Boreham Wood (H) VNLS #44 18.04.25

[Reading Rebel]

1 hour ago, Curtis said:

We didn’t see a great deal of them but I would have hoped there would have been more chat about the young players that made appearances…. Spicer, Anyanwu, Rennie, Duodu & Nelson.

They have all come from the behind the scenes development at the club that most fans don’t see.

Personally I haven't seen enough of them at this level to form a considered opinion either way.

They all did well in the parts they played yesterday but Spicer and Doudu apart I don't think any of the others have been involved in playing men's football which will probably be the next step either dual registered or on loan to see if they can cope and progress from playing academy football.

Edited 11 hours ago by Reading Rebel

[Reading Rebel]

Listening again to Scott's post match interview it's a bit concerning that his words do suggest that players other than Amartey and Ody will be leaving.

He mentions that he left out players who are fit and players who are coming back from injury because they have indicated that they will not be staying at the club for next season.

The players injured/coming back from injury include Bayliss, Micchio and Prosper. 

[Holyport Rebel]

Is it just me, or does it feel like a Sunday today ?
Good Friday for me had a touch of the "Good Old Days". 
It's been a long time since I got up early on a Good Friday morning to go to Slough Town F.C. to watch the Slough Town Challenge Cup Final. 
I was very pleased that this game had returned to its rightful home.
When I got to Arbour Park, the Lynch Hill car park where I usually park was out of bounds, so I parked in St. Joe's.
Making my way to the only turnstile open at the north-west corner of the ground, I hoped that there might be at least a single sheet "programme" available to buy for the match.
There wasn't anything for the Berks and Bucks Final held at Arbour Park not long previously.
Very pleasingly ,after getting through the turnstile, not only was there a eight page programme  available for the match, but it was given out FREE !
What a nice surprise.
I took my place in the main stand, and as the teams lined up it was A.C. Milan versus Inter Milan.
Well, Old Windsor wore red and black striped shirts and FC Beaconsfield wore blue and black striped shirts.
A very entertaining  first half ensued.
It had more or less everything.
There was a scissor /overhead kick by Old Windsor which hit the post.
A 30 yard shot from FC Beaconsfield which seemed from my viewpoint to be going 30 yards wide of the post.
I think the Old Windsor goalkeeper thought this too, as he didn't move.
The shot smacked against the post.
Then a fantastic  "Slavi " like dribble near the by-line by an Old Windsor forward who beat three men and then was clumsily brought down in the area for a penalty.
This was taken by the Old Windsor number 9, who definitely had the aura that he fancied himself.
To be fair to him though, he scored the pen and then scored another in the second half.  
Later that half, a nice piece of play by the Old Windsor number 10 saw him weave inside the area and place a shot just inside the left hand post to make it 2-0.
Ten minutes from half time we even had the referee pull up injured , and needed to be replaced by one of the linesman.
This in turn meant that the 4th official would now have to run the line.
If anyone else has watched the TV programme "Clarkson's Farm", where Jeremy Clarkson from "Top Gear"  attempts to run a farm, the 4th official for me was a dead ringer for "Gerald".
Except this new linesman was shorter and podgier than Gerald.
What made it worse was that he was wearing the shortest pair of shorts I've seen since Glenn Hoddle wore his short shorts back in the eighties.
Really put me off my Easter Egg.
Thankfully at half time this unappealing sight  was corrected.
He now wore a pair of "shorts" that reached half way down his shins, but at least this was an improvement.
