NORTHWOOD player-manager Mark Burgess was delighted with his side’s 2-1 triumph over in-form Barton Rovers on Saturday, writes Arvin Raj.

Despite early pressure from the visitors, Northwood took the lead through Karl Oliyide in the first-half before Dave Lawrence added a second on the stroke of half-time.

Ricky Case pulled one back for Barton after the break but the Woods managed to hold firm in spite of spending the rest of the game camped in their own box.

“I’m delighted with the victory,” Burgess said. “They’re a good side. I’m quite good friends with their assistant manager so I keep tabs on how they’re doing and they’ve beaten some good sides. They’re a very hardworking side.

“We got it wide to Cole and he was the outlet which they sometimes couldn’t live with. We’re quite good on the counter.”

“We can soak up play, but we’ve got two wide players and two front man in Niko Muir and Dave Lawrence, so when we break we break in a pack and we hurt teams.”

“With the pace we’ve got out wide teams can’t live with us.”

Next up for Northwood is an away match at Dunstable Town, one that Burgess is expecting to be a difficult encounter.

“It’ll be a very hard game for us, especially as we’re losing three players, including Dave Lawrence,” he added. “Unfortunately they have decided to go away on holiday over this forthcoming weekend.”

Elsewhere in the division, Uxbridge were beaten 3-0 by Dunstable at Honeycroft.

The reserves won 3-1 at Molesey in the league, keeping the Reds joint top with Walton in the Suburban League.