Wealdstone v Boreham Wood - Match Preview
THE DETAILS
Wealdstone v Boreham Wood Vanarama National League Grosvenor Vale
Tuesday 2nd March, 7:45pm kick-off
HOW TO WATCH
Due to the current COVID-19 restrictions enforced by UK government, all elite football in England is required to be played behind closed doors. As a result we will be streaming this fixture live and you can purchase your streaming pass HERE.
THE CONTEXT This fixture had a series of 'will it, wont its' when the original tie was due to be played just after Christmas. The Stones Grosvenor Vale pitch was unplayable over a Christmas period dogged by heavy rain, it was then switched to Boreham Wood's Meadow Park ground before a confirmed case of COVID-19 in the Wealdstone camp on the morning of the game confirmed the postponement. Tuesday night's game is the rearranged tie meaning Wealdstone renew rivalries with Boreham Wood for the first time in six years. Since then the Wood have established themselves in the National League under the management of club legend Luke Garrard and currently sit just two points and one position outside the play-off positions. The Stones sat in 19th position at the opposite end of the table following a disappointing defeat on the road at Wrexham that saw them ship another four goals in one game.
TEAM NEWS Wealdstone could welcome back defender George Langston from injury, the defender had his loan extended from Watford this week until the end of the season. Michee Efete also made a return from a knee injury in Saturday's defeat to Wrexham. However, the Stones are definitely without defenders Connor Stevens, Josh Meekings and Joseph Olowu who could all be out until April at the earliest. Up the other end of the pitch, Moses Emmanuel is a doubt and Deshane Dalling has returned to QPR following the end of his loan spell.
FORM GUIDE Stones:
Wrexham (A) 4-1 L (Parish)
Eastleigh (H) 0-0 D Sutton United (A) 4-1 L (Parish) Torquay United (A) 1-1 D (Mendy) Darlington (A) 4-1 L (Emmanuel)
Boreham Wood: Solihull Moors (H) 2-2 D (Tshimanga, Morias) Bromley (H) 1-1 D (Marsh) Altrincham (A) 2-3 W (Smith, Tshimanga, Whitely) Yeovil Town (H) 2-3 L (Tshimanga, Mafuta) Sutton United (A) 2-0 L
WHAT WAS SAID Stuart Maynard: "We're trying to work harder defensively, we've been conceding a lot of goals, we went 10 games without a clean sheet before the other night against Eastleigh. We've got to keep working hard on the training ground, it doesn't help when you have to keep chopping and changing because of injuries, we had four defenders out against Wrexham. It's going to keep taking a lot of hard work on the training ground to make sure we fill gaps, we get in the right defensive areas and we cut out slight individual errors."
WHO TO WATCH FOR? Kabongo Tshimanga: Tshimanga is a quick, powerful forward with a real eye for goal. His goals in the National League South for Oxford City earned him a move to the Wood in 2019 and he has continued his goalscoring prowess at the level above. He scored 19 goals last season before it was cut short due to COVID-19 and his 14 goals so far this season have earned Boreham Wood a place in the FA Cup 3rd Round where they lost to Millwall and have put them in a play-off challenging position throughout the season.
HEAD-TO-HEAD
Played - 23 Won - 11 Drawn - 4 Lost - 8
LAST FIVE MEETINGS March 2015 - Stones 0-1 Boreham Wood November 2014 - Boreham Wood 2-1 Stones (Wright) April 2010 - Stones 0-0 Boreham Wood November 2009 - Stones 3-0 Boreham Wood (Ellerbeck 3) September 2009 - Stones 4-2 Boreham Wood (Ashe, Chappell 2, Massey)
Preview by Chris Woods