After half time Beaconsfield pulled a goal back, which I felt would make for a very interesting second half, but Old Windsor scored again soon after to make the score 3-1, which more or less killed the game off.  
They added a fourth before the end to make it 4-1, but it was I thought a very entertaining game.
Later, the main event of the day began, Slough Town v Boreham Wood.
When the team and subs for the game were announced, it was clear that there were a lot of youngsters not only on the bench but also in our starting 11.
I wasn't expecting to get a win against B Wood anyway, especially knowing that they would be desperate to get the 3 points to help them in their promotion bid.
I was pleased to see the youngsters given their chance, but I thought it was going to be a very hard game for them to be able to shine.
Boreham Wood took the field in what I thought was a  horrible kit.
Bright pink shirts and socks.
Sorry, but for me that is not a football kit colour.
Neither is charcoal or dark grey/black which so many bigger teams (like Arsenal away v Real Madrid last week) seem to wear nowadays.
The only dark/black kit that was ever any good was the black kit that Man Utd wore in the 90's.
That was a classic.
No dark coloured kit has ever been as good as that one.
Bad as though bright pink is, it doesn't come close to the very worse kit ever designed.
Light and dark blue quarters.
Enough said.
Boreham Wood for me are a "phoney" club.
They have done up their ground over the years, been regulars in the National League, but still, even after all this,  get home crowds which could never have sustained this level of progression , and only survive at the level they are at because of outside financial assistance.
Like Torquay, whose attitude is even so much worse (but at least get much bigger attendances), they seem to me to think that they "belong " in the National League.
This mentality probably explains the bunch of Wood youngsters who felt the need to stand alongside the Slough supporters behind the goal during both the first and second half.
Perhaps I saw it wrong from my viewpoint on the side line, but these kids were only interested it seemed to me in trying to provoke the Slough fans into a reaction, when they no doubt would all then have run away.
So unnecessary and not wanted at non-league level.
If Slough had a group of youngsters behaving that way at away grounds, I like to think that our club would soon put a stop to this type of behaviour from their "fans".
I seem to remember even back in the 90's when we played them in  a Trophy replay at their place Boreham Wood had an "unpleasant" element among their support, so things haven't changed there.
The Boreham Wood team were a very physically strong, organised unit, and losing to them 4-2 was no disgrace, though I was a bit concerned when it went to 2-0 fairly early on.
A great goal by Johnny, but that penalty miss can't help but make you wonder what might have happened if it had gone in. 
Two games left, and from what Scott said in his interview after the match I guess we will be seeing a lot more of these youngsters playing in them.
What a great opportunity for them.
Again, after what Scott said, and what Ollie said in his pen pic that was in the match programme months ago when it was his turn to answer questions put to him, is Ollie off to study in the US from the summer, so he won't be with us next season ?
That's what it sounds like to me.
Disappointing if true.
Two games left for us this season.
It's been long season.
I hope that Boreham Wood and Torquay don't get promoted ,as I would enjoy them having to "slum" it for another season at least in the National League South, but then again I wonder if it might be good just to get shot of them and think "good riddance".
If they do go up, will we be swapping them for possibly Ebbsfleet and Dagenham & R, who may have the same "arrogant" approach to being in the Nat South.?
Anyway, let's all hope Maidenhead lose on Monday.
That's a nice thought to end on.  

