BOREHAM WOOD 2 WELLING UNITED 0......10TH OCTOBER 2015

SATURDAY 10TH OCTOBER 2015 (NON-LEAGUE DAY)

BOREHAM WOOD V WELLING UNITED

CONFERENCE (not got used to this National League stuff yet)

MEADOW PARK STADIUM

ATTENDANCE....543 (66 From Welling)

ADMISSION......£10 on showing my season ticket card, usually £16

PROGRAMME....£3

TRAIN COST....£86.70

19TH OF 24 CONFERENCE GROUNDS VISITED

TOTAL GROUNDS VISITED =  244

MILEAGE = 324.4m....SEASON TOTAL = 4839.5m

2015-16.....GAMES = 35.....GOALS = 125

A change of plan for today's game, as first choice Bromley have announced that their game v Altrincham on November 14th (next International break day) will be live on BT Sport and now kicks off at 12.30....this obviously means getting home a lot earlier than i would for a 3pm KO, so plan B, Boreham Wood v Welling United came into force for today's outing.

A bit of a lie-in compared to previous Saturday's, as my clock doesn't awake me from my Redfearn/Premiership dreams till 6am.

My usual walk up to a rather chilly Wombwell train station for the 7.31 to Sheffield, then plenty of time to grab myself a much needed belly warming Platform Cafe Hot Chocolate before boarding my 8.29 connection to London St Pancras.

Arriving in the Capital exactly 2 hours later, followed by a short 22 minute ride to Elstree and BorehamWood to arrive at my final destination in Hertfordshire.

Out of the Station straight onto Boreham Wood High Street.
A very busy place with Market stalls dotted about along the way...my first port of call was the Wishing Well Irish pub resplendent with it's stained glass windows type thingy's on the ceiling as you will see from my photo's.
A nice friendly quiet chilled out pub (at 11.15 anyway) and far removed from my next stop.
I crossed over and entered the Hart and Spool Wetherspoons....the friendliness was there but the place was chaotic...barstaff running round like headless chickens, the bloke who served me looked like he was going to have a breakdown any minute...all tables were full, drinks were being served in plastic pots as all glasses were taken and no half glasses were left available....but apart from that it was ok.

Up to the Ground at 12.30, plenty of photo's outside the Ground including the phone mast suffocating one of the floodlights.
The "open" sign on the Social Club door welcoming me in to watch the Macclesfield v Kidderminster live BT Sport offering.
However, Max and Paddy (only doing their job i know) on the doors refused me entry as it's home fans only..."no away fans, no neutrals" i was informed....i think the Grounds guide Website which stated differently needs updating...and so much for the non league day everybody welcome scenario...bet they wont turn me away from the home end when i pay my entrance fee and money for food and programmes, and with an home crowd average of 637 being the lowest in the Conference this season, albeit 94.80% up on last season's average, you'd think they would be grateful for every penny.
Anyway, dummy well and truly spat, i walked back to the Wishing Well in a Kevin and Perry style, where they were only too happy to take my money.

By now this establishment had filled up with locals, away fans, and one disgruntled Yorkshireman, but still a friendly atmosphere.
I sat quietly in the corner watching the first half of the Macclesfield game from a distance as all the prime viewing seats had gone, till 1.45 and then re-traced my steps to Meadow Park and deja vu time.
£10 entrance on receipt of my RUFC season card with it being Non-League day...£16 normally....and i was back in happy land with the excellent Bacon sandwich which consisted of soft white bread doorsteps, added to the tub of chips and a bottle of pepsi max, a real belly filling treat at just over £6 .....the way to a man's heart and that stuff.

On to the Football matters and Boreham Wood sit just one place and one point above the drop zone in the Conference largely due to winning just one game in the last 10, this being a 2-1 win at fellow strugglers Torquay 4 games back.

There is then a 5 point gap to the next team above them, which is Altrincham.

The visitors to Meadow Park today are Welling United who i saw gain a point at home to Tranmere at the beginning of September.

Welling have improved greatly on their position since that game and have climbed to 17th place, 7 points clear of the relegation zone and conversely only 8 points away from Bromley in 5th place.

Boreham, nicknamed "The Wood" for the obvious reasons are at the 5th level of English Football for the first time in their history following a play off final win in last season's Conference South.They have a few players with a decent Football League pedigree, namely, Centre half Joe Devera with experience at Barnet, Swindon and Portsmouth.

Midfielder Luke Howell at MK Dons and Dagenham, plus forwards Mustafa Tiryaki, Tranmere, along with Ricky Shakes and Charlie McDonald who were both at Brentford.

The boss at Meadow Park is Ian Allinson who made almost 500 Football League appearences at Colchester, Arsenal, Luton and Stoke.

He played in and scored twice during Arsenal's 5-1 FA Cup 4th round victory over The Millers in the 1985-86 season.
Welling United, or "The Wings", managed by the largely unknown (to me anyway till the Tranmere game last month) Loui Fazackerley, are in their 3rd season at this level.They have 4 players with League experience at Leyton Orient, George Porter, Afolabi Obafemi, Harry Lee and Sandro Semedi....the last 2 currently on loan from the Brisbane Road Club.

Meadow Park has a superb 1200 capacity East stand, free from any obstructing pillars, which was opened by Arsene Wenger just 15 months back.

Across from it is the 500 capacity Main Stand, again free from supporting posts, this end also houses the elusive Three Lions Bar Clubhouse.

The Main Stand runs half the length of the pitch and stands either side of the half way line.

Both ends are open terracing, the away fans are given the South end, giving a full capacity of 4,500.

I took my seat in the new East stand which offered plenty of leg room for my 6ft 2 frame.
The first 19 minutes went by largely un-noticed as neither side took control and the game crawled along at snail's pace.
A goal for the home team changed that when Jaime Lucas, a midweek loan signing from Bristol Rovers, headed home from a right wing cross, and from then on Boreham Wood took full control.
The lead could've been doubled just before half time as a delicate chip over the keeper from the right hand side of the box came off the bar when a goal would've been more than justified for the impudent effort if nothing else.

Half time and a steady walk round to the far end of the home terrace to view the game from a different angle.
Boreham still bossed the possession and a deserved 2nd goal came in the 64th minute.
A corner from the left came low and hard across the 6 yard box and Joe Devera more or less clinched the 3 points as he slotted home from close range.
Welling offered little in the way of a fightback and the encounter was well and truly put to bed when Wings centre-half Harry Osborne was red carded for a professional foul just before the end of the 90.
Ending 2-0, the vast majority of the 543 strong crowd left the Ground happy, with the 66 travelling Welling fans licking their wounds from a lacklustre performance by their team.

Game finished at 4.57 and Usain Bolt would've been hard put to make it back to the Station for the 5.08 train, so i took a steady walk past my earlier watering holes and popped into the Alfred Arms round the corner from the Station for a quick drink and read of my programme before the 6.08.
A look at the results on my way back to St Pancras shows me that plan A ended 5-0 to Bromley and both the teams i watched today occupy the same position as they were this morning, although Boreham Wood have closed the gap to Altrincham down to 2 points.

Baffled to see that possession was 50% each, when i thought Boreham Wood had more than their share of the ball....but the main stat for them was the 2-0 scoreline.

A very noisy train journey home followed, and i climbed wearily up my seemingly mountainous front door step at 9.50.
Next Conference tick off will be in a fortnight as we play Friday night against some non-descripts, and depending on the FA Cup 4th round qualifying draw it will hopefully be either Woking, Gateshead or Braintree.