Prior to the 2013/14 season, player-manager Mark Burgess brought in a host of new faces including former Norwich City youngster Ramil Sheriff. In his first full season in charge, Northwood were looking to build on last season's 13th-placed finish and found themselves in 7th place around the Christmas period. Having been in contention for the play-offs for most of 2014, Northwood's form took a turn for the worse, ending their hopes of finishing in the top five as they finished the 2013/14 season in 9th. In the 2014/15 season, Northwood recovered from an inconsistent first half of the season, to once again finish in the top half of the table, finishing in 10th place. At the beginning of the 2015–16 season, Northwood made their best start to a league season since 1991–92 after winning their opening four league matches before that run was ended by Aylesbury United. They responded, however, by beating the same opponents 2–1 in the FA Cup Preliminary Round in August 2015, overseen by former Watford midfielder Jamie Hand due to the absence of manager Mark Burgess and assistant Simon Huggett.