Northwood

Northwood FC is a non league football club from the residential settlement in North West London who were formed in 1926 as Northwood Rangers FC. Records show that the clubs first competition was the Harrow & Wembley League. Around this time their title was changed to Northwood United FC.

‘The Woods’ had success either side of the war, when they dropped the suffix of United, to take their present name. After a period without honours Northwood joined the Middlesex County Senior League in 1969.

In 1977-78 Woods won the league title and were promoted to the Hellenic League. In their first season they won Division One and promotion to the Premier Division. 1984 saw a move across to the London Spartan League, going on to win the league in 1991-92 to gain promotion to the Isthmian League.

The 1996-97 campaign saw Woods win promotion. In 1999-00 the club finished as runners up in Division Two and go up once again. Upon reorganisation of the Isthmian League in 2002-03 Northwood were placed in Division One North. 

The team went on to lift the title at the first attempt and win promotion to the Premier Division with the goals of Lawrence Yaku, Scott Fitzgerald and Steve Hale creating havoc amongst opposing sides with Tony Choules in the managers seat.

2005-06 saw Northwood in new surroundings as they were moved to the Southern League Premier Division. In their second season they finished bottom and were relegated back to their old stamping ground of the Isthmian League Division One North. Gary Meakin took over as manager in an attempt to restore the clubs status.

Once more Woods were moved, this time for the 2010-11 campaign as the club were placed in the Southern League Division One Central. In 2012 Mark Burgess became team 
manager.

He led the team to two mid table finishes in the 2013-14 and 2014-15 seasons before seventh place was accrued in 2015-16. Burgess was replaced by Tim Lane in May 2017, remaining at the helm for six months as the club was transferred to Division One East.

Dean Barker was appointed as team boss in June 2018 as Northwood were placed in the South Central Division of the Isthmian League. The new manager replaced by Scott Dash within a few months who led the side to mid table.

Jamie Leacock took over team affairs at Woods in October 2019, lasting until the following January prior to the arrival of Robert Ursell. The season was ended early owing to the outbreak of Coronavirus shortly after with Northwood teetering towards the bottom of the table.

The pandemic caused the abandonment of the 2020-21 campaign with the Woods having only played eight games.

Northwood FC will compete in the Isthmian League Division South Central Division in the 2021-22 season.

My visits

Northwood 1 Grays Athletic 1 (Saturday 28^th October 2000) FA Cup Fourth Qualifying Round (att: c300)

It was a dull Autumn day but I decided I wanted some FA Cup action. After studying the fixtures, the allure of a new venue for me at a relatively close distance to drag my hungover body to won the day.

The tube was down thanks to engineering works, but a replacement bus dropped me five minutes away from Chestnut Avenue, where the ground was located. The clubhouse was fairly busy and included a group of Newport County fans, who were fairly sociable.

I purchased one of the legendary programme, which was full of reading while I surveyed the scene around me. The pitch sloped down to the entrance end, which had a long low cover for standing spectators behind the goal. 

The right hand side had a small seated stand on the half way line, with newer additions either side. The rest of the ground consisted of open hard standing with grass beyond. It was a neat and functional venue that had been added to when needed to satisfy the ground graders.

These notes have been compiled thirteen years after the game, so my recollections are hazy, but I do remember there being a fair turn out of young vocal Grays fans in attendance. I seem to recall there being a decent food bar as well!

Following the game I went to a local pub near to the tube station before heading home.

October 2006

My shift at work didn’t start until 3pm so with my new digital camera in tact I headed back to Chestnut Avenue to take some photos, where Wealdstone were sharing at the time.

Although the ground was locked, the fences still allowed me get some satisfactory views.

Seating had been added to the smaller cover next to the Main Stand nearest the clubhouse end, with a small cover for standing spectators having been erected opposite.

Northwood 1 Ware 2 (Saturday 20^th February 2016) Southern League Division One Central (att: 87)

It was a filthy day when I woke up after my night shift, but I wanted some fresh air and some football action. While watching the first half of the Arsenal v Hull City FA Cup tie and mullled over my options. Northwood fitted the bill. It’d been far too long since my previous match there and it gave me time to fix up some food first.

