Leyton 1 – 2 Wealdstone
Leyton
1 - 2
WealdstoneStones break the Leyton Spell
After consecutive League and Cup defeats against Leyton FC, Stones finally broke the spell today with a deserved 2-1 win, goals from Beckford and Ursell sealing the points.
Still without a number of the first team and having lost goalkeeper Aaron Benstead to injury during the week, Stones fans perhaps expected little from the trip to East London, but the players buoyed by their win at Heybridge on Tuesday had different ideas.
Leyton started brighter, forcing Stones back for the first ten minutes of the match, but the back line held firm, well marshalled by Dave Ryan, with Lancaster, Holland and Chappell covering well – Lee Chappell in particular making a couple of crucial early challenges.
After 11 minutes a poor challenge on Ross White saw him leave the field to be replaced by Carl Ashton and this coincided with Stones coming more into the game and forcing a couple of corners as Ursell, Burrell and Beaney all pushed forward. A Beckford back heel and Jolly going close with early efforts before Stones did open the scoring on 14 minutes when Beckford rose to head home Stones fourth corner of the match.
The remainder of the half was fairly even, though Stones perhaps looked a little more likely to score, while their defence held firm and kept the home side at bay.
The second half again saw Leyton start brightly and again Stones weathered the storm and the inconsistencies of the match officials to fight back and increase their lead on 58 minutes. Good work from Jolly released Beckford and he beat his man crossing deep from the bye-line – a Leyton defender miscued his clearance to Rob Ursell who calmly slotted the ball home from 10 yards.
This seemed to galvanise the home side and they pushed forward breaking stones rhythm for the first tijme in the match, as Stones went onto the back foot the home side made the most of their strength in midfield, but again Stones back line and Luke Woods in goal were up to the challenge, keeping the home side at bay, their best efforts all from distance causing little problem.
As the match wore on the inconsistencies from the match officials seemed to come more to the fore, the Referee issuing seven yellow cards in the final 35 minutes, four of these for consecutive challenges on Ursell, Beckford and Jolly, while Ryan and Chappell were booked for Wealdstone.
Leyton did pull a goal back on 83 minutes when Curley who may well have been yellow carded for the challenge on White in the first few minutes as well as being booked midway through the second half, scored when the ball broke to him after a goalmouth scramble and this did give Wealdstone a few nervous minutes as the clock ticked down, but they held firm and came away with a deserved three points.
Wealdstone: Luke Woods, Lee Holland, Lee Chappell, Ross White (s10 Carl Ashton), Dave Ryan, Rob Ursell (s80 Phil Turner), Louis Lancaster, Kenny Beaney, Jermaine Beckford, Richard Jolly, Gary Burrell, Subs not used: Andy Keepence, Graeme Montgomery, Josh Cooper.