Friday night's Roding Valley Derby brought plenty of promise in the build-up, but all hopes of getting one over on our local rivals were quickly put to bed when Buckhurst Hill frontman Harry Lusher raced through on goal with four minutes on the clock. After Mo Kebe failed to deal with a long ball over the top of the defence, Lusher had only Pharell Chinyere to beat, and he did so with confidence, giving the visitors the early advantage.

Conceding early appeared to be a wake-up call for The Woods, who regained composure and began to ignite a battle with Mark Williams' side, however, just seconds past the half-hour mark, the scoreline was doubled. Marko Protic - who had become accustomed to boos in the opening stages of the match - silenced the home fans, pouncing on further incapability from the Woodford backline to deal with those long passes in behind. After a through ball went straight between Kebe and debutant Billy Barr, the former Wood was released, poking past the onrushing Chinyere to make it two.

Half-time brought a chance to reset as we attempted to salvage something from the Derby, with reason for hope after Jibran Ahmed and Jaedon Phillips had caused issues in the final third towards the end of the first half. However, that hope appeared false, as despite a switch at the interval, which saw Sam May-Parrott replace Michael Olulode, Buckhurst Hill made it 3-0 just minutes after the affair got back underway. Sam Owusu could do nothing as he was surrounded by three Hill players, and the ball then fell into the path of Protic, who curled a left-footed effort home from range.

A seven-minute spell of madness kicked off with 58 minutes on the clock - a flick-on from Nathan Sollosi released Protic, who looped an effort over Chinyere to complete his hat-trick on his return to old stomping ground. And four uqikcly became five, when Harry Lusher added his second of the night less than 120 seconds later. Andre Anderson restored a small amount of parity for Rob Gammons' side, as he struck home in the 61st minute, but again, a turnaround of under two minutes saw referee Yaron Woolf award a penalty to the visitors, which was dispatched. Archie Hammond made it six from the spot, and that is where the goal glut ended, with Woodford suffering their heaviest home defeat since moving to Ashton's in 2021, whilst records show the result to be the heaviest home loss since the 1950's.

Starting XI: Chinyere (GK); Weekes, Kebe (Alexander-Roberts - 67'), Barr, Olulode (S. May-Parrott - 46'); Owusu (C), Kehinde (Lusardi - 59'), Anderson; Effah, Phillips, Ahmed (Odetoyinbo - 86').

Unused substitute: Runham