Wealdstone 1 – 3 Halesowen Town
Wealdstone1 - 3
Halesowen TownIt was better but it lacked a killer punch as Stones were more cohesive and created a number of chances, though they in the most part glanced off the chin rather than causing the visitors any significant damage.
Stones with two new signings in the line up (Carbon and Rozboud) started well and took the game to the visitors creating the first chance as early as the second minute as Lawrence saw a shot just wide of the post, but this did more to lift the Yeltz than it did the Stones, the visitors forcing the home side onto the defensive with probing strikes down both flanks.
Stones defended to deeply – like a boxer leaning on the ropes and they were made to pay on 18 minutes when young keeper John Armand misjudged a punch on the edge of his area – perhaps his first misjudgment was coming that far for the ball at all – though as it fell in the area, Swift clumsily challenged and gave away a penalty, conceded to a player with his back to goal. And this sucker punch was enough to give the visitors the lead.
Stones to their credit did try and move the ball forward as the half progressed and were certainly a match for the visitors for the remainder of the half, though with the defence so deep the midfield generally was pulled back and there were large gaps between the forwards and any support. This prevented any significant blows from the home side, limiting them to individual strikes almost at arms length.
The second half Stones were by far the brighter creating nine chances in the fist 15 minutes – Papali and Lawrence on each occasion seeing their efforts just the wrong side of the post, though Lawrence should have done better when clean through chasing a long ball, yet he could only clip the ball into the keepers hands. Stones were made to pay as Halesowen pushed forward on the break – Armand in the Stones goal saved well on a couple of occasions before conceding a corner. The cross came in and was headed clear only to fall to the onrushing Haywood who struck a low drive from 25 yards into the far corner, rocking the Stones – certainly to a count of 8 – as they were on top at the time.
A double substitution gave Stones some hope as Gooderich’s first involvement was to be fouled when shielding the ball in the Yeltz area and Papali stepped up to give the home side some hope scoring from the spot. Again though the visitors reacted well and continued to battle, getting behind Stones as they pushed forward and poor defending was to give them a third goal on 75 minutes, Stones defence as a whole following a loose ball while a simple pass to the unmarked Szewczyk allowed him to score from close range.
Stones had tried and tested their opponents with a range of single punches but had not been able to string together a combination, while at the other end they had left their chins exposed on three occasions, each time having no defence to a single strike.
Defensive frailties and defending too deeply combined with poor execution through the midfield were exposed again. Thought it was a better performance, certainly after last week when the Referee should have stopped the fight as Stones seemed to have thrown in the towel, even with greater effort there are still areas of concern, and a little luck in front of goal wouldn’t go amiss.
Team Details: John Armand, Jay Carbon, Fergus Moore s67 John Christian, Kevin Swift s82 Billy Sentence, Stuart Bamford, Gavin Bamford, Stanislav Rozboud, Chris O’Leary, Dave Lawrence s67 Matt Gooderich, Dean Papali 64, Graeme Montgomery, Subs Not Used: Lee Holland, Stuart Goodhall