Barking & East Ham United 2 – 0 Wealdstone
2 - 0
WealdstoneA disjointed performance from a disjointed side.
No matter that the Management tried with substitutions to change the shape and put some football and spirit in the side, it just wasn’t there.
There is so little to report from the match, other than to say Andy Carter made the only save of the match, tipping a looping header over the bar at the end of the first half, and Dave Ryan cleared another attempt of the line late in the second half. The Barking keeper wasn’t troubled in the whole game as Wealdstone’s only attempts on goal were a first half shot from Martin Carter and a second half shot from Carl Hunt. Both were over the bar.
The two goals were both presents from the ragged Stones defence – the first when Matt Perry was caught in possession on the edge of the box and Read gave Carter no chance after 16 minutes, and he was on hand again after 55 minutes when a free kick from the edge of the box was hit low and through the ‘wall’, Read again reacting first to slot home.
The defence may have been ragged in the five, four and three man set-ups as the management tried to change the game, but the midfield and forwards were mostly antonymous, with the exception of a few runs from substitutes Hercules and Gedeking.
Otherwise there was nothing to indicate how Stones had maintained a challenge at the top of the table thus far, nor anything to indicate to the travelling support that it was likely to be maintained. Mathematically promotion is still very much in Wealdstone’s hands, but thankfully there have been very few mathematicians at recent games.
Wealdstone: Andy Carter, James Fisher (s45 Tyronne Hercules), Danny White (b63), Lee GArdener (s65 Jermaine Beckford), Matt Perry, Martin Carter, Dave Ryan, Richard Jolly, Carl Hunt (b4), Marvin Morgan (s75 Alec Gedeking), Andy Myhill Subs not used: Chris Phillips, Fred Cummings