North Greenford United 2-3 Wealdstone
North Greenford United2 - 3
WealdstoneWealdstone continued their pre-season campaign with a hard fought 3-2 win over newly promoted Zamaretto Division One side North Greenford United on Monday evening. Whilst it was a much improved performance, particularly in the midfield areas there is still work to be done defending from set pieces.
Stones got off to the perfect start, when after two minutes they broke away down the left flank following a Greenford corner, and Danny Burnell fired in a pin point cross for Kieron Forbes to slot home at the far post.
Sean Cronin almost doubled Wealdstones lead 10 minutes later, but his looping header from a corner was cleared off the line by a Greenforddefender. Stones continued to press, and Alan Massey was the next to go close, latching onto a long ball forward, however he ended up shooting into the arms of the ‘keeper. The home side had their first clear chance of the match on 30 minutes, when their striker
was put through by a long kick from his goalkeeper, however his first touch was too heavy, and Stones keeper Jonathan North was able to gather.
An equaliser from the hosts did come two minutes later however, when loose defending allowed a midfielder to turn inside the box and finish powerfully. They then nearly took the lead just a minute later, when North could only parry a goal bound effort into the path of a Greenford player, however fortunately for Wealdstone he could only fire over. The game was only level for a couple of minutes though,
when the impressive Danny Burnell produced a classy finish from just outside the box to score his first goal of pre-season.
Half Time: North Greenford 1 Wealdstone 2
The second half began at a much slower pace than the first, with both sides limited to long range efforts. Stones made their first changes of the match on 65 minutes, with triallist right back Jordan Watson and Mark E’beyer making way for Roy Byron and Jack Keeble. The first chance of the half came in the 70th minute, when a goalmouth scramble in the Stones box resulted in a defender eventually firing against the woodwork.
This seemed spark Wealdstone into life, with substitute Jack Keeble having an effort cleared off the line, and again going close with a powerful long range effort a few minutes later. Stones started to push forward in hope of a third, and they nearly got their reward in the 85th minute when Peter Dean fired across goal, however Burnell could not quite reach it to turn it home. Greenford then equalised against
the run of play, with a powerful free kick giving substitute goalkeeper McWeeney no chance. Stones didn’t let their heads drop however, and they got their reward in injury time when Burnell finished smartly on the turn, to give Wealdstone their third win of pre-season.
Next up for Wealdstone is a trip to Ryman League Division 1 side Wingate and Finchley this Saturday, before they complete their pre season programme with a home game against Enfield Town on Monday 16th August.
Wealdstone: North, Watson, Lavers, Cronin, Massey, Smith, Dean, O’Leary,
Burnell, E’Beyer, Forbes. Subs Used: Locke, McWeeney, Brooks, Logie, Byron,
Keeble