 
       
 
 

Edited 10 hours ago by Holyport Rebel

[Curtis]

Maybe think about it from a more positive perspective…… could it also mean that the senior players that played yesterday are committed for next season?

[Irishadrian]

12 minutes ago, Holyport Rebel said:

Is it just me, or does it feel like a Sunday today ?
Good Friday for me had a touch of the "Good Old Days". 
It's been a long time since I got up early on a Good Friday morning to go to Slough Town F.C. to watch the Slough Town Challenge Cup Final. 
I was very pleased that this game had returned to its rightful home.
When I got to Arbour Park, the Lynch Hill car park where I usually park was out of bounds, so I parked in St. Joe's.
Making my way to the only turnstile open at the north-west corner of the ground, I hoped that there might be at least a single sheet "programme" available to buy for the match.
There wasn't anything for the Berks and Bucks Final held at Arbour Park not long previously.
Very pleasingly ,after getting through the turnstile, not only was there a eight page programme  available for the match, but it was given out FREE !
What a nice surprise.
I took my place in the main stand, and as the teams lined up it was A.C. Milan versus Inter Milan.
Well, Old Windsor wore red and black striped shirts and FC Beaconsfield wore blue and black striped shirts.
A very entertaining  first half ensued.
It had more or less everything.
There was a scissor /overhead kick by Old Windsor which hit the post.
A 30 yard shot from FC Beaconsfield which seemed from my viewpoint to be going 30 yards wide of the post.
I think the Old Windsor goalkeeper thought this too, as he didn't move.
The shot smacked against the post.
Then a fantastic  "Slavi " like dribble near the by-line by an Old Windsor forward who beat three men and then was clumsily brought down in the area for a penalty.
This was taken by the Old Windsor number 9, who definitely had the aura that he fancied himself.
To be fair to him though, he scored the pen and then scored another in the second half.  
Later that half, a nice piece of play by the Old Windsor number 10 saw him weave inside the area and place a shot just inside the left hand post to make it 2-0.
Ten minutes from half time we even had the referee pull up injured , and needed to be replaced by one of the linesman.
This in turn meant that the 4th official would now have to run the line.
If anyone else has watched the TV programme "Clarkson's Farm", where Jeremy Clarkson from "Top Gear"  attempts to run a farm, the 4th official for me was a dead ringer for "Gerald".
Except this new linesman was shorter and podgier than Gerald.
What made it worse was that he was wearing the shortest pair of shorts I've seen since Glenn Hoddle wore his short shorts back in the eighties.
Really put me off my Easter Egg.
Thankfully at half time this unappealing sight  was corrected.
He now wore a pair of "shorts" that reached half way down his shins, but at least this was an improvement.
After half time Beaconsfield pulled a goal back, which I felt would make for a very interesting second half, but Old Windsor scored again soon after to make the score 3-1, which more or less killed the game off.  
They added a fourth before the end to make it 4-1, but it was I thought a very entertaining game.
Later, the main event of the day began, Slough Town v Boreham Wood.
When the team and subs for the game were announced, it was clear that there were a lot of youngsters not only on the bench but also in the starting 11.
I wasn't expecting to get a win against B Wood anyway, especially knowing that they would be desperate to get the 3 points to help them in their promotion bid.
I was pleased to see the youngsters given their chance, but I thought it was going to be a very hard game for them to be able to shine.
Boreham Wood took the field in what I thought was a  horrible kit.
Bright pink shirts and socks.
Sorry, but for me that is not a football kit colour.
Neither is charcoal or dark grey/black which so many bigger teams (like Arsenal away v Real Madrid last week) seem to wear nowadays.
The only dark/black kit that was ever any good was the black kit that Man Utd wore in the 90's.
That was a classic.
No dark coloured kit has ever been as good as that one.
Bad as though bright pink is, it doesn't come close to the very worse kit ever designed.
Light and dark blue quarters.
Enough said.
Boreham Wood for me are a "phoney" club.
They have done up their ground over the years, been regulars in the National League, but still, even after all this,  get home crowds which could never have sustained this level of progression , and only survive at the level they are at because of outside financial assistance.
Like Torquay, whose attitude is even so much worse (but at least get much bigger attendances), they seem to me to think that they "belong " in the National League.
This mentality probably explains the bunch of Wood youngsters who felt the need to stand alongside the Slough supporters behind the goal during both the first and second half.
Perhaps I saw it wrong from my viewpoint on the side line, but these kids were only interested it seemed to me in trying to provoke the Slough fans into a reaction, when they no doubt would all then have run away.
So unnecessary and not wanted at non-league level.
If Slough had a group of youngsters behaving that way at away grounds, I like to think that our club would soon put a stop to this type of behaviour from their "fans".
I seem to remember even back in the 90's when we played them in  a Trophy replay at their place Boreham Wood had an "unpleasant" element among their support, so things haven't changed there.
The Boreham Wood team were a very physically strong, organised unit, and losing to them 4-2 was no disgrace, though I was a bit concerned when it went to 2-0 fairly early on.
A great goal by Johnny, but that penalty miss can't help but make you wonder what might have happened if it had gone in. 
Two games left, and from what Scott said in his interview after the match I guess we will be seeing a lot more of these youngsters playing in them.
What a great opportunity for them.
Again, after what Scott said, and what Ollie said in his pen pic that was in the match programme months ago when it was his turn to answer questions put to him, is Ollie off to study in the US from the summer, so he won't be with us next season ?
That's what it sounds like to me.
Disappointing if true.
Two games left for us this season.
It's been long season.
I hope that Boreham Wood and Torquay don't get promoted ,as I would enjoy them having to "slum" it for another season at least in the National League South, but then again I wonder if it might be good just to get shot of them and think "good riddance".
If they do go up, will we be swapping them for possibly Ebbsfleet and Dagenham & R, who may have the same "arrogant" approach to being in the Nat South.?
Anyway, let's all hope Maidenhead lose on Monday.
That's a nice thought to end on.  

 
       
 
 

So look forward to your posts always

[Reading Rebel]

37 minutes ago, Curtis said:

Maybe think about it from a more positive perspective…… could it also mean that the senior players that played yesterday are committed for next season?

Maybe.

The only player who we know for certain has committed is Pruti who I think has signed a two year contract.

