Osei double downs Walnut Boys

Kempston arrived at this fixture on the back of a ten day break since the Bedford Town game. For anyone who has not been to Northwood before, one end of the ground backs on to a cemetery, the marketing for games at this time of year writes itself.

Rovers started brightly and showed signs of putting the derby defeat out of their system. The ghosts were not all out of the system as Kempston fell behind as early as the fifth minute. Martin won the ball for Northwood on the right hand side and put in a low cross, perfect for Osei to sweep past Conway and in to the net. Less than a minute later, the lead was doubled in a mirror image. Harry Newman, not to be confused with Kempston’s Jake, broke down the left and put the ball in for Osei to again prod home. Rovers, clearly rattled by the two early goals, found themselves on the wrong side of the referee at the ten minute mark. Grant Fryer went in hard on his man and earned himself a yellow card. Twenty minutes into the game marked Rovers clearest chance of the first period so far. Jake Newman cut back in the area and found Sam Macrae, making his first appearance of the season, and the midfielder’s low effort rolled agonisingly wide of the target. With half an hour gone, Rovers had two glorious chances to get back into the game. First, a Ben Shepherd free kick found Grant Fryer, who saw his header turned behind. From the resulting corner, Shepherd again found Fryer, this time the defender headed over. Right on half time, Northwood’s goal scorer went up to contest a header with Fryer, leading with the elbow, then landing on the defender. Osei was shown a yellow card for his endeavour. Yet, the home bench were calling for Fryer to be shown a second yellow card.

The second half started much brighter for Rovers, Ash Fuller tried his luck with a long shot which went wide of the mark before his crossing found Fryer and Robbie Goodman but the two chances passed without the keeper being seriously troubled. Rovers were on top for much of the second period, but couldn’t find their way past a well organised Northwood back line. All the pressure and possession was undone in the seventy sixth minute with Northwood’s first real attack of the half. Harry Newman burst down the left hand side and cut the ball back to Ochoa, who riffled his effort into the top corner. It nearly got worse for Rovers in the last ten minutes, Martin Conway smartly denied Kouassi. A late surge forward by Ben Shepherd troubled the back line of Northwood, but his shot went wide. The scoreline did not reflect the game as a contest, given the frequency of chances created and time in possession. Rovers will take heart with many aspects of the performance, especially their set play. Despite dropping down to tenth place in the table, Rovers are far from in the graveyard, metaphorically speaking. Being behind the goal at Northwood, you can’t really get much closer to the cemetery!