Wealdstone 4 – 0 Hitchin Town
Wealdstone4 - 0
Hitchin TownSaturday was Stones best of the season and this was better! A far greater battle and a more convincing win as stones ran out 4-0 victors over Hitchin Town.
A change to the line-up saw Lee Chappell replace goal scorer from Saturday, Josias Carbon who suffrage an injury, but it didn’t disrupt Stones who for the first time in a long time at home started the most confident side and perhaps just shaded the first 25 minutes of an exciting game. Certainly they had the best early chances when Dean Papali 1-on-1 was blocked by the visiting keeper who also saved Wayne Cort’s follow up.
In the same period, though Hitchin played some fast and fluid football on the good surface, Stoned back-line held firm and Lee Carroll again had nothing to worry him.
Stones opened the scoring on 31 minutes when Montgomery broke down the left and cut inside before hitting a low shot from fully 30 yards. The keeper scrambled across the goal to make the save but couldn’t hold on, and Papali ran in to nick the re-bound and put Stones in front.
Five minutes later and Montgomery again took a free kick from 25 yards on the right. His rasping, curling shot came back off the post and Papali again got onto the rebound to score Stones second.
On top of their game Wealdstone continued to press and the impressive Donnelly, Hall and O’Leary bossed the centre of midfield creating chances for the forwards and blocking whatever Hitchin threw at them – on the odd occasion Hitchin did get through the midfield, Martin, Martin and Moore cleared up at the back releasing the ball to Chappell and Montgomery to push forward.
With half time approaching Donnelly got involved going forward and collecting the ball some 25 yards from goal, he sidestepped his defender and looked up before striking an excellent shot into the top corner beyond the grasp of Beckwith in the visitors goal to give Stones a 3-0 half time lead.
The second half started in similar vein to the first as a fairly even contest, though again Stones had the better of the chances, but it wasn’t until the 70th minute that they scored again. Beckwith fumbled a long shot with Papali close by and as the Stones forward stole the ball on the six yard line looking to score he was rugby tackled to the ground by the keeper who conceded the penalty and collected a red card for his trouble. Papali strode up and scored the penalty past Parker who had taken on the ‘keeper’s role.
It ended the game as a contest as Stones played a little keep ball and took their foot off the gas for the last twenty minutes with a job well done, and the fans hoping for more of the same on Saturday.
Wealdstone:Lee Carroll, Lee Chappell, Fergus Moore, Carl Martin, Ben Martin, Graham Hall s76 Josh Cooper, Chris O’Leary, Scott Donnelly 43, Wayne Cort s69 Matt Gooderick, Dean Papali 31,35,p70 s76 Dean Clark, Graeme Montgomery, Subs Not Used: Mitch Swain, Kevin Swift
Harrow Sport
Wealdstone 4 – 0 Hitchin Town
By Steve Paull
Stones show winning style….
STONES have managed back to back wins with this latest convincing victory over Hitchin Town.
Wealdstone dispatched Hitchin three days later with an even better performance, helped by a hat-trick from Dean Papali.
Having said that, for almost half-an-hour the two sides cancelled each other out in a chanceless scrap in the middle of the field, but Wealdstone were playing with a quiet air of authority not seen often this season.
The moment to “break the ice” was Graeme Montgomery’s pass which put Papali clear only for the Hitchin keeper Beckwith to block the attempted shot and save smartly the follow up from Wayne Cort.
This indeed seemed to break the spell and, bang, bang, bang, in a remarkable turn of events by half time Wealdstone were three goals ahead.
A cross field ball was superbly brought under control by Montgomery and an immediate strike from long range was spilled by Beckwith. Papali was on the loose ball in a flash to score from close range.
Four minutes later, Montgomery’s ferocious free kick from the right smashed against a post and again Papali reacted first to sniff out his second goal.
A two goal lead at the break would have been good but Wealdstone made it even better when another free kick from a similar position was laid square for Scott Donnelly to score his first Wealdstone goal with another powerful shot from outside the box.
The second half failed to match the intensity of the first and Hitchin regrouped somewhat without seriously troubling the Stones defence where Carl Martin had a superb game. Papali may well have been man-of-the-match with his hat-trick but Martin was equally as important in defence.
The hat-trick goal for Papali came with 65 minutes on the clock. Donnelly tried his luck with a shot from the right touchline which again Beckwith spilled and again which Papali seized on. In an almost comedic moment the keeper tried an instinctive rugby tackle to stop Papali scoring, with a penalty being the only award possible and the keeper being sent off.
Papali scored from the spot although the replacement in goal, the forward Parker, almost got to it.
The time remaining was played out as in a “training game” with the match officials sympathising far too much in favour of the ten-man team. But, ultimately, Wealdstone had won again – and in some style.