Aldershot Town v Boreham Wood Match Preview – Tuesday 30th October 2018
Aldershot Town suffered their first loss in five matches on Saturday, going down 3-0 to Gateshead. On Tuesday evening, they return to the EBB Stadium to take on Boreham Wood. BBC Surrey’s Rob Worrall previews the game.
Shots Squad:
Jacob Berkeley-Agyepong, skipper Karleigh Osborne and James Rowe were all unavailable to manager Gary Waddock at the weekend, but the Shots boss hinted in his post-match interview that one or more of them may be available to him for Tuesday’s game.
Opposition:
Name: Boreham Wood FC
Founded: 1948
Nickname: The Wood
Manager: Luke Garrard
Stadium: Meadow Park
2017/18 Final National League position: 4th
Current National League position: 11th
Recent History:
Promoted via the play-offs from National League South in 2014/15, The Wood’s first season in Non-League’s top tier saw them avoid relegation in dramatic style by winning their final three games. That allowed them to build further and the work they put in paid dividends with a top-half finish in 2016-17. Last season, The Wood improved further, finishing in 4th place and going on to make the Promotion final, only to lose out to Tranmere Rovers.
The Gaffer:
Luke Garrard became the youngest manager in any of England’s top five divisions when he was appointed as the boss of Borehamwood aged just 30 in October 2015. A former Wood defender, Garrard started out as a trainee with Spurs before moving on to Swindon Town where he spent three years between 2002 and 2005. He spent time on the books of Bishop’s Stortford and Borehamwood upon leaving The County Ground and then moved on to AFC Wimbledon in 2006 for a four-year stint and over 100 appearances. He initially returned to Borehamwood on loan in 2009/10 before making the reunion permanent that summer and he made well over 100 appearances before succeeding Ian Allinson in the Meadow Park hot seat. Last season he steered the club to their highest ever finish and to the play-off final at Wembley.
Outgoings:
Garrard saw several key players depart Meadow Park during the close season, including Goalkeeper Grant Smith, who joined Bruno Andrade at Lincoln City and Morgan Ferrier, who also moved to the EFL with Walsall.
Incomings:
Ten players stayed, including Keiran Murtagh (who signed a two-year contract extension last week) and Angelo Balanta (who recently moved to Dagenham & Redbridge for an undisclosed fee). Garrard made several key signings, most notably; young Arsenal keeper Ryan Huddart, defenders Femi Ilesanmi & Manny Parry from Dover and Jamal Fyfield from Gateshead. He also brought in a couple of young strikers on loan from EFL clubs; Josh Umerah (from Charlton) and Justin Shaibu (from Brentford). The pair have already scored eleven goals between them to date. More recently, former Woking striker Gozie Ugwu has joined from Chesterfield.
Referee:
Saturday’s referee is Matthew Dicicco. It will be just his second National League game this season. Last season he took the middle in 8 National League matches, showing 26 yellow cards and 2 red cards. He did not referee Aldershot Town.
Commentary:
There will be live BBC Surrey Sport coverage of the game on Tuesday evening with Rob Worrall and ex-Shots legend Ian MacDonald. Tune in to the BBC Sport website (or the BBC Sport App) from 7:35PM for full match commentary. To interact with the commentary team, tweet @RobShot66.
