Wealdstone 0 -2 Lowestoft Town
Wealdstone
0 - 2
Lowestoft TownWealdstone’s disappointing league form continued on Saturday, as they were beaten by a highly impressive Lowestoft Town side at a wet Grosvenor Vale. The defeat means that it is now six games since they last recorded a victory in the league. Whilst it is clear that Wealdstone are currently underachieving, nothing can be taken away from Lowestoft, who will no doubt be amongst the front runners in the Ryman Premier this season.
Manager Gordon Bartlett made one enforced change from Monday night’s comfortable victory over Chesham in the FA Cup, with top scorer Scott Fitzgerald missing out with a knee injury, and Greg Ngoyi replacing him in the starting line up.
Wealdstone nearly got off to a dream start on two minutes, when Lowestoft ‘keeper Andy Reynolds had to be alert to palm away a Peter Dean free kick. Lowestoft came close to taking the lead themselves 5 minutes later when Scott Mitchell squared the ball to Joe Francis who scuffed the ball wide from close range, although the goal wouldn’t have counted due to a late flag from the linesman.
The game was being played at a fast pace, and Stones were the next to go close on 20 minutes when a long throw in from Lee Chappell found Chris O’Leary in the box, and his shot was parried by Reynolds into the path of Greg Ngoyi, however he was thwarted by the linesman’s flag.
It was now end to end stuff, and Lowestoft should have scored 5 minutes later when Joe Francis fired over when well positioned, after Stones had lost possession on the edge of their box.
It looked like the teams would go in level at the break, however Lowestoft took the lead on the brink of half time. Full back Andrew Cave-Brown fired over a cross from the right hand side which Lee McGlone nodded into the path of Scott Mitchell, who made no mistake firing a superb volley into the top corner from 20 yards.
The second half begun with Wealdstone having a lot of possession in the oppositions half, although they were unable to create any real chances against a well organised back line.
Stones looked to change things on 55 minutes, when Danny Spendlove was brought on to replace Alex Dyer, hoping that the flamboyant winger would be able to create something for the Wealdstone front pairing of Sean Cronin and Greg Ngoyi who had so far looked isolated.
The substitute came close to creating an equaliser on 70 minutes, when he tried to find Peter Dean with a superb ball into the box, however the midfielder couldn’t quite reach it to turn it home.
Wealdstone started to push forward in numbers searching for an equaliser, and Greg Ngoyi nearly levelled things on 73 minutes, when he ran onto a superb through ball from Sean Cronin. He then proceeded to turn a defender and fire in a shot from 25 yards. The ball looked destined for the top corner, however Reynolds produced a fine one handed save. Spendlove was next go close, holding off a defenders challenge before unleashing a shot from the edge of the box, which Reynolds again saved superbly.
Whilst they were pushing forward in search of an equaliser they were leaving gaps at the back, and Lee McGlone nearly exploited this 8 minutes from the end, when his effort from the edge of the box was well saved by Jonathan North.
Lowestoft did manage to seal things three minutes from time though, when hugely experienced substitute, ex Norwich City, striker Adrian Forbes finished off a quick counter attacking move by slotting underneath North for his debut goal. It was no more than the away side deserved, and despite a generous 5 minutes injury time Wealdstone were unable to claw their way back into it and slipped to their 6th defeat
of the season.
They will be looking to claim their first away victory of the season on Wednesday night, with a trip to troubled Croydon Athletic, before they face a tough looking away tie at Metropolitan Police in the FA Cup next Saturday, 9th October.
Wealdstone: North, Forbes, Chappell (c), Parker, Massey, Brooks (Pattison), Dean, O’Leary, Ngoyi, Cronin (Lavers), Dyer (Spendlove). Subs not used:
Locke, Thomas
By Stuart Warren
Steve Foster Match Pics HERE