BOREHAM WOOD
Pre-Season Match, LV Bet Stadium, Monday 10 July 2022, 7pm BST
West Ham United kick-off their 2023/24 pre-season schedule with the short trip around the M25 to Boreham Wood on Monday evening.
David Moyes’ squad will travel to Hertfordshire to take on the National League side at the LV Bet Stadium as the first crop of returning players look to begin preparations ahead of another season that will once again see the Hammers compete on four fronts.
Meadow Park has twice previously hosted the Irons. The squad also faced the Wood in a pre-season match last summer, when Saïd Benrahma opened the scoring in a 1-1 draw, while Sam Allardyce’s Hammers beat Boreham Wood 3-0 back in July 2013.
The Academy of Football development team and the Women’s team have also made regular visits to the LV Bet Stadium in recent seasons, with Meadow Park playing host to both Arsenal U21s and Arsenal Women.
Monday’s hosts enjoyed a very good 2022/23 season, with manager Luke Garrad guiding the side to a sixth-placed finish in the National League, earning them a spot in the play-offs. While Boreham Wood defeated Barnet in the quarter-finals, the team fell to eventual promotion-winners Notts County in the semi-finals after extra time.
How to get there…
To get to Meadow Park from east London or Essex, the easiest way is to take the M25 westbound around the north section from Essex into Hertfordshire. If you are using a sat nav, the postcode is WD6 5AL.
Leave the M25 at Junction 23 and take the A1 towards London. Then leave the A1 at the first exit and take the A5135 towards Borehamwood. Follow the A5135 towards the city centre, go straight over the first small roundabout and at the next large roundabout take the second exit onto Brook Road (signposted 'Boreham Wood Football Club'). Then take the next right onto Broughinge Road and the entrance is on the right. Park in the Brook Road pay car park.
If you are taking the train from central London, the nearest station is Elstree & Borehamwood, which is on the Thameslink line from St Pancras to Luton and Bedford. Services run regularly before and after the game. From the station, it's less than a mile's walk, or you can take the 292 bus.
Where to stay…
Borehamwood is only situated about 20 minutes from central London on the train, so you could opt to stay in the city if you are travelling a long distance to Monday’s game.
Alternatively, Borehamwood itself hosts many of the best-known affordable hotel brands.
What to do…
Just a short distance south of Meadow Park are the world-famous Elstree Studios, where television series EastEnders is filmed, among many other well-known programmes.
Sadly, Elstree Studios are not open to the public, so you cannot visit a piece of east London in Hertfordshire or enjoy a pint in the West Ham-themed Queen Vic pub.
However, talking of studios, the Warner Bros Studio Tour, where fans of the Harry Potter series of films can take a themed tour of the sets used in the movies, view props and costumes and see how special effects were used to create the magical world of Harry Potter, is situated just a few miles away.
If you want to spend your matchday there ahead of the 7pm kick-off, the Studio Tour opens at 8.30am. Parking is provided free of charge in the car park directly outside the Studio Tour. Enter the postcode WD25 7LR into your sat nav.
What’s happened there before…
As mentioned, the Irons were in Hertfordshire this time last year as David Moyes’ side prepared for the 2022/23 season with a fixture against Monday’s hosts.
That afternoon saw the squad split in two for concurrent fixtures, with the Irons' contingent at Boreham Wood taking the lead through Saïd Benrahma’s well-taken free-kick. Will Evans would draw the home team level shortly before half-time.
Prior to that, the last visit to Meadow Park came in July 2013. The side, then led by Sam Allardyce, earned a 3-0 win over a Boreham Wood side that was playing in the Conference South.
Goals from Ravel Morrison and Ricardo Vaz Tê had the Irons two goals up inside 22 minutes, before Kevin Nolan – now a first-team coach with West Ham - added a third ten minutes from full-time.
The game also saw summer signings Adrián and Răzvan Raț appear at the start of their West Ham careers, while the Irons were captained by former Boreham Wood midfielder Pelly Ruddock.
