MATCH VERDICT

Tom Beddows – @BeddowsTom

Tom reports back from Meadow Park

BOREHAM WOOD 0-0 TORQUAY UNITED – 23.11.24

SUMMARY

A point on the road in what was a miserable afternoon in North London.

A game controlled by the wet and windy conditions, meant there were very few chances and not a great deal to write home about.

United played into the wind for the first half, and with the ball swirling each time it was hit into the air, the boys in yellow were unable to create any clear and worthy chances on goal. Both sets of players soon ran for the changing rooms as the referee blew for half time.

With the wind in our favour in the second half, United started the better side with an early free kick finding Sam Dreyer who was only able to hit it over the bar.

James Hamon was brought into action on a couple of occasions during the second half, but ensured he went home with a clean sheet after taking the ball off of Richardson’s foot as he tried to take the ball round him.

Both teams tried to find the winner in the closing stages, with United having 3 corners in a row, but neither side managed to have any real threat on goal.

The final whistle was blown and the 900 or so in attendance soon scarpered to seek somewhere dry and warm!

PLAYER RATINGS

1. James Hamon – 7

4. Jordan Dyer – 6

3. Jay Foulston – 6

5. Sam Dreyer – 7

26. Jordan Thomas – 6

10. Omar Mussa – 7

20. Dan Hayfield – 6

18. Oscar Threlkeld – 5

22. Will Jenkins-Davies – 5

19. Cody Cooke – 6

8. Jordan Young – 6

Subs:

7. Lirak Hasani – 5

14. Matt Carson – 5

48. Rakealan Jeffers – N/A

TUFC PLAYER RATINGS VOTE – Boreham Wood (a)

MAN OF THE MATCH – Sam Dreyer

Another fine performance in poor conditions. I’d say he’s our signing of the season, so far. I hope we have him on a long contract!!

HONOURABLE MENTIONS

James Hamon did well when called upon this afternoon, and with some recent questions over his ability, I think he has shown he is able to take some criticism and work on his performances, and he’s deserving of his place in the team.

TACTICS

3 changes to last weeks FA Trophy game, with Dreyer, Mussa and Jenkins-Davies returning to the starting 11. Mussa was replaced by Hasani after his usual 65 minutes. WJD replaced by Carson and Jeffers saw the last 5 minutes when taking the place of Jordan Young.

OFFICIALS

With not much happening it was a reasonable game for the officials, which considering what we’ve been subjected to in recent games is a pretty good thing. I don’t think there were any glaring errors that the referee missed. The linesman closest to the travelling Yellow Army took some traditional abuse, but his offside calls led to the most celebrations of the afternoon for the fans in yellow.

OPPOSITION

Boreham Wood are a decent side and will probably be up in the mix at the end of the season. Their efforts going forward were nothing to shout home about, but I expect they’d put poorer sides to bed quite easily this season.

CONCLUSION

A fixture where I think everyone would have taken a point before the game, and considering the conditions that had to be dealt with, we should be happy that’s what we have come away with. I would like to see us play forward with more confidence and be a little more creative in our movement, I think on occasions we are too cautious but with the players we have I believe we have the ability to make it more of an exciting watch and turn these draws into wins. A huge match on Tuesday night now approaches against the league leaders Weston-super-Mare, can United maintain their unbeaten run at home?