Report – Wealdstone 2 – 2 St Albans City
Wealdstone
2 - 2
St Albans CityWealdstone were pegged back by St. Albans on Saturday in stoppage time. Goals from Christian Smith and David Pratt either side of half-time were not enough for the three points.
It was a quiet first 10 minutes at The Vale until the game was lit up by the away side in the 15th minute.
Zane Banton’s cross from the left found Lewis Knight at the edge of the box, his shot was blocked by the Stones defence however the the ball fell to Dave Diedhiou who smashed past Stones ‘keeper Jonathan North.
Wealdstone reacted positively on going behind, in the 26th minute Danny Green picked up the ball on the edge of the box and forced a good save out of Saints goalkeeper Dean Snedker.
Just three minutes later the Stones had another golden opportunity when Crawley Town loanee Tarryn Allarakhia’s left-footed cross found top scorer David Pratt at the back post but Pratt could not convert on this occasion.
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The game then entered a period where both sides cancelled out each other, the visitors saw a penalty appeal from midfielder Michael Clark when we went down in the box when challenged but nothing was given by referee James Durkin.
Wealdstone then had a penalty shout of their own in added time of the first half when Danny Green headed down to midfielder Christian Smith who was clearly fouled. Smith himself stepped up to take the spot kick, his fierce kick flew past a statuesque Snedker in the visitors goal to bring the sides level.
HT 1-1
A quick start to the second half by Wealdstone saw Pratt latch onto Green’s through ball to slot past Snedker just two minutes after the restart much to the protest of the visiting defence who claimed that Pratt had been in an offside position.
The visitors started to control the game after the early Stones strike, however the home side did create chances, aAttacking midfielder Allarakhia had another strong game and was always looking to be involved in attcaking play. North had a near scare when entering the final quarter of the game, his attempted clearance bobbled on the pitch and span behind him but visiting forward could not capitalise on the chance. .
That man Allarakhia could have had a goal of his own with 12 minutes to play, his quick feet shifted the ball onto his right foot on the edge of the box and forced a good save from Snedker.
Danny Green attempted to hit the target just three minutes later but his cross-goal shot went wide of the far post.
Liam Sole came on in the 82 minute as the visitors looked for an equaliser which duly arrived in stoppage time. Stones defender Connor Stevens header from a Snedker goal kick was picked up by
Saints midfielder Ben Wyatt who drove at the Stones defence and into teh penalty area before setting up substitute Sole to put the ball past North in to the home goal.
Stones were nearly undone again late into stoppage time when Sole’s near post effort from the left required North to make a smart save to maintain parity.
Wealdstone: North, Clark, Medford-Smith, Stevens, Okimo, Poku, Allarakhia, Mensah, Pratt, Green, Smith. Subs Brown (used Mitchell, McKeown,, Monakana & Azezz (noy used)
Report By Dec O’Reilly
Steve Foster pics HERE