Staines Town 3 – 3 Wealdstone

Staines Town

3 - 3

Wealdstone

KO: 0:00 | Sat 23rd Oct ’04

In the first 90 seconds, it was almost entirely one way traffic as wave after wave of Stones attacks came forward, but only half chances were created, then, with their first run of the ball on 2 minutes, Staines broke to the other end and a ball through the defence found Tomlin, who beat the onrushing Andy Carter to give the home side the lead.

From then on, an attacking and open game looked pretty even, both sides creating a number of chances without adding to the score, as Burrell, Jones, Morgan and Jolly went close for Wealdstone while Carter and the defence cleared well from the home attacks. On 19 minutes, Stones were awarded a free kick, taken by Martin Carter and met at the near post by Dave Ryan who headed home the equaliser.

At this point Stones started to dominate possession and territory and although both sides had chances to score again, it was Stones that took the lead on 41 minutes. Dave Ryan found himself the furthest man forward and a long cross into the area from Burrell saw the Stones centre half climb in front of the home keeper to back head the Stones into the lead.

The second half started in similar vein as Stones extended their lead on 47 minutes, Brian Jones miscue found Marvin Morgan and his pass to Jolly was slotted home from 12 yards, with Stones looking comfortable.

It wasn’t to last however as Wealdstone lost both Shaw and Carvell injured from the back line. Staines capitalized on this to score with a breakaway on 52 minutes (Onochie) and they earned a share of the points when down to 10 men with a Maskell free kick on 80 minutes.

An even game, and probably deserving of a draw, but one Wealdstone, 3-1 in front should have held on for the three points.

To continue a trend of obvious sending’s off, Staines’ Barnsby goes well up the list. Having been booked in the first half for a foul, he watched during the second half as two players were cautioned for kicking the ball away. Then on 73 minutes, the referee awarded a free kick and moments later Barnsby launched the ball fully 50 yards. He then started to walk to the tunnel!