Boreham Wood are now without a win in five games, as they slipped down to 14th place in the National League thanks to a 2-0 away defeat to Hartlepool United.

Defender Andrew Davies scored either side of half-time to hand Pools a comfortable win over the injury plagued Wood, who were without five first team players for Saturday’s game, including captain Mark Ricketts.

But despite those injury problems, Luke Garrard’s men started the brighter with Josh Umerah forcing a strong save from former England Under-21 goalkeeper Scott Loach.

The Wood had on loan Brentford goalkeeper Ellery Balcombe to thank on the 25 minute mark, when he did well to deny Liam Noble’s close-range header, but Garrard’s men continued on the front foot and they were a whisker away from taking the lead, only for Keiran Murtagh’s effort to rattle the bar.

The Hertfordshire side would be punished for those missed chances ten minutes before the break, when Davies beat Connor Smith to a corner and planted a header past Balcombe.

Loach then made a superb save to deny Gozie Ugwu’s low effort and that stop proved to be decisive, as Davies latched onto a cross in from the right to head past Balcombe with eight minutes remaining to seal the victory.

Away from the National League, Luke Garrard’s men will host Dagenham and Redbridge in the fourth qualifying round of the FA Cup on Saturday, October 20.

The Daggers currently sit in the drop zone after a problematic summer both on and off the pitch, but they have recently been taken over by a consortium involving former Manchester United goalkeeper Tim Howard.

Wood will be hoping for a repeat of their opening day victory over the Daggers when the two sides meet next weekend, with Angelo Balanta popping up with the winner in August to hand Garrard’s men the win.