Hemel Hempstead Town 2- 1 Wealdstone
Hemel Hempstead Town2 - 1
WealdstoneDespite the backing of around 200 fans, Stones contrived to throw away a match in which they took the lead.
For the first half an hour or so, Stones were well on top with Marvin absolutely tearing them apart. We took the lead after Bonfield could only flap at a cross straight to Ryan who headed home. So what did we do? Carry on taking the game to them? No, instead we defended deeper and deeper. In the second half despite the large slope in our favour, Stones rarely troubled the flapping Bonfield. Hemel equalised from the bête noire of some of the Stones following, Bryan Hammatt. Stones failed to clear the ball and it fell to Hammatt who slammed home off the cross bar.
Finally, GB changed things around. The flagging Alexander should have come off at least ten minutes earlier, but eventually he was replaced by Beckford.
This seemed to pep us up a bit and we started taking the game to them again. Then came the turning point. A great cross from Fisher was headed on by Marvin to Beckford all alone at the back post a few feet out. His header went the wrong side of the post – it was a bad miss and would cost us dear. With ten minutes to go, confusion in our box saw another poor clearance, a good cross back in and the ball was headed in, and so it stayed.
The abuse was predictable – Bonfield in the main, Hammatt and McDonagh clocking most of the grief. Bonfield took it all very professionally and reacted very well even when they scored. Both he and Fergie clapped our fans at the end. Hammatt gloated at the end and received stinging abuse, but the most disappointing was the childish actions of Chris Walton. If nothing else, this defeat proves that we are not promotion material. A top five finish will be as much as we can expect.
Wealdstone: Andy Carter, James Fisher, Dave Ryan (25), Robin Tucker, Matt Carvell, Martin Carter, Billy Amarteifio (s35 Matt Perry), Jason Shaw, Ben Alexander (s67 Jermaine Beckford), Marvin Morgan, Tyronne Hercules (s83 Matt Campbell), Subs not used: Charlie Leary, Danny Tilbury
Report by Sudhir Rawal