Hendon 4- 3 Wealdstone
HendonSF
4 - 3
WealdstoneStones Manager Gordon Bartlett was an angry man following this Middlesex Senior Cup Semi Final defeat by Hendon on Tuesday evening at Wembley FCs Vale Farm. Speaking on the Wealdstone FC Information Line following the match, Bartlett said that he was losing patience with his players whom he feels are letting themselves and the club’s supporters down at present.
Former player Lee O’ Leary broke Wealdstone’s hearts on with Hendon’s last minute winner in their remarkable 4-3 win in a highly entertaining, topsy turvey game for the neutrals in the sparse crowd.
Wealdstone got off to a dreadful start to the cup tie but striker Greg Ngoyi’s fine hat-trick wiped out an early 2-0 deficit but Greens substitute Glenn Garner’s 78th minute goal again saw the tie hang in the balance. Both sides pushed forward for the winner with the away side spurning several excellent chances, and, in the dying minutes, naïve defending from a corner allowed the peripatetic Lee O’Leary to steal in with a header that gave Stones keeper Sean Thomas no chance.
Joining the Greens in the final at Northwood are AFC Hayes, who beat favourites Ashford Town (Middx) 4-1 in the other semi-final with Stones boss Gordon Bartlett’s son Craig, 18, playing his part as sweeper.
“We gave away four poor goals, I’m so disappointed,” said Bartlett. “I believed we were good enough to reach a cup final this season but were just too naive on the night.”
Stones face bottom of the table Heybridge Swifts on Saturday at The Vale in a stern test of character for Bartlett’s under fire players.
Wealdstone: Thomas, Martin, Chappell, Gray, Massey, Ashe, Forbes, C. O’Leary, Alexander, Ngoyi, McCoy. Subs used: Locke, Spendlove. Not used: Jones, Leggett.