Banstead Athletic 1 – 4 Wealdstone
Banstead Athletic
2QR1 - 4
WealdstoneWealdstone showed some clinical finishing to win 4 – 1 at Banstead Athletic today to progress to the third Qualifying Round of the FA Cup. Three goals in the first twenty minutes made the difference…
Stones first came after only 90 seconds play as Dave Ryan played a ball forward through the home defence and Richard Jolly ran on to slot the ball past the home keeper from 18 yards. Stones maintained the early pressure and extended their lead on 5 minutes when Josh Cooper, making his first start in the first team picked up the ball outside the home penalty box, he cut inside his man and looked up to see if there was a cross or pass on, but he was alert enough to notice the home keeper off of his goal line and he perfectly executed a chip from 20 yards to make the score 2-0.
Stones continued to press forward and both Cox and Jolly could have extended the lead before on 20 minutes a spell of pressure saw a Cox effort brought down by a defenders hand and Ryan Harris scored from the spot to make the score 3-0.
At this point Stones seemed content to settle back a little and allow Banstead to play, though they were limited in the most part to possession in the middle of the park, causing debutant Kenny Addai in the Stones goal few problems as he came to collect primarily crosses.
The second half saw the home side press on a little further and they got some reward after 55 minutes – Ryan lost the ball in midfield and Ryan Harris brought down a home forward in the box, Fowler scoring the penalty.
The home side at this point were on top of the game and pressed forward though Adxai again did enough to preserve the lead. On 73 minutes Banstead were awarded another penalty when Baptiste handled, but this time Fowler’s kick was high and wide.
This seemed to re-ignite the Stones and three minutes later the lead was extended when Hardings free kick was headed onto the post by Cox, Harris running through to tap the ball in for 4-1.
Cooper and Jolly had opportunities to extend the lead as Stones got back into their stride, but the home side battled well till the end making light of their lowly league position, though Stones progress to the next round and will be in the hat for Monday’s draw.
Wealdstone: Kenny Addai, Andy Keepence, Liam Baptiste, Ryan Harris, Dave Ryan (s62 Lee Chappell), Carl Ashton, Dean Harding, Josh Cooper, Darrell Cox, Richard Jolly (s85 Phil Turner), Gary Burrell (s80 Paul Adolphe) Subs not used: Lee Holland, Jermaine Beckford