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Joe Uglow – @joe_ugs

Joe looks at how the two teams match up

TUFC V BOREHAM – SQUAD COMPARISON

GOALKEEPERS

TUFC – James Hamon, Owen Foster

Boreham Wood – Nathan Ashmore

Ashmore used to be the leading goalkeeper at this level but since then age & fitness problems have caught up with him, and he’s looked shaky this season. In the home fixture against BW he struggled to get down to Young & Jay’s shots as we raced in to a 2-0 lead , & on Tuesday Night he let Jason Prior’s header squirm under him at his near post.

Interestingly BW do not have a sub keeper listed in their squad whereas we will be taking advantage of the additional two spaces on the subs bench to include loanee Owen Foster, ready to come on if the worse was to happen and he was required.

Hamon has had a good season overall, but is susceptible to a long range shot as he showed in the home fixture, so the difference could be which keeper cuts those errors out of his game on Saturday, and makes a big save when their team needs it most.

FULL BACKS

TUFC – Matt Carson, Finley Craske, Jay Foulston, Jordan Thomas, Dean Moxey

Boreham Wood – Femi Ilesanmi, Cameron Coxe, Jayden Richardson, Josh Hare

Ilesamni despite being credited with two own goals on Tuesday night, actually scored neither of them, good old Flashscores! But he did grab the winner so has likely cemented his place in the side along with other goal scoring full back Cameron Coxe. Jayden Richardson looked the most dangerous of all the BW full backs at Plainmoor in March and gave Carson a torrid time all afternoon, but was limited to the bench on Tuesday night. The experienced Josh Hare has found himself out of the squad in the last four weeks but manager Garrard may pull a rabbit out of the hat and bring him in for an unlikely start.

For United it’ll likely be the combination of Jay Foulston & Jordan Thomas at full back, the former missed out in March due to injury and will bring that defensive solidity to the side that we may have lacked when the Wood Army last visited. Jordan Thomas, preferred to Craske in recent weeks, has impressed looking far more defensively solid as well as bringing that attacking nous to the team.

CENTRE BACKS

TUFC – Sam Dreyer, Jordan Dyer, Ed Palmer

Boreham Wood – Chris Bush, Callum Reynolds, Charlie O’Connell, Joe Rye, Josef Yarney, David Agbontohoma

Plenty of experience for the Wood in central defence but they looked incredibly shaky back there on Tuesday Night. Bush & Reynolds boast easily over 1000 career games between them but both helped themselves to an own goal in midweek. Bush was diagnosed with a heart condition in the week after the game at Plainmoor in March and subsequently underwent surgery to be fitted with a pacemaker, so it’s pretty remarkable that he is back playing so soon after.

BW have played three at the back for as long as I can remember but after their 4-0 loss to Maidstone Garrard switched things up and changed to a 4-2-3-1 formation, Yarney & Reynolds were the chosen two CB’s on Tuesday with O’Connell playing further forward as a defensive midfielder but given their frailties in defending balls into the box, one of Agbontohoma or Bush could be recalled.

For United it looks like this match could be a week or two too soon for Jordan Dyer so expect us to line up with a partnership of Ed Palmer & Sam Dreyer. It won’t be an easy afternoon up against the busy Matt Rush ably supported by Abdul Abdulmalik in a free role with Erico Sousa & Charles Clayden in wide areas. It doesn’t get much easier off the bench either with Junior Dixon & Kwesi Appiah waiting in the wings.

MIDFIELDERS

TUFC – Lirak Hasani, Dan Hayfield, Will Jenkins Davies, Omar Mussa, Oscar Threlkeld, Cameron Aisha

Boreham Wood – Jack Payne, Tom Whelan, Mo Sagaf, Jon Benton, Gus Mafuta

Again as is a theme throughout this Boreham Wood side their midfield is packed full of experience. Central Defender Charlie O’Connell is currently being utilised as a defensive midfielder alongside Ex Yeovil & Weymouth man Tom Whelan. You may remember Whelan’s pocket was picked by WJD in the home fixture which led to Matt Jay’s goal. This was an uncharacteristic mistake from the experienced midfielder who could easily play the level above. No indication that Garrard will switch things up on Saturday, as this midfield partnership has now played a part in a run of six wins on the bounce.

Probably the most difficult to guess in Paul Wotton’s starting line up. It’ll be a midfield three for sure, but does PW stick with Mussa holding with Hayfield & Hasani in front or does he opt for the defensive protection of Threlkeld in that deeper role. An argument could also be made for the inclusion of WJD who really thrived against the Wood at Plainmoor. Tough decision for PW and I’m glad I’m not the one making it, I’d be tempted to switch Hayfield into a holding role allowing Mussa and one of Hasani or WJD to get forward and make things happen!

ATTACKERS

TUFC – Brad Ash, Cody Cooke, Jordan Young, Matt Jay, Offrande Zanzala, Emmanuel Ilesamni

Boreham Wood – Tyrone Marsh, Kwesi Appiah, Matt Rush, Junior Dixon, Charles Clayden, Erico Sousa, Abdul Abdulamik

Bags of goals in the Boreham Wood side now who have helped themselves to 21 goals in the last six games. Top goalscorer Kwesi Appiah finds himself on the bench currently with no goals in nine games. No problem for Boreham though as Rush has helped himself to 10 in those nine games, backed up by Erico Sousa with four, & Abdul Abdulamik, Junior Dixon, Tyrone Marsh & Charles Clayden all chipping in with one or two to support their front man. Clayden is currently the man chosen to start down the left with Sousa opted for on the right, The dangerous Abdulamik who scored and set up one against us in March is given a free role in behind Rush.

Zanzala had a very good game against Boreham Wood in March with the dazed Cody Cooke sat on the bench after his injury at WSM. However, fresh from his hat-trick last Saturday it has to be Cody Cooke to lead the line, he looks a new man after his break from the starting line up 5 or 6 weeks ago and I fancy Cody to get about their centre halves and give them a tough afternoon. Backing Cody up will be Jordan Young & Matt Jay. Young helped himself to another goal and assist last Saturday making it 25 goal contributions since he joined the club. Both Jay & Young helped themselves to a goal last time out against Boreham Wood and we’ll be hoping for more of the same this Saturday.

Having watched Tuesday night’s highlights I’ll be holding out hope that in front of a 5600 home crowd the Boreham defence will be like Rabbits in Headlights!

CONCLUSION

It’s a really tough one to call isn’t it! Boreham Wood are no mugs, experience through the spine of the side and on a good run of form. But so are we, we top the form table for play off teams if you look at the last 10 games and with a massive crowd behind us you have to pray that the lads don’t freeze and we get the job done.

I do think Saturday comes down to how each manager sets up but also how they react during the game. We launched into a quick fire 2-0 lead against BW last time around but took our foot off the pedal and let them back into the game, we simply cannot allow that to happen on Saturday.

We’ve shown in recent weeks we do have the firepower, and we’ll need to show that on Saturday as I’ll be amazed if it’s 1-0 either way. We’ve come so far, missing out on promotion by a couple of goals; a packed out Plainmoor, sun shining, great conditions for a football match, what a fantastic opportunity and one we need to seize!