Feb 7th 2015
This weekend, 18 out of the possible 21 Conference South sides took to the pitch with: Boreham Wood looking to extend their lead at the top of the tree, whilst Staines Town and Farnborough both looked to remove themselves from the dreaded Relegation Zone.
Boreham Wood, who started the day first, travelled to play-off chasing Whitehawk but got thumped 3-nil courtesy of a brace from Jake Robinson and a single from Nick Arnold. The win pushed the Hawks within two points of the visitors who consequently dropped to second-place after Bromley won convincingly against Staines Town.
Staines Town – who are fighting for their survival in the Conference South – played host to title-contenders Bromley. The visitors showed their domination from within the first ten minutes as they broke the deadlock from a header by Bromley skipper Rob Swayne. Bradley Goldberg took advantage of the lack in concentration from the Staines’ defence and doubled Bromley’s lead quickly after. Staines’ hopes of a come-back were annihilated when they conceded four goals in quick succession of the restart. Ben May made it 3-0 just 50 seconds after the restart, after 48 minutes a dangerous cross blitzed the defence and was hooked in by the on-coming Reece Prestedge. Goldberg then rattled two quick-fire goals to guarantee himself the match ball. He also had a goal disallowed for offside and almost had a fourth but a superb save by Staines’ keeper Turner stopped him.
Two teams from the division were playing their respective ties in the FA Trophy Fourth Round. Bath City drew away in a six-goal thriller at Dover, who came from two goals behind to secure a replay. Bath were one-nil down after only seven minutes when Stefan Payne put the home side one up but Bath came back in the second half scoring all three of their goals. Andy Gallinagh set the Romans on their way and then Ross Stearn scored a double to put them further on their way to Wembley however two later strikes from Richard Orlu and substitue Jake Reid pulled back Bath for a replay at Bath next week. Ebbsfleet were knocked out 1-0 to North Ferriby as Kenny Clark was shown red for a moment of madness. Liam King’s penalty flew into the bottom corner.
Basingstoke just did enough to earn a home win to struggling Maidenhead winning 3-2. Within the opening 15 minutes a goal fest occured which saw three goals with both teams finishing strong.
There was a single draw this weekend which saw Essex side Concord Rangers complete a stalemate with Sutton United. There were wins though for: Havant and Waterlooville who won narrowly 1-0 against Farnborough thanks to a goal from Ben Swallows, Eastbourne won away to Hayes and Yeading by the same scoreline – extending Hayes & Yeading’s winless run to eight games – courtesy of a Darren Lok’s first half winner. Other wins included Weston-Super-Mare’s 3-1 away win against Wealdstone and Hemel Hempstead won 2-1 against travellers Gosport Borough.