High-flyers Maidstone United and Concord Rangers headlined last week’s non-league preview and that game ended two goals and a red card a-piece. Neither the National League North or South will be in action this weekend so this article will instead zero in on solely the National League. Here is this weeks’ National league preview!
Solihull Moors vs Boreham Wood
Starting then with Boreham Wood’s National League visit to the interestingly named SportNation.bet Stadium. Boreham Wood have had a very good start to this season following the premature ending of the last one. They currently sit third in the National League table behind Chesterfield and then table-toppers Dagenham and Redbridge, the latter who will feature in this later on. They are yet to be beaten with four wins and two draws to their name. What makes matters more interesting is that they have won every away game, including a clever shut-out against Dover and late drama at Bromley.
Something that Boreham Wood don’t have that others in the National League do, including their opponents for this weekend and Dagenham, is an early out-and-out goalscorer. One must preface that it is early, but the goals have been spread around, with Scott Boden, Josh Rees and Tyrone Marsh all on two. The leading man in the division is Joe Sbarra of Solihull Moors with six, who was on target last time out against Torquay United. Sbarra has averaged a goal every 72 minutes with Andrew Dallas having scored three as well so Solihull Moors clearly aren’t struggling in front of goal. Both teams have goals in them but Solihull lost 4-3 to Weymouth on home soil whilst Boreham Wood have conceded four in their last two. Thus, it could well be an action-packed game at both ends as Solihull try to climb up from ninth in the National League.
Wrexham vs Dagenham and Redbridge
We go across the border for our next National League game as the famous Wrexham host the league leaders. Wrexham are of course famous for their Hollywood ownership; Ryan Reynolds from films such as Deadpool and The Hitman’s Bodyguard and It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia’s Rob McElhenney. It was said by many that their presence and investment would lead the Welsh team to instant promotion but they narrowly missed out last season. They’re still in the National League then and have had a mixed start to the season, with a record of 2-3-1, the only loss coming last time out away at Grimsby, a game in which they actually took the lead.
They welcome the team to beat Dagenham and Redbridge to the Racecourse Ground in what should be a fascinating affair. Dagenham have only failed to win once so far and that was a 2-2 draw at home against Wealdstone. The two frontmen and key goalscorers for Dagenham are formerly of fellow National League side Barnet. Josh Walker was in the Fulham youth system whilst Paul McCallum was a West Ham player for four years, pretty much all of which was spent on loan. The National League leaders are looking pretty imperious but this is primarily due to their attacking output, for the top of the table team to have conceded in five of their six games to date isn’t that common. Can Wrexham capitalise on this?
