It was an emphatic performance from Luke Garrard’s men, who scored three unanswered goals against a Morecambe side that haven’t quite got their act together after a summer of turmoil. They weren’t helped by a first half sending off for Tyrell Agyemang. A debut goal from Lewis Richardson and an outstanding brace from Matt Rush were enough for the three points. However, if it hadn’t been for an excellent performance from former Notts County goalkeeper Archie Mair and some wayward finishing, it would have been many more.
Luke Garrard made three changes to the starting line-up, with Finlay Herrick coming in for Nathan Ashmore for his first Boreham Wood start in goal, and Lewis Richardson also making his first start after an impressive cameo at Sutton. Matt Rush also came into the starting line-up. Callum Reynolds dropped out due to illness and Luke Norris was on the bench. In Reynolds’ absence, the captaincy went to Tom White, who was playing against his old club.
Boreham Wood started on the front foot, controlling a lot of early possession, and took the lead on seven minutes when some nice interplay between Erico Sousa and Abdul Abdulmalik created an opening for Lewis Richardson, who opened his Boreham Wood account with a tidy finish. Amazingly, Richardson was Boreham Wood’s ninth different goalscorer in the National League this season. The Shrimps nearly equalised two minutes later when a curling Gwion Edwards effort clipped the outside of the crossbar, aided by a deflection off Charlie O’Connell. It looked like Richardson was going to get his second on 11 minutes, but he was denied by some excellent defending from Raheem Conte.
In the next period of the game, the visitors had more of the ball but were unable to create anything of note apart from a Ludwig Francillette header, which was easily gathered by Finlay Herrick in the Wood goal. Wood had a good chance on the half-hour mark when Jeff King played in Matt Rush, but he was denied by a good save from Shrimps’ keeper Archie Mair. Rush made no mistake five minutes later with a lovely curling shot which even keeper Mair had no chance of stopping. The pass to Rush from Chris Bush was equally as impressive as the finish. Just before the interval, Boreham Wood’s cause was helped by the sending off of Morecambe defender Tyrell Agyemang, who was given a second yellow card for a foul on Rush. Agyemang had only come on as a substitute on 21 minutes. A minute later Richardson was through on goal again but was put off by Conte before firing wide.
HT: Boreham Wood 2-0 Morecambe
The second half was all Boreham Wood as they laid siege to the Shrimps’ goal. A minute after the restart, Jeff King’s corner was headed into the arms of Mair by Femi Ilesanmi. On 52 minutes, the visitors had a rare chance when Ben Tollitt crossed for Ben Williams, whose shot was well saved by Herrick. A minute later Zak Brunt played in King, who fired just wide. On 57 minutes, an excellent pass from Sousa found Richardson, whose goal-bound shot was somehow palmed away by Mair.
On 66 minutes, Wood got their third goal, and it was straight off the training ground. Wood had a free-kick outside the penalty area, which Bush took. He rolled it to Brunt, who played it out wide to Cameron Coxe, who then delivered an inch-perfect cross that Rush fired home. On 79 minutes, an excellent pass from Junior Dixon picked out Sousa, who fired just wide of the Morecambe goal. Luke Norris went close a couple of times in the closing period of the game, but on each occasion Mair again came to Morecambe’s rescue.
FT: Boreham Wood 3-0 Morecambe
It was another impressive performance from Luke Garrard’s men against a Morecambe side who are still in the process of gelling as a team and will get better. That said, the attacking football that Boreham Wood are currently playing is a joy to watch, and their current league position of fifth (with a game in hand) exceeds a lot of people’s expectations.
Boreham Wood: Herrick, King (Coxe 62), Ilesanmi (Newton 77), Bush, O’Connell, White, Sousa, Brunt, Abdulmalik (Dixon 69), Richardson (Clayden 62), Rush (Norris 69).
Subs not used: Ashmore, Henry.
Morecambe: Mair, Francillette, Sesay, Songo’o (Agyemang 21), Tollitt, Conte (Panayiotou 59), Azeez, Cain, Sangare (Nuttall 59), Muskwe (Lewis 59), Edwards (Williams 39).
Subs not used: Bogle-Williams, Scales.
Man of the Match: Matt Rush.
Match report written by Brett Lewis.
