Boreham Wood went some way to putting the disappointment of Saturday’s FA Trophy exit behind them with a 4-0 win over Hertford Town in the Herts Senior Cup on Tuesday.

The Wood won last season’s competition and began their defence of the trophy in exemplary fashion as another makeshift side swatted aside the Spartan South Midlands outfit with room to spare.

A first start of the season was handed to goalkeeper James Courtnage, whilst youngster Sam Merson made his first-team debut for the club.

Wood started brightly but had to wait until the 21st minute to take the lead. A cross from the left from Jordan Brown was palmed away by goalkeeper Ini Amaegbe, allowing debutant Merson to stab home from close range.

Hertford might have levelled shortly after when Tommy Wade laid the ball off for Kardan Campbell, but the midfielder’s strike was unable to threaten Courtnage in the Wood goal.

The home side were making a contest of the tie and came close once more when Sam Ruff set Leigh Rose free. However the striker hesitated and Wood seized their opportunity to clear.

Merson could have had a second soon after when Austin Lipman collected Courtnage’s long clearance and fed the ball into the youngster’s path, only to shoot off target.

Again Merson came close to doubling his tally when he connected with David Moli’s cross, but he could only steer his effort straight at the hosts’ goalkeeper.

A second for Wood and for Merson finally arrived when the dangerous Moli broke down the right-hand flank and crossed for the young forward to shoot underneath Amaegbe.

And after their earlier profligacy, a third was just around the corner for the Conference South side. Captain for the night Mario Noto sent Lipman darting away down the left and the Arsenal loanee subsequently cut the ball back for Moli to get in on the act.

It was one-way traffic again after the restart, with Lipman to the fore. The 19-year-old forward saw his first opportunity go begging when he lashed over the crossbar from just outside the penalty area.

However the Leytonstone-born forward was not to be denied his goal and scored Wood’s fourth in almost identical fashion to the third. This time it was former Watford midfielder Matty Whichelow who provided the ammunition for the young Gunner to follow in from Amaegbe’s parry.

Wood should have been awarded a penalty in the closing stages when Whichelow was fouled inside the penalty area, whilst Lipman was again off-target after weaving past five Hertford players to fashion a shooting opportunity for his side.