'We made it easy by not turning up' (From Borehamwood Times)

Boreham Wood suffer play-off setback after Maidenhead United defeat

3:35pm Thursday 28th February 2013 in Sport

Boreham Wood manager Ian Allinson accused his side of not turning up after their 2-1 defeat at Maidenhead United last night.

The visitors did not arrive until 15 minutes before kick off due to traffic problems and it did not get much better once the game got underway as their Conference South play-off hopes suffered a setback.

Allinson said: “We made it easy for Maidenhead tonight by not turning up. We did not start and conceding in the second minute was bad enough.

“Conceding a poor second via a deflection, from which I thought James Russell could have done better with, left us a mountain to climb.

“We failed to compete throughout the entire first half until I introduced Cliff Akurang after the break. Unfortunately we left it too late to effect the final result.”

The manager added: “We need to be stronger away from home especially against mid-table sides. Our record against the top eight teams is superb, yet against the rest of the division that is not the case.”

Wood fell behind within two minutes of the start when Alex Wall latched onto a long clearance and slotted past Russell.

The away side looked shell shocked and were under the cosh again with David Pratt’s shot coming back off the crossbar.

The hosts increased their lead after 27 minutes. Daniel Brown curled a free-kick into the area and it ricocheted off the Wood wall before looping over Russell into the net.

It could easily have been 3-0 but Wall was denied by a fine save from visiting keeper Russell.

Wood failed to hit a shot on target in the first half with Luke Garrard heading over a Graeme Montgomery cross.

Akurang came on for the second period and the substitute injected some life into the visitors’ performance.

Montgomery hit a sweetly struck effort which required a fingertip save from Billy Lumley.

Akurang went close from a Greg Morgan free-kick forcing Lumley into a diving save from his header.

Wood finally grabbed a consolation in injury time through Michael Thalassitis but it could not prevent their sixth defeat of the season.