail in the coffin came in the 74th minute as Ndlovu slotted past Dewhurst from a tight angle to quadruple the Wood’s advantage and condemn the Stones to their fourth successive defeat.

Crumbs of comfort came in the fact that the Stones still sit outside of the relegation places, one above Boreham Wood in the drop zone, but with five games still to play and our fate very much in our own hands.

Wealdstone return to action on Tuesday 9th April when they entertain Southend United at Grosvenor Vale, in a 7.45pm kick-off that sparks off a run of four consecutive home games where we will need your support more than ever.

WEALDSTONE: Dewhurst, Cesay, Barrett, Barker, Mundle-Smith, Dyer (c) (Young 74), Henry, Ferguson, Kretzschmar (Obiero 67), Allarakhia, Adarkwa (Adeyemo 61).

Subs not used: Cook, Bowen.

Attendance: 1,267 (including 369 Wealdstone supporters)

Report by Nicole Cho-Yee