Heybridge Swifts 4 Boreham Wood 1 . . .

Ryman League Premier Division . . .

This one-sided mauling at the hands of fellow strugglers plunges Wood's fate back into the deep realm of uncertainty, as their topsy-turvy season continues to serve up unfathomable outcomes.

The result reflects an afternoon where Wood, unlike their larger than normal band of travelling fans, simply did not turn up.

A bumpy pitch and a swirling wind were scant excuses for the defeat.

Swifts, sitting three points behind Wood at the kick off, decided they needed the points more, and how it showed.

Leon Archer fired an early warning shot over Ollie Morris-Sanders' bar from a corner, before a wind-assisted Swifts' side of tall and youthful personnel took the game to Wood.

A testing drive from Nathan Clarke on the right found the side netting, before Noel Imber was forced to tip a powerful close-range header from centre-forward Sean Marks over the bar.

It took Swifts 14 minutes to take the lead. A long clearance from Morris-Sanders bounced awkwardly for Marvin Samuel, whose attempted pull-back on Marks was insufficient to stop the striker maintaining his balance to shoot home beyond Imber's reach.

George Borg then sent Imber into the Swifts' half to deliver a free-kick, with the emphasis on a quick comeback.

The pressure paid off after 28 minutes, when Swifts clumsily relinquished possession just outside their area. Ryan Maxwell picked out the run of Archer to his left, who drilled a low shot to the left of the outrushing keeper for the equaliser.

The parity was to last just two minutes. Mark Burgess, who like his defensive counterparts struggled with the pace and power of the Swifts forward line all afternoon, committed a foul wide on the left and 35 yards from goal. Ryan Hull whipped in the free kick and, with Fiston Manuella tracking another player, Marks timed his run to perfection, slipping in unnoticed to guide a superb header beyond Imber.

At this stage, Wood were looking forward to a second-half wind advantage, which, like their comeback, never materialised, as Swifts went further ahead just before the interval. David Wareham broke with pace down the left and, such was the lack of response from the defence, by the time he squared the ball for George Lay to pick his spot, the nearest Wood player was fully ten yards away.

The afternoon featured a high level of disparagement towards Gary Burrell and Danny Barber, two of the Swifts' ex-players who had both upped sticks to join Wood in recent weeks, both on and off the field. This had the desired effect as both men had a torrid time on their return to Scraley Road.

Greg Morgan and Chris Bangura replaced Steve Wales and Manuella for the second half. Morgan, for his part, did enough to question his exclusion from the starting line up, when he combined with Archer to deliver an attempted lob over Morris-Sanders that had just too much power.

Thereafter Wood's afternoon went from bad to worse. Burgess and Samuel both went for the same high ball, which ran for Wareham, who drove towards goal down the left, hitting a sublime unstoppable left-footed shot across Imber into the right hand corner of the net, increasing the lead to 4-1.

Aside from a Burrell cross that left Morris-Sanders fumbling the ball over the bar to safety and a hopeful overhead effort from Bangura, Wood failed to test the home side for the remainder of the match.

It seems this season's relegation battle will go to the very last day of the season. Wood are one of ten sides whose Premier League status is hanging in the balance.

In most leagues, Wood's current haul of 49 points would have ensured safety weeks ago, yet this seasons Ryman League Premier Division has been exceptional.

WOOD: Imber, Burgess, Barber, Manuella (Bangura 45), Vargas, Maxwell, Wales (Morgan 45), Samuel, Thomas (Watters 85), Archer, Burrell. Subs not used: Atta, Lewis.

JOHN MEAD