Boreham Wood: Luke Garrard

All good things must come to an end. After nine years at the helm, Boreham Wood manager Luke Garrard takes charge of his last match at the club on Saturday. There will not be a dry eye among the Wood Army at Meadow Park. 

Hopefully there will be tears of happiness and relief added to the emotional outpouring after the final game of the season against Ebbsfleet. At the end of a tough campaign, the Wood face a crucial 90 minutes to determine which level of the National League they will be playing in. Win and they stay up. Anything else and it's the drop.

1973 FA Cup third place play-off: Arsenal v Wolves

This article orignally appeared in edition 273 of The Gooner.

Those of us of a certain vintage will forever bang on about how great the FA Cup used to be, and with some justification. The competition was rightfully viewed with pride as worldwide audiences were left enthralled at the magic of the cup. Sadly, the riches of the Premier League and Champions League has left the FA Cup looking like a slightly poor relation in comparison. Well done, everyone involved.

Many of the great traditions have been lost – marathon replays, neutral club grounds used for semi-finals, the wacky 3pm kick-off time for the final – but fortunately one experiment has long since disappeared. I yearn for the days of old, but you can keep your FA Cup third-fourth play-off match.

1979 FA Cup: Arsenal/Sheffield Wednesday marathon

This article originally appeared in issue 275 of The Gooner.

If a top flight team has everything their own way, then it is possible to win the FA Cup in roughly 540 minutes of football. But Arsenal Football Club have rarely done things the easy way throughout our wonderful history. The start and end of the 1979 FA Cup triumph is a prime example of this.

The final has gone down in FA Cup folklore, solely due to the dramatic five minutes at the end of the match, as Arsenal threatened to pull defeat from the jaws of a comfortable victory, before somehow getting off the floor to deliver the delicious knockout blow via Alan Sunderland’s rightfoot.

My Sporting Diary: Part 8

Part 8 of my sporting diary, as Wigan shock Manchester City, Rashid and Hales point the way to a worrying future, and Lizzy Yarnold is the golden girl again.

My Sporting Diary: Part 6

Part 6 of my sporting diary, as this week I look back at the Tottenham school of diving, briefly touch on the Six Nations, and get a bit over excited about Jossy's Giants.

My Sporting Diary: Part 2

The latest entry in my sporting diary, as the feud between Mourinho and Conte continues, and my Ashes misery is finally put to bed.

My Sporting Diary: Part 1

The first entry in my 2018 sporting diary, including darts discussions, Jose Mourinho moaning, and Eden Hazard's balancing problems.

2017: History in Hertfordshire

Football, bloody hell. That famous expression used by Alex Ferguson after Manchester United had completed the treble came back to me on Saturday November 4, 2017. Some might say that Boreham Wood's moment of history against Blackpool in the FA Cup first round, should not be mentioned in the same sentence as Clive Tyldesley's "balmy night in Barcelona". Try telling that to anyone lucky enough to be at Meadow Park as the final whistle sounded.