Match Report by Allan Mitchell
Hemel Hempstead Town 3 Boreham Wood 4
Vanarama National League South – 03/02/2025
It was heartbreak for the Tudors, conceding a late winner after they recovered from a 1-3 half time deficit to level the scores against high flying Borehamwood with an impressive second half performance.
The first period saw the Full Timers from just up the road dominate proceedings and it took them just three minutes to open the scoring when a long throw, which would prove to be problematic all game, just wasn’t dealt with and found its way to Femi Ilesanmi who made no mistake, heading the ball past Craig King.
After this early onslaught, Hemel started to get a foothold in the game and they equalised on 15 minutes when the in form Brandon Barzey took advantage of some hesitant defending and slotted the ball home.
Samuel Adenola then tested Nathan Ashmore in the Wood goal with a long range effort that he saved on the stretch and suddenly the game looked a lot more even. After Hemel had forced a couple of corners some more indecision in the penalty area allowed the visitors to take the lead again, the ball finding its way this time to Kwesi Appiah who had the simple task of slotting the ball home from close range.
Hemel almost equalised a minute later when Barzey sent Oliver Lynch clear into the box but he was forced out wide and he drove his shot into the side netting.
Just before the interval Hemel conceded a freekick right on the edge of the box, it looked a bit harsh as Adenola caught the Wood forward after he had cleared the ball but the referee saw it differently and booked Adenola in the process. Tom Whelan stepped up and curled the freekick into the top corner to give Wood a 3=1 lead going into the break.
The second half saw Hemel come right back into the game forcing the visitors back. Kyle Ajayi headed just wide when well placed and in the 55th minute a good move involving George Williams saw the ball fed across the face of the goal to an unmarked Lynch who had a simple tap in to reduce the deficit.
The visitors remained dangerous on the counter as Hemel pushed forward and Jayden Richardson will feel he should have done better after miscuing his shot wide just before the hour mark and up the other end another superb cross from Williams was met by an unmarked Barzey who saw his shot superbly saved by Ashmore.
With the game now end to end Hemel finally equalised in the 82nd minute when a short corner was fed out to Barzey who cut inside before driving the ball past Ashmore from fully 25 yards to level the scoring. It was no more than Hemel deserved but there was still a twist in the tail as the clock ticked down.
Hemel were on the offensive when Barzey was somewhat harshly adjudged to have fouled Chris Bush who towered over the Hemel forward but fell to ground very easily under the challenge. The resulting free kick was launched forward and Hemel just could not clear their lines, Craig King saved a close range shot but the ball spilled back into the six yard box where Bush was waiting and he drove it past a crowd of players to restore the lead with just three minutes of normal time on the clock.
Hemel never gave up and with seven minutes of injury time shown on the board they pressed forward again but just couldn’t find a way through and Borehamwood left with all three points and moved to the top of the table.
It was a brilliant advertisement for Non League football and The Tudors will feel very hard done by not to have a got at least one point out of the game but the improvement under Lee Allinson and his backroom team continues.
Tudors Man of the Match: Brandon Barzey
Attendance: 681