The trains ran well meaning I was at Northwood Hills not much later than 2.30. I thought that there was a Wetherspoon pub opposite the station, but it seemed to be an Indian restaurant bar, so I cut through the paths towards the ground to have a drink in the clubhouse.

The field between the houses and the ground is used by Northwood Town CC in the summer. It soon became apparent that the choice of my heavy duty walking boots was a good choice. It was terribly waterlogged. I was relieved to get onto concrete despite being mud splattered. After trying to brush the soles of my boots I went inside.

The clubhouse was warm, tidy and really pleasant with lovely staff. I purchased the decent £2 programme, which was a double issue for the following Tuesday night’s Middlesex Cup tie with Staines Town. Although there was no real ale on tap, there was a selection in bottles. I bought a Thwaites Lancaster Bomber for £3.20. A free teamsheet was available on the bar.

The Chairman’s notes in the programme rang a bell with me. He lamented about the lack of volunteers at the club while commenting on hurtful comments from others. It seemed that it was the same all over the world in most sports.

After listening to Hull hold out for a draw on my radio I enjoyed my beer before heading out into the rain and gloom to pay a very reasonable £8 at the turnstile. The Chestnut Avenue ground had not changed since my previous visit.

The pitch looked very heavy in parts. I was slightly surprised that the referee had given it the all clear, as so many seemed keen to overdo the health and safety regulations. There was a puddle in the bottom goalmouth, while much of the technical area for the visitors had standing water.

Both teams made light of the treacherous conditions and played some fine football, while getting stuck in. It was a lot better encounter than I was anticipating. After a tight opening period it would be the lowly placed visitors who opened the scoring against the home side who were in fine form.

Dernell Wynter chased a ball to the byline and beat a defender to pull the ball back for Kieran Bishop to fire home past Northwood keeper Berkley Laurencin. The ladies from the bar perhaps chose the wrong time to try and sell their golden gamble tickets to the home fans in the seats!

Northwood had plenty of play but could not carve out any real clear cut chances. Ware looked decent value for their lead at the break, to the delight of their scattering of supporters. I retired to the bar to see the half time scores and enjoy another bottle of beer.

The game continued in the same vain after the interval, with both sides doing their best as the pitch became ever stickier. I was enjoying the midfield play of Northwood’s George Nicholas and the non stop running of Ware’s Jimmy Hartley.

My football accumulator was about as much use as the weather and the bad news of Scarborough Athletic going behind once again arrived on my phone. The Woods continued to push forward, but Ware looked dangerous too.

With four minutes remaining the visitors doubled their lead. A shot was deflected across the area close to goal, wrong footing Laurencin. As he scrambled towards the ball in the mud, defender and skipper Steve Brown tried to shield the ball.

He dithered too long, and maybe didn’t get a call, but Dernell Wynter didn’t stand on ceremony as he forced the ball home from close range. Brown took a knock in the process. He departed to the bench absolutely distraught.

Northwood didn’t give up, pulling a goal back with the final whistle looming as James Budden firmly headed a cross into the corner of the net past Tom Coulton. This set up a grandstand finish.

The home side won a corner for which goalie Laurencin went up field. The set piece landed at the feet of a Ware player who hammered hit as far as he could. Unfortunately for him, a team mate was in the way. The ball fell to a home player whose shot was blocked on the line, before the follow up was brilliantly kept out by Coulton.

Referee Adrian Gillett brought proceedings to an end a few seconds later. He had a fine game. Indeed, every player had given their all and produced a very watchable match. I felt it good value for money.

The rain all afternoon hardly helped my route back over the cricket ground, but at least I had a bit of a guide from my earlier route. I got back for a nap before work after watching a bit of the AFC Bournemouth v Everton FA Cup match.

Northwood 1 Slough Town 0 (Wednesday 23rd November 2016) Southern League Challenge Cup Round Two (att: 76)

I was joined for another Wednesday night outing by Steve Barnes, who was in the mood for a couple of pre match beers. We headed to JJ Moon’s at Ruislip Manor where we sampled Grandstand Ale from Twickenham Brewery before taking a train and bus to the ground from Eastcote station.

