Wealdstone 2 – 4 Burnham

Wealdstone

3QR

2 - 4

Burnham

KO: 0:00 | Sat 8th Oct ’05

A disastrous start saw Stones give away two goals in as many minutes at the start of the match. Though they recovered to be on level terms at half time, the side never came out for the second half……

And that just about summed up what must be one of the worst performances for a number of years.

Burnham started brightly and forced Stones back from the kick off – in fact the first goal came without Stones having been in the visitors half, as under pressure, Dave Norman miscued a clearance. The ball bobbled up onto his arm and the referee awarded the penalty which was despatched by Logie. Less than a minute later Burnham pressed again. A long ball fell towards Chappell and Norman, there was a moments indecision as the ball fell, then Chappell went to play the ball back to Woods in the Stones goal only to loop the ball over him – whether or not the Burnham forward rushed through to touch the ball home is irrelevant, it was 2-0 to the visitors with no more than 4 minutes played!

It was certainly not the debut Woods would have wanted, drafted into the starting line-up as the team sheet went in, as Ling declared himself unfit,

Stones to their credit did try and play themselves back into the game and on 11 minutes reduced the defecit when a good move involving Cox and Jolly resulted in a pass into the box to Beckford who made no mistake from 12 yards. stones continued to press as the half wore on, but Burnham too had their share of the play, their forwards causing problems for the home defence, though Woods also made a couple of decent saves as the half moved on.

On 37 minutes, the scores were levelled as Beckford again ran on to a deflected through ball from Robin Tucker and in similar fashion to his first goal, scored again. Stones finished the half on top as well as Cox saw a header just wide and Ross White’s control and distribution called the shots in midfield.

The second half is one Wealdstone will surely want to foget. Andy Keepence had remained on the pitch at half time trying to work off a knock on his thigh – he wanted to keep it mobile and warm, but seemed OK for the start of the half, the rest it seemed remained in the dressing room.

Burnham pressed forward as they had at the beginning of the match and only some last ditch tackles and desperate defending prevented them restoring their lead as Stones seemed to lack all shape and cohesion. Burnham in fact started the half with five consecutive corners from their first attack as Stones couldn’t clear the ball upfield.

With Keepence’s injury worsening and Harding also suffering Stones struggled to get the ball upfield and Chappell and Norman were reduced to last ditch tackles as they struggled to cope with the pace of the Burnham forwards.

The midfield was generally overrun, White forced backwards which gave him little opportunity to influence play, Tucker energetic but chasing rather than making the play, and Cox and Burrell wide looking as though their intent was on going forward rather than helping out and working backwards. For Jolly and Beckford it was difficult to judge as they saw so little of the ball.

Burnham’s breakthrough came after a period of pressure on 60 minutes. From another series of corners Stones failed to clear their lines and Horsted struck the ball home through a crowded penalty area.

It was the cue for changes in the Stones line-up as Keepence was replaced by Ryan but to little effect as Burnham kept uip the pressure. Stones did have a couple of chances to equalise however as they had their best spell of the half, Cox seeing a header well saved by Jackson and Jolly ‘s low cross cleared off of the toe of Beckford rushing in, but it was not Stones afternoon.

Burnham scored a fourth on 72 minutes when Chappell again slid in to cut out a through ball, only to see the ball glide past Woods and nestle in the corner of the net to give the visitors a 4-2 lead.

More changes from Stones did little to influence the match as Burnham’s defence stood firm against the sporadic attacks that were created, though Turner did see two shots well saved, and on the day it was the visitors that deserved and got the win to progress into the next round of the FA Cup.

Stones Management and Players must take a good look at themselves – if there is no motivation or shape at this stage of the season and in the FA Cup and after coming back from 2 down in four minutes, what will make them tick?

Wealdstone: Luke Woods, Dean Harding, Lee Chappell, Ross White (s Josh Cooper), Dave Norman (s75 Phil Turner), Andy Keepence (s62 Dave Ryan), Robin Tucker, Darrell Cox, Jermaine Beckford, Richard Jolly, Gary Burrell, Subs not used: Lee Holland, Carl Ashton