FROM THE GAFFER

Darren Salmon gives his views on what’s been going on this week.

GB: How disappointing was it that Saturdays trip to Merstham fell foul to the weather, obviously it was expected, but you must have been looking forward to getting the lads out there after the Northwood result

DS: Hi G, yes obviously it was disappointing as you want games to come thick & fast following defeats as that enables you to get back to business rectifying whatever is wrong. The flip side is, we had a number of players unwell so that may have been a minor benefit.

GB: Looking at Northwood, and I don’t really want to spend too much time on it, but can you explain what happened at the start of the second half. We were in the game at the break, and five minutes later it was damage limitation

DS: NO, ;-) Seriously, we failed to anticipate a few tweaks and make the necessary transitions but also I think the players were caught cold after their 1st half stoppage goal, that changed the team talk dramatically

GB: We have a spell of huge games coming up, Marlow just after Christmas are flying high, whilst we have todays opponents early in the New Year and a trip to Guernsey. We need to start putting some wins on the board.

DS: Not sure what the question is G, but yes we do and we have a target for where we want to be at the end of January which we feel is achievable and realistic.

GB: You have bolstered your forward line with the signing of Shakeel Morris for Witham Town, can he be the missing piece of the puzzle, and will we see him tonight?

DS: Shak is a player we’ve wanted for a while now since I first saw him at Northwood, honestly though G, as highly as we rate the lad I don’t want to place that responsibility on any one player, the whole group needs to rediscover their belief right now -

GB: Finally, it’s a break for the league campaign this evening, as you welcome Leatherhead for a Velocity Cup tie, what are you expecting from the game?

DS: Of course a tough game G, but also more importantly a chance for us to work at a few things in a competitive game that Liam and Cornelius have been working with the lads on in training, ready for the upcoming league matches that you’ve correctly identified will come think 7 fast in January - Enjoy the game, cheers

Rovers slumped to their fifth straight league defeat at a bitterly cold Whyteleafe Sports Arena. When things are going against you the last thing you need is a visit from the league leaders, but that was what face Rovers.

Three goals in a five minute spell either side of half time saw Northwood run away with things and in the end Rovers only consolation was a stoppage time strike from Brian Testolin.

Darren Salmon made two changes to the side that had lost to Westfield last time out, with skipper Rhamar Garrett-Douglas back from suspension and Franklin Nzeh coming into the line up, the injured Bertie Lloyd, and Tyrese Sutherland missed out.

The visitors started brightly with the lively Juwon Akintunde forcing a tidy stop out of Rovers keeper Endurance Johnson in the opening minutes, and it was generally the league leaders on top. However aside from the early stop Johnson wasn't unduly troubled until midway through the half when he was quick off his line to deny Akintunde again.

For Rovers, speculative long range efforts from Kyron Richards and Shawn Lyle failed to trouble Andrew McCorkell in the Northwood. Cox did force McCorkell into a decent save on the half hour but Northwood went close again shortly after when we failed to clear a Luke Tingey throw in and Micah Jackson crashed an effort off the underside of the bar.

As the half started to run down we had our best spell, and a Richards header flashed across the face of goal, and after a neat move involving Cox and Connor French, Lyle fired over the bar.

Northwood snatched the opening goal deep into first half stoppage time. Ricardo Alexander-Greenway flicked on a corner, Akintunde and Romario Jonas had shots blocked before Tingey crashed home the ball to give Northwood a first half lead.

Whatever Darren said to the lads at the break went out of the window immediately as two goals in a five minute spell saw the Woods take an unassailable 3-0 lead. Jake Tabor and Alexander-Greenway combined to release Jackson and his low cross was headed home by a diving Andy Lomas, and it got worse for Rovers on 50 minutes when Carl Stewart's near post cross was headed home by Akintunde.

We were now on damage limitation and Johnson saved well frobem Akintunde before Jackson increased their lead midway through the half. A corner cleared back to Jackson ended up with him crashing the ball home via a deflection.

We never threw in the towel though and McCorkell saved well from a near post Cox effort and the latter went close again as he shot wide after a jinking run into the Northwood box. It was 5-0 on 82 minutes as Tabor’s near post corner was helped on by Alexander-Greenaway and fired home by Josh Helmore.

We finally gained a consolation deep into added time Testolin firing beyond McCorkell to give the Rovers faithful something to cheer.

Image taken from the Northwood twitter account: Copyright: James Brown