The walk down the lane could have badly done with some street lighting, but we managed to get to the gate and pay our £8 admission without any major mishaps. The programme cost £2.50 and doubled up with the Saturday game with Bedford Town. 

It could have done with a bit more content for the price if truth be told. It was nothing like the bulky tome of days gone by.

The match was quite tight between underdogs Northwood and a slightly under strength Rebels line up, with the visiting fans making up at least half of the attendance. They spurned a decent opportunity to open the scoring just before the break.

It was a smart move from Northwood to send a rather aesthetic young lady out selling 50/50 draw tickets. The fact that she sold several at three for £2 told its own story!

We went to the very plush clubhouse at the interval for a bottle of beer. We obviously didn’t drink it quickly enough as when we returned inside the ground we’d just missed what turned out to be the only goal of the game as Ismael Ehui scored.

The game opened up and produced chances for both sides to score. Wood were not overawed in any way and would have doubled their lead if it wasn’t for some fine goalkeeping from Jamie Jackson.

We took a bus back towards Pinner after the game with a groundhopper from Canberra who'd been based in Lewisham for a while. I pointed him in the direction of the excellent Non League Matters website and forum.

There was time to pop into Wetherspoons at Harrow and the same emporium at Kingsbury. It ended three local games in three days and my half century for the season. Happy days!

Northwood 2 Cambridge City 3 (Wednesday 18^th April 2018) Southern League Division One East (att: 108)

This midweek fixture worked for me to attend before night shift at Ruislip station, so when Simon Cope and Tony Foster suggested attending I had no hesitation; especially as we finally saw temperatures fitting of the time of year.

The match was also relevant from a Scarborough Athletic view, as the visitor’s were one of several challengers for the best third place finish across the six Step Four divisions, and to secure promotion.

Admission cost £8, with the decent programme being available free of charge via an online download. Simon met me on the walk around to the ground. Once inside I bought a cuppa for a quid before Tony arrived and we took up a decent viewing position on the far side.

City appeared to have a reasonable sized following among the crowd, which also contained several neutrals. They kicked off towards the Clubhouse End as the match started at a frenetic pace.

It would be Cambridge who took the lead when a shot from the edge of the box from Salim Relizani evaded a rather weak effort from home keeper Borja Loeches-Teixeira after the ball bounced in front of him.

Wood looked very useful in attack with Jermaine Osei and Evans Kouassi leading the way. City’s huge centre back Jordan Gent looked like he had a mistake in him as he exhibited several pieces of miss control.

On twenty three minutes Osei saw his shot cannon back off the Cambridge crossbar, with goalie Josh Bexon grasping thin air. Ten minutes later the Lillywhites doubled their lead after a piece of abysmal goalkeeping.

A moderate effort from Ryan Sharman was parried on the deck by Loeches-Teixeira straight to Ebby Nelson-Addy who made no mistake in slotting home. We found it mildly amusing. Woods caretaker manager Gordon Boatang on the other hand was going ballistic.

His mood was tempered somewhat on the stroke of half time, as Wilson Chingoka pulled a goal back with a neat finish. It was no more than the hosts deserved for some fine attacking play. If only their keeper had been as competent.

We remained in our decent spot after the break. It wasn’t too long before James Hall scored a fine goal past the hapless home custodian to restore the Cambridge lead. I suggested that predicting the final score would not be easy.

Northwood continued to press forward at every opportunity, but one feared for them every time they were put under any sort of pressure. They managed to get back into the game as Kouassi fired in a fierce shot to make it 2-3 past Bexon; who was having issues of his own.

City closed the game out smartly in the final ten minutes, assisted by the dithering Loeches-Teixeira, who didn’t seem to comprehend that his manager wanted the ball launching long, despite it being virtually impossible to make himself clearer. I honestly thought Boatang was about to explode.

There was happiness and a little relief from the away support as referee Tom Ellsmore blew his whistle for full time. The man in the middle had performed well throughout. It seemed a shame that I had to head off to work.

All three of us had enjoyed a decent game, at least from a neutral perspective. I caught a bus to Eastcote and then a tube on to work in readiness for another shift.