Head coach Murphy wants to keep momentum going

After making a bright start to life back in London Two North West, Woodford head coach Andy Murphy is gutted there is now a break in league action.

The Highams club are yet to lose this season, beating Old Merchant Taylors last weekend for a third straight victory after an opening-day draw.

Woodford are second in the standings behind Fullerians, who have lost, but have more bonus points.

And while Murphy knows a gap in the calendar can help the team shake off some knocks, he is worried it could hurt their form when they return. “We might lose a bit of momentum, but we have to make sure we keep standards up,” he said.

“It allows us to rest a few players that have been suffering from a few niggles so hopefully when we play Enfield Ignatians in a couple of weeks we’ll be at full strength.”

It has been a positive start for Woodford after suffering the agony of relegation last season.

They have shown themselves to be prolific in attack, racking up 130 points at an average of 32.5 per game. But Murphy hopes the club can use the weekend off from the league to improve ahead of their return on October 24.

“We hope to work at attacking off a blitz defence because we’ve struggled against it at times,” he added.

“We’ve added a few aspects to our play recently so we can use this week to really drill it into the players.

“We’re also hoping to use one of the sessions over the week as a ‘pre-season fitness’ to keep the levels up.”