Folkestone Invicta 5 – 3 Wealdstone
Folkestone Invicta
2QR5 - 3
WealdstoneStones side depleted by injury last week was further depleted in the run up to the Trophy game away to Folkstone. Managers Gordon Bartlett and Andy Leese were forced into three changes – losing Ryan Harris, Luke Evans and Carl Ashton – for Tuesday’s fixture against Croydon, then in the last 48 hours, Andy Keepence (Flu), Luke Woods (Shin) and Josh Cooper (Back) all pulled out of the side for todays match, though Ashton at least had recovered enough to play with a strapping.
It meant that the line up saw two players making their first start, another making only his second, and with the exception of Phil Turner, the bench had amassed a total of less than 45 minutes in the first team this season!
It was a little surprising then that Stones started well against a strong home side, competing well in the early stages, both Beckford and Jolly having half chances early on. Less surprising was that the home side opened the scoring with their first real attack on 14 minutes – stones disjointed defence leaving Myall on his own to score past debutant Benstead in the Stones goal.
This did knock Stones onto the back foot and Folkestone had their best spell of the match, scoring twice more in the next 23 minutes – the first on 23 when Dryden was given far too much space, and on 38 when Guest scored from the edge of the six yard box despite two defenders and the goalkeeper on the goal line.
Stones did gell a little as the half came to a close, the impressive Montgomery and the tireless Chappell working hard to move the ball forward, and White in the middle adding stability, and Stones pulled a goal back on 39 when Beckford scored with an overhead kick from an acute angle. A minute later he was involved again, pulled down in the penalty box, and up stepped Jolly to score Stones second.
The half was not over and Stones pressed forward in waves bouyed by the two goals, and they were unfortunate not to be on level terms when Burrell had an effort blocked and the follow up shot from Beckford seemed to be blocked by a defenders hand, though no penalty was given. It was the last Burrell saw of the action as he added to Stones woes with a further injury…….
The second half saw Folkstone as the better side and they extended their lead on 61 minutes, Flanagan given a free header at a corner, but only an excellent save from Kessell prevented Turner from pulling another goal back. Then Beckford too had a chance saved while White had a shot blocked as stones tried to gain something from the game.
It was the home side that scored again to make the score 5-2 when Dryden left the defence standing as he ran onto a through ball and beat Benstead from close range. Beckford then saw a snap shot well saved when he might have squared the ball to the unmarked Jolly, and minutes later, Jolly squandered the ball when he should have passed across the six yard box to the unmarked Beckford, before Montgomery who carried on from his impressive debut on Tuesday, scored with a shot from 18 yards on 79 minutes.
It was the end of the scoring for the afternoon as both sides tired, the home side going into the hat for the next round, while Wealdstone try and round up eleven fit to start in the County Cup against Conference South Yeading at Chestnut Avenue on Monday. Those that wont be involved? Ling (groin), Benstead (inelligable), Woods (shin), Burrell (thigh), Evans (thigh), Keepence (flu), Harris (knee), Harding (ankle), Tucker (hamstring), Smith (ankle), Cooper (back) add to those Martin Carter and the Martin brothers, the list goes on.
Wealdstone: Aaron Benstead, Lee Holland (s65 Junior Thompson), Carl Ashton (s80 Luke Smith), Ross White, Dave Ryan, Neil McDonald, Lee Chappell, Graeme Montgomery, Jermaine Beckford, Richard Jolly, Gary Burrell (s45 Phil Turner) Subs not used: Louis Lancaster, John Christian.