'It was a no brainer' - Wood back on board as Baffins Milton Rovers extend winning home Wessex League run

Wood played one match last season under Shaun Wilkinson but has now returned to the PMC Stadium on a permanent basis.

Once at Chichester City, the left-footed defender has played almost 20 games this season for Midhurst in the step 5 Southern Combination Premier.

He started at left-back last night in a 2-0 victory over Hythe & Dibden and boss Danny Thompson told The News: ‘It was a no brainer getting someone of his quality in.

‘We only had one player in the squad who was naturally left-footed, and that was Dan Aitken (dual signed from Gosport Borough).

‘Dan (Wood) gives us natural balance - he can play left-back, he can play on the left of a back three or as a centre half.’

Wood and the rest of the Rovers defence were largely untroubled by a Hythe side who contributed to their own downfall with an early dismissal.

Visiting keeper James Mayo was shown a straight red for pushing his head in Dillon North’s face after they had squared up just inside the 18-yard box.

Jason Parish converted the resultant penalty and Rovers wrapped up the points in the second half through Kelvin Robinson. For both players, it was their 12th goal of the campaign.

‘The Hythe bench were arguing (at the red card) but you can’t do that,’ stated Thompson. ‘It was a blatant red card, the ref got it 100 per cent right.

‘That said, it didn’t help us. Hythe sat deep, 10 men behind the ball, and tried to frustrate us. It killed the game a bit.’

Thompson admits he has big selection headaches given the amount of potential first teamers he can pick from.

They are only set to increase soon as midfielder Brad Gale, a long term injury victim, completed the warm-up last night and 13-goal top scorer Tom Vincent returns to training tomorrow after facial surgery.

Rovers have two more home league games coming up - against mid-table pair Brockenhurst on Saturday and Fareham next Tuesday.