Boreham Wood beat FC Halifax Town 3-1 in their first match in the National League

A dominant second-half performance allowed Wood to recover from the setback of conceding a penalty in the final seconds of first-half stoppage time.

The quality of their goals was superb and it was the finishing which set the two teams apart.

Ian Allinson was forced to start without two of his preferred side with Charlie MacDonald and Sam Cox sidelined through injury.

However, Bristol Rovers loanee Jamie Lucas and Conor Clifford, signed following his release by Southend United, were both thrown in for debuts after joining the Wood on the eve of the new season.

A competitive start to the game saw Wood enjoying good spells of possession but they needed the reliable Scott Doe to mop up when Callum Reynolds’ backpass was seized upon by Sean Tuton.

Luke Howell was the first to register a shot when he advanced in space to hit a low drive that was just the wrong side of Matt Glennon's left-hand post.

Ironically it was the Shaymen's best period of the game which eventually led to the opening goal for Wood.

A free-kick swung into the area from the right by Kingsley James was attacked by both central defenders Hamza Bencherif and Matty Brown. The bearded pair got in a tangle, the ball falling for Josh MacDonald, whose effort was clawed off the line by James Russell.

When the Wood custodian finally got control of the ball he cleverly lashed a low clearance up field which was perfect for Shakes. He judged the fight of the ball superbly and with the defence out of position he steered a superb lob first time over the advancing Glennon for the opener.

It was almost two when Reynolds shielded the ball into the path of Doe who forced a full-stretch save from Glennon.

However, just two seconds from the end of stoppage time Jake Hibbs’ run into the Wood penalty area was halted by a clumsy challenge from Clifford from behind and after a penalty was awarded, Jordan Burrow decisively lashed home the equalizer prior to the whistle.

It was the visitors who found the momentum after the break with Elliot Whitehouse skipping past three challenges on the edge of the area before being bought down. Hibbs struck the resulting free-kick sweetly but could only connect with the base of Russell’s post.

Former Chelsea youngster Clifford more than made up for his first-half error with a gutsy display, bossing the middle of the park and twice clearing to deny Whitehouse.

New signing Lucas, who spent most of last season on loan at Weston-super-Mare ignited the tie with a quite superb individual goal after 61 minutes.

Halifax’s Bencherif made a hash of his backpass and was caught out by the speed of the 19-year-old who seized possession, took the ball onto his left foot and glided past a challenge from Brown before steering a superb shot wide of the despairing Glennon.

From there on Wood took control of the game. Neil Aspin introduced a second striker in the shape of Andy Bishop to partner Burrow, but it was Wood with Billy Clifford and Shakes pulling all the strings with their offensive play.

Lucas was replaced by Harry Crawford with 18 minutes remaining and he stole the show as Wood looked to wrap up all three points on their National League debut.

With the game into stoppage time Crawford accepted a pass from Howell, allowing the ball to run past him before swiveling to tuck home number three with a decisive finish Glennon almost kept out.

Speaking afterwards, boss Allinson gushed: “It is quite amazing to see how far we have come in the last six or seven seasons. We know we will have to work harder than the rest of the sides in this league.

“Each game is extremely draining and we will be managing the number of minutes our players put in. I thought we were silly to give away the penalty at such a crucial time and the first ten minutes of the second half we were slow out of the blocks. Thereafter we improved and we showed we are a hard team to beat.”

Assessing the impact of his goalscorers, Allinson continued: “Ricky Shakes tore a cruciate ligament within 45 minutes of signing for us and some players never recover. Again today you saw the unbelievable energy that other teams, even at this level, struggle to cope with.

“Jamie Lucas has had an excellent pre-season scoring six goals for Bristol Rovers. He is just 19 and could have a fine career in front of him.

“Then you have Harry Crawford. In truth I did not see enough in pre-season and what we have offered him would have caused most players to walk away in search of something else.

“What attracted me to Harry was his attitude in training, and he loves it here. He wants to play for Boreham Wood and today he delivered.”

Boreham Wood: Russell; Nunn, Doe, Reynolds, Woodards; Shakes, C.Clifford, B.Clifford (Whichelow 77), Howell, Montgomery; Lucas (Crawford 72).

Subs: Hill, Morias, Edwards (GK).