Boreham Wood extended their unbeaten start to the National League season to 13 matches with a 2-0 victory at Sutton United, as Chris Bush and former Sutton loanee Danny Cashman scored second-half goals to secure a sixth consecutive league win for Luke Garrard’s side.
Sutton made the brighter start and nearly took the lead inside two minutes when Brandon Njoku charged down Ted Curd’s attempted clearance. The Boreham Wood goalkeeper scrambled back to prevent the ball crossing the line, with the officials rejecting Sutton’s appeals that a goal had been scored. Emmanuel Osadebe also went close for the hosts in the early stages.
Boreham Wood began creating opportunities of their own as Lewis Richardson shot narrowly wide before forcing Spike Brits into a save. Bobby Amartey then blocked a Zak Brunt effort, while Omar Mussa twice found space to shoot from outside the area at the other end but failed to seriously trouble Curd.
Bush headed a Brunt free-kick over the bar as the first half remained goalless. Sutton made three changes at the interval, introducing Sam Folarin, David Ogbonna and Dan Urpens for Temi Babalola, Brandon Njoku and Jordan Moore-Taylor respectively, the latter having suffered an awkward fall during the opening period.
The visitors threatened after the restart when Richardson was played into the left side of the penalty area, but Brits turned his shot behind for a corner. Brunt delivered the resulting set-piece and Bush met it with a powerful header. Jake Taylor cleared the ball, but the officials ruled that it had already crossed the line, giving Boreham Wood the lead in the 62nd minute.
The goal was Bush’s second in successive matches, having previously gone more than a year without scoring before finding the net against Altrincham the previous Saturday. Boreham Wood almost doubled their advantage six minutes later when Ben Whitfield’s volley was redirected towards goal by Jay Bird, only for Brits to produce an excellent reflex save.
Sutton threatened an equaliser when Jermaine Francis had an effort blocked by Tylor Golden, but the visitors added their second in the 80th minute after a mistake in the home defence. Brits’ clearance was intercepted by Regan Booty, who exchanged passes with Conor Wilkinson before finding Brunt. The midfielder picked out substitute Cashman, who finished from close range against his former loan club.
Cashman had only been introduced five minutes earlier in place of Whitfield and, like Bush, had now scored in consecutive National League matches. Sutton had a late opportunity when Kwaku Donkor’s cross narrowly evaded Francis inside the six-yard box, while Regan Booty sent a free-kick over at the other end.
The victory gave Boreham Wood 11 wins and two draws from their opening 13 league matches, extending their winning sequence to six games and their unbeaten start to 13. Garrard’s side moved on to 35 points and maintained their position at the top of the National League, having scored in every league fixture this season.
Sutton’s defeat extended their winless run to five matches since beating Eastleigh on 15 September. Chris Agutter’s side remain on 18 points from 13 games after suffering their third league defeat of the campaign.
