Report – Wealdstone 3 – 0 Hungerford Town
Wealdstone
3 - 0
Hungerford TownWealdstone kept the pressure on seventh-placed Hampton & Richmond Borough with a comfortable 3-0 victory over Hungerford Town at Grosvenor Vale.
Hungerford and Poole Town will hear their ground-grading appeals by the FA on Wednesday, which currently puts the Stones a point behind the next best-placed team in seventh.
An early Dan Fitchett goal and a Matt Day own goal just five minutes later put the Stones in cruise control after Harry Goodger missed two headed efforts inside ten minutes.
Joe White rounded off the scoring just nine minutes into the second half but in truth it could have been a far more damaging afternoon for the Crusaders who had their keeper Lewis Ward to thank for keeping them in the game.
Firstly he denied Fitchett a brace after the former-Sutton United man capitalised on a Mike Jones mistake, only to have the keeper deny his low strike with his leg.
Then the Reading-loanee s produced the save of the afternoon, denying Matty Whichelow from close range after a Stones counter-attack.
Whichelow will feel he should’ve had his name on the score sheet. Fitchett played a through ball into the winger who slipped his marker Day, before swerving a shot just wide of the goal when one-on-one.
Hungerford almost grabbed a consolation in injury time. Jonathan North flapped at a corner to the path of Jones, but Sam Cox denied his header on the goal line, flicking the ball over.
The Stones travel to East Thurrock next week with an outside chance of making the play-offs subject to Poole and Hungerford’s appeals, as they sit a point behind Hampton who host Concord Rangers.
Wealdstone: North, Oshodi, Sellers, Brown, Hamblin, Green, Wright (Wellard 78), Cox, Fitchett (Benyon 85), White, Whichelow (Mavila 83) Subs not used: Hunt, Godfrey
By Chris Woods
Steve Foster Pictures HERE