Ducks fly in for reunion

Boreham Wood v Aylesbury United

Pre-season friendly

Saturday, August 4

Meadow Park, Kick off 3pm

It will be reunion time at Meadow Park on Saturday afternoon, as the Ducks of Aylesbury fly in.

Included in the Wood line up is United's former skipper Phil Mason, signed during this close season, and he joins an expanding ex-Aylesbury commune at the club, which numbers: another former Ducks captain in Garry Wotton, strikers John Lawford and Neil Selby, winger Matt Brady and centre back Lee Harvey.

United's preparations have not been without their hitches, and a spirited 2-1 home defeat by Watford's first team was followed by a 4-0 thrashing at St Albans. Last term's league meetings between the clubs saw Wood salvage a point in a 2-2 Buckingham Road draw on Boxing Day, before winning the Easter Monday return 3-2.

Boreham Wood v Woking

Tuesday, August 7

Pre-season friendly

Meadow Park. Kick off 7.45pm

Conference outfit Woking are the attractive visitors for Wood's last home pre-season match on Tuesday, and former Meadow Park favourite Rob Hollingdale is expected to feature for them.

The Cards were dealt a double blow last weekend, when they went down 4-2 at home to a full Swindon line up with goals from Griffin and Huckerby.

Later manager Colin Lippiat was reported to have sacked three of his players, after they opted to embark on a trip to China with the British Universities team, rather than make themselves available for selection for the Surrey club.

Suffice to say, Messrs Hayfield, Perkins and Roddis are likely to be conspicuous by their absence next week.

Lippiat, the former Yeovil manager, has recently added David Piper, Paul Steele and Jamie Pitman to his squad, from his former club.

Former Wood striker Shaun Marshall, who smashed the club's goalscoring record for a single season in 1998/1999, turned in a man of the match performance for Hitchin Town against Nationwide League newcomers Rushden & Diamonds last Saturday, celebrating with the only goal of the game, which gave the Canaries a notable win.