Boreham Wood denied Dorchester Town win (From Borehamwood Times)

Boreham Wood held at Dorchester Town

12:47pm Monday 11th March 2013 in Sport

Boreham Wood had to settled for a 0-0 draw at Dorchester Town despite dominating their Conference South match.

Eighth placed Magpies rarely looked like scoring, mustering just three goal attempts to Wood's nineteen. However with just four of those on target the scoreline can be slightly more understood.

The odds were against the home side, losing their main striker Kieffer Moore to injury, and going down to ten men after just 53 minutes should have helped the Wood cause. Yet Ian Allinson's men did not make use of the extra space available to them, leaving the home fans to celebrate a hard-earned point.

The opening 20 minutes saw Wood tear the Magpies to shreds, creating enough chances to have wrapped up the game. The home defence was dormant, the home attack weakly conceding possession to the meanest defence in the league.

Chez Isaac delivered a sumptuous cross that found the head of Loick Pires whose effort found the top of the net after Graeme Montgomery's free kick had caused panic at the back.

A minute later Greg Morgan picked out a totally unmarked Pires just outside the six yard box who turned before shooting weakly at Jason Matthews.

Isaac then provided for Montgomery who had space and time to tee up a shot that flew just wide of the right hand post.

Wood were dominant in possession and a move of around 20 passes ended with another off target Montgomery effort. With the game still only 18 minutes old Luke Garrard played Michael Thalassitis through who attacked down the inside right channel hitting an unstoppable shot that was a couple of inches the wrong side of the left hand post.

With further shots from Charlie O'Loughlin and Morgan blocked and Pires putting Matthews under pressure it seemed only a matter of time before the home side found themselves behind in the game.

Moore managed a headed effort over James Russell's crossbar before Morgan shot weakly at Matthews.

The Magpies who have netted just once now in their last three games found the target through a Jake Smeeton volley that Russell left the ground for to take cleanly with both hands.

The second half started with a Thalassitis effort off target before Montgomery's long ball down field allowed the pacy Stevenage loan striker to outpace the defence.

His square ball for the advancing Isaac was poor, yet Morgan was also in the queue and he steadied himself before shooting wide with the home defence non existent.

Player of the Month for February at The Avenue Stadium Nathan Walker then slid in on Morgan in a rash challenge that reduced his side to ten men.

Quite how Wood did not score after 62 minutes remains a mystery. A Montgomery corner from the right found Thalassitis who lost his marker but his header missed the target.

Piero Mingoia replaced Morgan with 25 minutes remaining, as Wood continued to put pressure on the opposition. Montgomery's free kick swung in from the left for Thalassitis who headed just wide. Another dead ball delivery from Montgomery picked out Callum Reynolds whose header need a fingertip save from Matthews to keep his side level.

The ten men of Dorchester were forced to defend for their lives in an effort to keep Wood out.

Montgomery then fired over the bar before having another shot blocked. Further off target efforts followed before Ben Nunn crossed for Pires who headed on for Cliff Akurang. His diving header was saved by Matthews, Wood's last chance of a winner on the afternoon.

Manager Allinson said: "Let us not take away from the great football we played on a sticky pitch today. We failed to convert enough chances to have won two games, but we shall take the positives on to Eastleigh.

"We looked dangerous and a handful for the opposition. It is a shame that we are drawing so many games. Had we have turned a few of those into wins we would be out of sight now.”