Wealdstone 1 – 1 Enfield Town (3-4 Pen)
WealdstoneFinal
3-4(P)
Enfield TownCup Stolen!
That may be a little unfair on Enfield Town, but it was after a shaky start, Wealdstone who made almost all of the running in the Middlesex Charity Cup Final, eventually losing on penalties.
Stones unsure defending gave Enfield a head start of 5 minutes when Ridout’s back header looped over Carter to give them the lead, but from this point on Wealdstone were almost encamped in the Enfield half.
Finishing was the key as Bamgbola, Morgan, Beckford, Tilbury, Shaw and Moore all had attempts saved or wide, but despite the pressure Stones could not equalise. Beckford too was denied a penalty when only the linesman and referee out of the whole crowd failed to see Brotherton elbow him in the face as he challenged for the ball. In fact he can consider himself fortunate to remain on the field as a punch thrown in the second half resulted in a booking “for an aggressive attitude”.
As the second half progressed, Enfield Town became more physical and more stoic in their defending, but a corner on 66 minutes was headed across the box by Moore to Matt Perry whose header beat the Town keeper.
Stones maintained the pressure, limiting Enfield Town to sporadic breakaway’s, but they could n’t break through. As time ticked on, Enfield had their best spell of the match, seeking a winner in the last five minutes, but they were denied by the Stones defence and Andy Carter.
Extra time saw little action, as Enfield settled for a draw and tired legs on both sides limited the opportunities all round, the match going to penalties.
Beckford Perry and Martin Carter scored for Wealdstone, while Mickie Swaysland shot over and Robin Tucker hit the post to see Stones lose 4 – 3, but, at least, after a much better performance than had been seen for most of the season.
Wealdstone: Andy Carter (b119), Robin Tucker, Matt Perry (66), Fergus Moore, Joseph O’Reagan, Jason Shaw, Tunji Bamgbola (s72 Mickie Swaysland), Martin Carter, Jermaine Beckford, Marvin Morgan (b47, s87 Justin Bowen), Danny Tilbury (s65 Carl Hunt), Subs not used: Kevin Ramsay, David Godfrey.