Most of our history with Boreham Wood could be described as “ships that pass in the night”, as often one season of opposition was followed by one or both clubs being promoted or relegated.
Our first meeting came in Worthing on 18th January 1969, following our relegation into Athenian League Division 2. This match ended 3-2 to our visitors, our goals coming from Mick Streeter and an own goal. The return fixture ended 4-1 to our opponents, which is Boreham Wood’s largest margin of victory in these matches (equalled by a pre-season friendly that we lost 3-0 in 2003).
Wood won promotion as champions at the end of that campaign and we did not meet again until the Athenian League was reduced by a division in 1973 following the loss of several clubs to the Isthmian League.
Now meeting in Athenian League Division 1, both matches were won by the away side; with the Reds also knocking Boreham Wood out of the Athenian League Cup that season.
At the end of the 1973/74 season, Boreham Wood were champions again and were accepted into the Isthmian League.
Next came a meeting in the Isthmian League Cup quarter-final of 1977/78, our first season in that league, and we lost in a replay following a goalless draw at Woodside Road.
We next met Boreham Wood after being promoted to Isthmian League Division 1 in 1982 as champions of Division 2, and once again both league fixtures were won by the away side.
Promoted as title-winners at the end of the season, we then spent four seasons in the Premier Division before relegation in 1987 saw Wood patiently waiting for us in Division 1.
This time we were league opponents for four seasons before relegation in 1991 saw us parting company for a few more years.
We were promoted back to Division 1 as champions again for the 1993/94 campaign and then played Boreham
Wood in the next two seasons. 1994/95 saw us complete the league double, 4-0 home and away (our largest winning margin in these matches); despite this, Wood finished as champions, but this time we followed them to the higher division as runners-up.
Unfortunately, we spent just one season in the Premier Division and suffered relegation at the end of the season. Boreham Wood were then relegated to Division 1 in 2000 but responded by winning the division at the first attempt, meaning again that we only met for the one campaign.
League reorganisation then kept us apart for a few years before our opponents were promoted to the Isthmian League Premier Division as champions of the Southern League Eastern Division in 2006.
The reunion was short-lived, though, because we were relegated to Isthmian Division 1 South at the end of 2006/07.
Our latest encounters occurred during the 2024-25 season in the National League South, following Wood’s relegation from the fifth tier. Chris Agutter’s side won both matches 2-1, Joel Colbran and Ruben Carvalho scoring for us in the home match on 28th January to take the Rebels top of the league, which was our latest meeting.
Following the familiar pattern, Boreham Wood won promotionat the end of that season, as they advanced through the play-offs.
A summary of our results against these opponents is shown below:
Competition Played Won Drawn Lost Scored Conceded National League South 2 2 0 0 4 2 Isthmian League Premier Division 4 0 0 4 3 9 Isthmian League Division 16 4 3 9 29 30 Isthmian League Cup 2 0 1 1 0 2 Athenian League Division 1 2 1 0 1 2 3 Athenian League Division 2 2 0 0 2 3 7 Athenian League Cup 1 1 0 0 2 1 Friendly 1 0 0 1 0 3 Total 30 8 4 18 43 57
Originally published by Worthing FC ↗