Wealdstone 3 – 2 Slough Town
Wealdstone3 - 2
Slough TownWith Stones seeing the return of captain Robin Tucker and the first appearance as a sub of new signing Richard Jolly, a lift in performance was always going to be important for this fixture against a Slough Town side much stronger than their League position suggests.
In the first ten minutes though, it seemed the teams were fighting relegation rather than challenging for promotion as both sides struggled to pass to team mates. As it was Stones settled first and forced their opponents to defend in numbers with creating a clear chance until Marvin Morgan headed home an excellent cross on 22 minutes to give Stones the lead.
The pattern of play remained the same, with Stones on top and a break from Ty Hercules down the left hand side saw a cross sent in. As the ball was partially cleared, Marvin Morgan collect5ed in the Slough box and was brought down from behind allowing Mickie Swaysland to increase Stones lead from the penalty spot.
Slough came more into the game and they reduced the deficit from a free kick on the right. The ball was crossed by Spencer and was deflected past Andy Carter into the corner of the net. The Assistant referee on that side held his flag firmly in place indicating an offside, but after protests from Slough, the referee spoke to him. The goal was allowed to stand as the referee said it went straight in.
With a nervous few minutes to hold off the visitors pressure before half time, Stones again broke through Hercules, and this time, as he cut into the box he was also fouled.
Up stepped Mickie Swaysland again to restore Stones two goal advantage just seconds before half time.
The second half saw Slough take the initiative for the early periods and they were rewarded when a quick free kick caught Stones napping on 78 minutes, Williams shooting home from outside the box, but Stones regrouped and came more back into the game, all be it a header off the line from Amarteifio maintaining the 3-2 score line, while Jolly’s control and pace created a chance for him, saved by McCann.
Wealdstone:Andy Carter, James Fisher, Gulad Adan, Robin Tucker, Billy Amarteifio, Martin Carter, Dave Ryan (s75 Danny Tilbury), Jason Shaw, Mickie Swaysland (p35,p44), Marvin Morgan (22 b25 s71 Richard Jolly), Tyronne Hercules, (s70 Carl Hunt) Subs not used: Jermaine Beckford, Charlie Mapes