Malaki previously donned the yellow and blue shirt in 2018, at the beginning of his journey in the non-league game, before returning to Woodford at the start of the 2025/26 campaign, where he scored on his second debut for the Club with a 30-yard rocket, which proved to be the winner away at Hackney Wick on the opening day!

"There were many factors for this move, really, but I will keep it as short as I can! It’s a Club that helped me get consistent games ready for a career in non-league. Familiarity always helps with settling in, the management and people involved in the Club definitely have a massive part to play, along with the players. Finally, I like the idea of everyone having a shared goal for the season, which is making it easier to feel extra motivation both for training and games!"

We played and won at Barking last weekend after a week off, but before that test, we had played 26 games already this season. How much of a breath of fresh air was it to finally have some time off?

Bearing the brunt of our incredible Emirates FA Cup run, we had several games rescheduled, creating a tough pile-up for The Woods that saw us play a staggering amount of games in a short period of time. However, prior to our victory at the Lawtech Stadium, we had a week of rest after the win over Harwich and Parkeston at the begining of the month.

"The rest definitely helped recharge the batteries. This is so important with the busy schedule, and it paid off, allowing little knocks to heal and resulting in a confident performance."

Starting with Saffron Walden Town, we’ve got some big fixtures coming up to finish the year. What’s the mindset for yourself and the rest of the squad ahead of the next month of action?

"The mindset is just to approach every game with the intent of showing our team spirit, footballing ability and hard work to win every game. There is no easy game in this league, so nothing changes. Just set up to get three points and start a run to build momentum."