Boreham Wood boss Luke Garrard hailed his side’s FA Cup win over Bournemouth as “what dreams are made of” as they defied the odds to earn a showdown with Everton.
Non-league Boreham Wood beat Championship Bournemouth 1-0 on Sunday night in the fourth round, with Mark Ricketts scoring the only goal of the game.
The 37-year-old midfielder struck in the first-half and after that Boreham Wood held firm to keep the hosts at bay.
Their giant-killing win means they will now face Everton in the next round, with Garrard hailing this victory over Bournemouth as a fairytale.
“This is unbelievable, I would have loved this even losing the game,” said Garrard.
“But to go and win it, 1-0, that’s what dreams are made of. You see the moments at the end with our fans.
“I wouldn’t want to do it with any other club. To achieve what we have achieved is unbelievable, absolutely unbelievable.
“We are not better than Bournemouth, nowhere near it. We are not even close. We can’t lace their boots. But it is a 90-minute game of football and it’s 11 lads against 11 lads.
“I would have probably taken a 5-1 loss when we scored the first goal!”
Ricketts, who came through Charlton’s academy when Bournemouth boss Scott Parker was in the first team, was the hero on Sunday.
And Garrard has revealed the midfielder put in his match-winning performance despite not training all week.
“Mark Ricketts wasn’t fit Monday, he was out,” said Garrard. “My chairman then actioned an injection.
“The medical team, Steve Stelling, he worked with us last year, he comes in and does some work with the boys, he’s administered an injection of Monday.
“Mark didn’t train Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday or Friday. He came in on Saturday and did a minimal session.
“I said: “You are walking us out at Bournemouth. I don’t care if it is 15 minutes or 20 minutes, you deserve”. He goes and scores the winner. He has got a job for life if I am at Boreham Wood.”