The main concern for me about Scott's words about the players who were injured and won't be returning is Bayliss who imo would be the biggest miss and hard to replace.

[GlenSTFC]

16 minutes ago, Reading Rebel said:

Maybe.

The only player who we know for certain has committed is Pruti who I think has signed a two year contract.

The main concern for me about Scott's words about the players who were injured and won't be returning is Bayliss who imo would be the biggest miss and hard to replace.

Pretty certain Roth is also signed for next season. Pruti signed a year and a half contract. I think Scott is the other player contracted.

[Markskelton]

1 hour ago, Reading Rebel said:

Listening again to Scott's post match interview it's a bit concerning that his words do suggest that players other than Amartey and Ody will be leaving.

He mentions that he left out players who are fit and players who are coming back from injury because they have indicated that they will not be staying at the club for next season.

The players injured/coming back from injury include Bayliss, Micchio and Prosper. 

I did see michio at the game yesterday I know it’s not much of an indication but it says more to me then the players who didn’t come to watch? If he was off would he bother?

[GlenSTFC]

16 minutes ago, Markskelton said:

I did see michio at the game yesterday I know it’s not much of an indication but it says more to me than the players who didn’t come to watch? If he was off would he bother?

True but did you see Bayliss there?

[Markskelton]

27 minutes ago, GlenSTFC said:

True but did you see Bayliss there?

Unfortunately not.

[SloughFlyer]

Dan Bayliss was there and took a non-contact warm up. Isn't cleared to play until Thursday this week and when we spoke to him, probably won't be playing against Hampton as why risk it.

Miccio is still injured and given the injury we were surprised to see him play the couple of 60 minutes under injections he did a few weeks back.

Prosper - according to the programme notes has a calf injury and won't be back this season for the last couple of games.

Slavi - was listed to start but them didn't at about 2.45pm the change was made (took a warm up but then sat in the stands).

Questions marks relevant to Scott's comments are -

Alfa - got injured in the warm up against Dorking when down to start and hasn't really looked good enough.

Amarty - not really shown much of anything apart from a couple of goals since his return.

Goddard - been very average at best since his return.

None of the 3 above would be a miss at all IMO.

Confirmed players for next season are - Pruti, Roth, Davies and Makumbi.

As for the game, I agree with Scott's interview in that i thought we gave a good account of ourselves given the squad we had and playing a fully pro team. Disagree with him about them being the best team we have seen here this season as going forward they looked good, but defensively we caused them more than a few issues. If the pen goes in at 3-2 we might have got something out of the game.

Was massively pleased to see the young lads getting a chance in the first team and exactly as it should be. I'd much rather see them than players that aren't staying next year. That's the beauty of the league and being safe now is we can do that and you never know, someone might just take the chance to shine.

[Reading Rebel]

'Some players have told us they'll be moving on next season' so weren't picked to be in the squad.

'A couple who are now back fit from injury were not in the squad for similar reasons'

Scott's first statement is very likely to be Amartey and Ody Alfa who were not in yesterdays squad.

That still leaves the injured players who are now fit that will not be at the club next season. 

The only players I know of that were out through injury are Bayliss, Prosper and Miccio.

 

 

 

[Curtis]

38 minutes ago, SloughFlyer said:

 

Amarty - not really shown much of anything apart from a couple of goals since his return.

He’s got a good league match strike rate for us this season…. 6 goals in 1,297 mins of playing time. That’s not far off a goal every two full matches.

I don’t think he’s had enough minutes though because he doesn’t put in the work rate required defensively with our style of play, & I can’t see him changing now.

He’ll probably find another club at our level though.

[Reading Rebel]

I can understand and totally agree with players not being in the squad if their intention is to leave at the end of the season.

So is there any point in still playing the two lads from Wycombe who presumably will be leaving and going back to Wycombe after the Hampton game.

[Nathan]

12 minutes ago, Reading Rebel said:

So is there any point in still playing the two lads from Wycombe who presumably will be leaving and going back to Wycombe after the Hampton game.

I doubt Wycombe will be too happy about us promptly dropping their loanees now that we're safe.

This could jeopardise future loan arrangements; you never know when these will be needed and we don't have enough of these relationships with the local professional clubs as it is.

[Markskelton]

I think we should come up with a gentleman’s agreement with Hampton to knock the ball around for 89 minutes and then let jackman score in the 90th minute.

Edited 5 hours ago by Markskelton