Barking 3 – 1 Wealdstone
BarkingQF
3 - 1
WealdstoneFirst things first, Stones did not deserve to win this match as Barking took the greater advantage of whatever came there way, battling and consistently pressuring the Stones side.
To show how low Stones are on luck at the moment (and not meaning to sound like excuses but it will) the side picked on Monday night was disrupted when Lee Chappell and Ben Walshe pulled out with Flu, Wayne Cort pulled out still suffering with an injury (as were Dean Clark and Graeme Montgomery) then Ben Martin had to withdraw after an accident at work on Tuesday.
To take that into the game, Stones luck got no better as they started the brighter side only to fall behind on 19 minutes to a free kick that shouldn’t have been given, Moore winning a clean header. It was given as a foul and an excellent strike from Vaughan from 20 yards went in off the underside of the crossbar having turned in the air at some pace. From then on Stones were on the backfoot in the first half, threatening in terms of possession but lacking the final ball to press the home side who defended capably and looked dangerous when pushing forward.
Stones were brighter again in the second half, equalising with a Graham Hall free kick on 51 minutes, but they remained on level terms for only four minutes as a soft free kick taken by Vaughan bounced in front of and over Carroll’s dive to restore the home team’s lead.
Stones tried to compete but seemed to lack conviction, and it summed up there evening when a through ball from Cooper struck the Referee on the back and fell to the home side – their quick break turned the Stones defence and allowed Gayle to score the third on the 79th minute in the last on field action of the night.
Immediately after the game John Christian became the third player to leave in two days, joining Potters Bar Town and a number of other moves may be completed over coming days as Stones need to take one final chance to rescue their season.
Wealdstone: Lee Carroll, John Christian, Fergus Moore, Carl Martin, Kevin Swift, Ernest Simon s75 Josias Carbon, Graham Hall 51, Chris O’Leary s61 Matt Gooderick, John Henry-Hayden, Dean Papali, Josh Cooper, Subs Not Used: Mark Gill