Wingate & Finchley 1 – 2 Wealdstone
Wingate & Finchley2R
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WealdstoneStones again made a couple of changes – some enforced as Michael Currie went down with flu late on – for this London Senior Cup tie away to Wingate. Wingate created the first chance in the first minute as a shot bounced high into the chest of Swain, who recovered to make a good save from the follow up, and though they had their fair share of possession, because of poor finishing it was the last save Mitch had to make in the half.
At the other end Stones looked bright and sharp but lacked a little in penetration against a miserly home defence, though Cort, Bamford, Montgomery and Papali all had chances, while O’Leary saw a header come back off of the bar.
The second half was a little more even as Wingate improved in front of goal, both keepers earning their money with important saves, until on 84 minutes Ellis scored for the home side with a header from the front of the six yard box.
Stones still the better side rallied though and 90 seconds later Gavin Bamford equalised with a header from similar range after good work by Montgomery. With the game heading towards extra time, another Monty cross caused problems for the home defence and a half clearance fell to Papali some 20 yards out and he made no mistake with a low shot to give Stones the victory and a visit to Mayesbrook Park, Barking in the next round.
Wealdstone: Mitch Swain, Josias Carbon, Fergus Moore, Lee Chappell 44 Josh Cooper s79 Stanislav Rosboud, Gavin Bamford15 86, Dean Clark, Chris O’Leary 65, Dean Papali 9090, Wayne Cort s79 Matt Gooderick, Graeme Montgomery, Subs Not Used: Stuart Goodall, John Christian, Graeme Hall
Harrow Times – Steve Spaull
WEALDSTONE finally broke a run of five defeats with this hard fought win on Tuesday.
A one-sided first half was just a succession of Wealdstone misses, the closest two being when a header from Chris O’Leary hit the bar and a curling shot from Dean Clark which was acrobatically turned away for a corner.
Other efforts from Josh Cooper, Graeme Montgomery and Deans Papali and Clark were all very close, but all failed to find the target.
At least a header from Wayne Cort had to be saved, although it was never likely to find the net.
Wingate had very little in response until a much more evenly contested second half.
Wealdstone forward play had begun to run out of ideas and misfire. Even so, Montgomery’s free kick was spilled by keeper Thompson with nobody on hand to follow up, and Cort headed just wide when unmarked.
It was only excellent goalkeeping from Mitch Swain that kept the game scoreless. Three top class diving saves kept out efforts from Badu, Davies and Ellis.
Swain was beaten, however, in the 84th minute by a header from an unmarked Ellis, from the ensuing corner after his save from the same player.
With so little time remaining it looked like Wealdstone were to go out of yet another cup competition to lower ranked opponents, but in a remarkable finish this inconsistent side turned things completely around.
There were only three minutes of normal time remaining when Gavin Bamford headed Dean Clark’s free kick in for an equaliser and, with the game just going into added time, Papali struck a low drive through a forest of bodies to give Wealdstone the win.