Wealdstone 1 – 1 Staines Town
Wealdstone1 - 1
Staines TownStaines Watermark
As the rain steadily worsened, the two sides put on a good display of football played in excellent spirit to produce an enjoyable 1-1 draw.
The match started on a boggy and heavily sanded pitch, ion rain which became progressively worse at the match continued, but the game itself was a good game to watch between two evenly balanced sides.
Much of the ‘battle’ was in midfield early on, with Stone shaving the best of the early chances, gaining the lead after a superb piece of skill from Brian Jones on 14 minutes. Collecting the ball in the penalty area from Norman, he neat his marker and made to the by-line, where, (mis)controlling the ball as only he can, he dribbled along the by-line, past two defenders and there challenges, only to cut inside into the six yard box and drill the ball between the near post and goalkeeper.
Staines continued to play a little more on the break and where rewarded when a deep cross was sruck low and hard first time into the corner of Stones net on 21 minutes for the equaliser.
For the remainder of the half, both sides created a number of half chances, both goal keepers and defences coping well in the conditions.
The second half saw Stone’s assert a little more authority, almost taking the lead when Tilbury controlled a ball with his back to goal just over half way. In one move he controlled and turned his marker and then struck a shot from fully 40 yards over the stranded Staines keeper, and unfortunately also just over the bar.
Watts also kept Stones in the game with an excellent save at full stretch but in the end it was to finish 1-1, everyone in the ground happy it seemed with the result.
Honest Opinion? Spirit and effort made a great difference to the team who coped well in awful conditions.
Team: Watts, Joyce, Norman (s65 Dicker), Amarteifio, Reed, Burgess, Carter, Jones (14), Lamb, Tucker, Tilbury, Subs not used: Leenders, Morgan