Chesham United 1

Boreham Wood 1

Gravesend & Northfleet 1

Boreham Wood 1

Ryman Premier Division

The destiny of the 1998 Premier Division title was finally decided last Thursday evening when a 75th minute goal from Kingstonian midfielder Geoff Pitcher was enough to give the K's the points at rock bottom Oxford City to put them beyond the reach of Wood, who could only draw at lowly Chesham.

The Surrey side were even afforded the luxury of a penalty failure, as City keeper Mick Torres saved Colin Luckett's kick.

Wood of course will not need reminding of the proficiency of Oxford keepers when facing spot kicks.

On a chilly Chilterns evening that had more of early November about it than the last day of April, the visitors, their championship hopes hanging by the most improbable of threads, dictated play in the first half, although there was really not too much for the assembled diehards to get too excited about.

Two glaring chances were missed, firstly in the 21st minute, as Paul Shaw caught Dave Thompson in possession but the ball bobbled and the opportunity was lost.

Then, six minutes later, the same uneven patch came to United's rescue again, as former Wood reserve keeper Kenny Addai dropped Tony Joyce's high cross and Terry Robbins miskicked with the goal yawning.

Addai in fact had a miserable evening, and after remaining a spectator as Alan McCarthy's 25-yarder was deflected onto the bar in the 62nd minute, his comical flapping at the resulting corner left Shaun Marshall with one of the easiest of his 45 goals so far this term.

Chesham, whose win in the previous weekend had assured their Premier Division survival, could do little to prevent Wood pouring forward in search of another goal at this stage, but the insurance a further score would have given was not forthcoming, and Wood once more paid the price for their leniency.

It was almost fitting that church bells were tolling ominously on the cold breeze as United substitute Youness Nabil made progress down the right in the 85th minute.

His low cross was not dealt with, and John Lawford sidefooted the hosts level.

The point yielded here was sufficient to mathematically ensure Wood's runners-up spot, but that was small consolation.

But on Saturday afternoon at Northfleet, Wood would certainly have welcomed just the possibility of a goalscoring chance, whether they missed it or not, in a first half dominated by their hosts.

With the pressure off for the first time this season, the Wood players seemed to have their Saturday evening trip to Southend more on their minds on a gloriously sunny day, and their performance before the break had 'End Of The Season' stamped indelibly through it like a stick of rock.

Gravesend, on the other hand, were looking to end their campaign on a high, having won their previous three league matches, and Robbins had to clear Dave Powell's shot off the line as they pressed Wood back.

Skipper Mark Newson missed a golden chance on the far post, and former Wood striker Steve Portway beat two men but saw his effort charged down.

Wood had not created an opening of note when they went behind five minutes before the interval, as a ball over the top caught Garry Nisbet and Martin Taylor in no man's land and the prolific Portway nipped in for his 32nd goal in 42 matches this term.

Wood suffered another blow in the 43rd minute as McCarthy was forced to limp off with a dead leg and Marshall blazed over seconds from the break.

Wood re-emerged in a more positive frame of mind, and Fleet keeper Darren Smith was called into action for the first time on the hour as he pushed aside a low Marshall shot, Bruce Sewell's follow up being deflected for a corner.

Portway ended a strong run with a shot into the sidenetting, but Fleet survived a strong penalty claim from Wood as Junior Samuels was felled in the box by Darren Gowler.

With time running out, Wood appeared to be facing their first away league reverse since November 22, when a wonderful equaliser arrived, literally out of the blue.

Four minutes left on the watch, and Sewell advanced onto a bouncing ball in midfield to strike a superb dipping half volley over Smith's head from all of 30 yards.

It was a goal right out of the top drawer, and strangely out of place here.

However, Samuels could have made Wood's first ever visit to Stonebridge Road a winning one, but fired over from a yard after Smith could not hold his original header.

Honours even then, and the 537 crowd had been entertained, if not always by the play then by the occasional interruptions of the 'Meadway FM Roadshow' parked in one corner of the ground.

Wood boss Bob Makin reminded me of his team's recent schedule.

"All credit to the players; some of them are exhausted now, and we did well to compete today.

"We could even have won it at the death with that Junior chance, but we cannot really ask much more of them."

WOOD (v Chesham): Taylor, Daly, McCarthy, Robbins (Grime 45mins), Joyce (Samuels 90mins), Hatchett, Prutton, Marshall, J Shaw, Sewell, P Shaw. Sub (not used): Harrigan.

WOOD (v Gravesend): Taylor, Hatchett, McCarthy (Harrigan 43mins), Robbins (J Shaw 73mins), Nisbet, Sewell, Grime, Marshall, Heffer, Samuels, Prutton (P Shaw 73mins).

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000.Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.