Wealdstone 6 – 1 Tibury
Wealdstone1R
6 - 1 (AET)
TilburyTil-buried!
At least, that is what the record books will show, but it does not reflect a match in which for long periods the Second Division side were on top.
Stones started brightly but again were unable to capitalise on early chances, the visiting goalkeeper saving with just about every part of his body bar his head in the first ten or fifteen minutes, ass a number of shots and headers rained in. It was not one way thought, Tilbury too should have scored at least twice, as poor finishing let down good approach work.
That was really the story of the first half – it finished 0 – 0 but could easily have been 5 – 5 as only poor finishing let of defensive errors. The second half started in similar vein although Stones were a little more on the back foot and on 61 minutes, Tilbury took the lead from a Wealdstone attack. Vinny Somers lost the ball inside the Tilbury penalty area and the defence cleared long to Jones, a good cross field ball found Okita unmarked and he had enough time to mis control then regain control of the ball before shooting on the turn to give the visitors a deserved lead.
A minute later and the game changed totally when Kevin Mully, booked earlier conceded a free kick. Spoken too by the referee he was not satisfied, and as the free kick was taken he continued to ‘talk’ and received a straight red card reducing Tilbury to ten men.
Stones though struggled to gain the initiative for ten minutes or so when a double substitution brought on Tunji Bamgbola and Ricky Pither. Wealdstone immediately showed more fire and on 80 minutes Bamgbola equalised. A curled ball into the box between the defenders from Moore fed Tunji, who controlled and then slid the ball past the visiting keeper to equalise.
Despite a couple more chances, neither side could score again in normal time and as extra time started Wealdstone had become the fancied side solely as Tilbury tired playing with 10.
So it was on 95 minutes Tilbury scored from close range and a minute later Somers cut in from the right to shoot Stones into a 3 – 1 lead. On 104 minutes, Tilbury again scored, stretching to a get a foot on a defensive header, enough to deflect the ball past the goalkeeper for 4 – 1.
The second half of extra time saw Tunji stamp his mark, completing his first Senior hat-trick with a shot from a Ricky Pither pass on 117 minutes and then a minute later the goal of the game, when through 1 on 1 with the keeper, he cooly chipped the ball in from 15 yards.
If the memory is only of the last 45 minutes, then it was an excellent performance. If you consider the previous 75 minutes it was pretty dire, but Stones are through to the next round. The down side was silly bookings for Lamb and McDonnagh, both now missing the fixture at Bromley.
Wealdstone: Andy Carter, Matt Perry (s68 Ricky Pither), Fergus Moore, John Deadman, Richard Horner (s99 Terry Chamberlin), Paul Lamb (b100), Vinny Somers (97), Jason Shaw, Richard McDonnagh (b44, s68 Olatunji Bamgbola 80,117,118), Martin Carter, Danny Tilbury (95,103)