Wood bid for their first league win of the term this weekend as they start a run of three Saturday home matches with the visit of Purfleet, kick off 3pm.

The Essex side have made a solid start, winning two and drawing two of their first five matches, and as Bob Makin said: "They're a tough side to play against and pressure you all over the pitch".

Last season, Wood won both both meetings with the Lakesiders -- and will be hoping to repeat that this time too.

Next Tuesday evening, Wood face, in Makin's words, "a very tough game" away to Sutton United, kick off 7.30pm. Wood won 2-1 at Gander Green Lane last November with two Shaun Marshall goals, and the Us finished the season just behind Wood in third place.

Sutton have lost leading scorer Joff Vansittart to Dover, and highly-rated midfielder Jimmy Dack to Kingstonian, but another of last term's participants who will not be lining up next week, sadly, is Shaun Marshall.

His recent injury has been diagnosed as serious ligament damage. It is a devastating blow for the striker, last season's highest non-league goalscorer, and it is likely to keep him out for the remainder of the campaign.

Former Spurs winger Paul Moran, signed by Wood in the summer, is considering his future currently, and has been given two weeks to make a decision by manager Makin.

Said the Wood boss: "He had lost a bit of his appetite for the game and thought that by moving to a new club, in new surroundings, this would return. It hasn't, but he says it's nothing to do with the club or the players here. Paul knows that he has not yet played as well as he can for us, but he has other considerations too, as he has just started up his own business. He has told me that we'll talk again at the end of next week."

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