TT PREVIEW

Steve blogs about his team

TALKING BOREHAM WOOD

Despite the disappointment of relegation last year, I was looking forward to the National League South season in August. Some new grounds to visit, a decent squad in place, and the anticipation of a different playing style under a new manager. But soon it became apparent that the Ross Jenkins experiment was looking doomed. There was definitely a new emphasis on keeping the ball on the deck and on playing out from the back, but things didn’t seem quite right.

I knew chairman Danny Hunter wasn’t happy. One look at his face at half-time of the Hampton and Richmond away match indicated that he was far from satisfied, and it was not a huge surprise when Jenkins departed. It was hardly a shock when previous manager Luke Garrard returned too. Some were sceptical; he had brought great success to the club but the Wood had just been relegated under his management. Many were also less than impressed with his playing style and tactics, but others did point out that there were few dissenting voices when the club reached the play-offs three times and enjoyed fantastic FA Cup runs.

Initially, results improved for the better, and there was a buzz again around the club. But this division is so competitive, and defeats at Eastbourne and Aveley soon burst the bubble. The latter defeat at a club struggling to stay up was my personal low point of the season. I actually started to wonder if our optimism had been badly misplaced. Maybe we were not as good as we thought. Perhaps the squad would need a complete overhaul. Obviously there was a risk of me overreacting, but it was a demoralising defeat.

There have been a couple of important additions to the squad since that defeat. Midfielder Jon Benton and forward Matt Rush have played a key part in the results that saw the Wood climb into the promotion picture. After the Aveley loss the club went on an 11 match unbeaten run in the league, and when the team came back from 2-0 down at half-time to beat Chelmsford 3-2 it was almost a complete reverse of the feeling after the Aveley match. Kwesi Appiah could not stop scoring, the team were tightening up at the back, and all looked rosy in the garden.

Naturally, just as you think you’ve turned the corner, you immediately hit the buffers. Chippenham turned up at Meadow Park and played like prime Man City, their 4-1 win fully deserved. Centre back Chris Bush needlessly got himself sent off at Worthing, turning a 1-0 lead into a 2-1 loss. A goalkeeping mistake from Nathan Ashmore led to a 1-0 home defeat against Weston-super-Mare. A poor first half display saw the team beaten 2-1 at Hornchurch. The Wood played well at Aldershot, but ultimately exited the FA Trophy.

It was hard to pinpoint what had gone wrong. I did wonder if the absence of club skipper Jack Payne was telling. He is one of those players who you probably don’t appreciate when he is playing, often wondering what he does. But it became crystal clear that his steadying influence was being missed, as all of a sudden automatic promotion hopes seemed to be fading. Fortunately among the carnage was a much needed 4-3 win at Hemel Hempstead – although the team did their best to throw that away – and coming into the Torquay match the Wood have won consecutive league matches against Eastbourne, St Albans and Chelmsford.

Hopefully this is the start of another run. In truth, the three recent wins have not been stunning performances. Ashmore saved a penalty with the match at 0-0 against Eastbourne; the first half at St Albans was pretty mediocre until a crucial Charlie O’Connell goal from a corner turned the match, with two quick strikes from Appiah and Rush sealing the win in the second half; the Chelmsford victory was the very definition of winning ugly, a decent enough match but nervy.

In his interview after the Chelmsford win, Luke stated that he has 19 fit players to choose from in his squad, which is a great position to be in. The quality of our bench and some of the players that cannot get into the matchday squad emphasises the options available to the manager. But of course this all counts for nothing if the team fail to perform. The two away games coming up at Torquay and Truro will be huge tests for Luke and his players. I would snap your hand off for four points out of those matches, but that might be a little greedy of me.

I know Torquay’s recent form has been a cause for many of your fans – judging by their replies to your official club Twitter/X account after a poor result – but your home form is frightening. Just one league defeat at Plainmoor all season suggests a draw would be a fine result for the Wood. It might mean they temporarily lose ground on some of their promotion rivals, but it would hardly be a damaging result. I think it is going to be very tight and I really would not be surprised if the match ended 0-0 like the earlier fixture at Meadow Park.

It is good to be in the mix for the promotion spots. There is genuine excitement among the Wood Army, and we will be bringing a supporters’ coach for the Torquay match. That might not sound much to Torquay or other clubs with larger fanbases. But it shows the fans are fully invested in this promotion race. It is definitely a lot more enjoyable than last season.