Harlow Town 0 – 1 Wealdstone
Harlow Town0 - 1
WealdstoneA return to league action for the Stones at Harlow, and a return to the starting line up for the eight players rested in midweek.
Constant rain had made the pitch soft and slippery on the top, and conditions got no better as the match started with a cold wind also blowing in gusts.
As you would expect it was a keenly contested battle, with the major part of the play in midfield, Stones defence preventing the Harlow attack from any meaningful effort on goal in the first period, while the pace and control and strong running of Jolly and Morgan caused problems for the home defence. Despite this the best efforts of the half were a Williams long shot and another from Morgan.
Robin Tucker was booked on 18 minutes after a clash of heads, the referee stating later that he had caught the player with an arm, and he was booked again (and red carded) on 40 minutes when he realised he was about to impede a player, tried to pull away, but unfortunately caught the player’s trailing leg.
At half time Gordon decided against further changes, preferring to play with three at the back and Stones coped well with everything that Harlow threw forward – their only real chance of the match came on the hour when Carl Griffiths headed across goal from close range.
As the half wore on Stones began to push further forward – Morgan was unlucky when he broke forward, the home keeper saving well, and Jolly and Williams again saw shots just wide.
Alexander on for Jolly with 15 to go gave Stones more physical presence up front and this was to tell in the 89th minute. A long clearance from Andy Carter allowed Ben Alexander to run beyond the home defence. The goalkeeper seemed to have collected the ball of the bounce but it squirmed away from his grasp, falling to his feet where Alexander’s excellent awareness and reaction allowed him to get a toe on the ball and slot it home.
Despite almost 8 minutes injury time, Harlow couldn’t do enough to equalise and Stones came away with three hard earned points.
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