Wealdstone 1 – 0 FC Halifax Town

Wealdstone

National League

1 - 0

FC Halifax Town

KO: 15:00 | Sat 20th Aug ’22

Wealdstone picked up a hard-fought 1-0 win against Halifax Town to make it three National League wins out of four.

Rhys Browne scored the only goal of the game after 39 minutes and then the Stones closed the game out relatively comfortably to record their first clean sheet of the season and move up to second in the league.

Stuart Maynard named an unchanged line-up from Tuesday night’s memorable victory against Oldham Athletic at Boundary Park – and the Stones continued where they left off from Tuesday, coming straight out of the blocks with some excellent football that saw Browne go close with a curling effort from the edge of the box.

The chances continued to come and Mason Barrett saw his header go agonisingly wide just two minutes later after some brilliant wing-play from Dom Hutchinson, who caused havoc down the right-hand side.

Despite their dominance, two smart saves from Sam Howes kept the score level, the Stones keeper denying a powerful strike from Jordan Slew and again saving Jesse Debrahs’ header from a corner.

Some excellent attacking play from the Stones saw them open the scoring six minutes before the break when Max Kretzschmar played Browne through on goal with an excellent flick, resulting in a cool finish into the bottom corner from the number 10. It was another excellent team move from the Stones that sliced open the opposition.

Neither team managed to take control of the second period, with both sides squandering good opportunities to grab a goal. Browne had the chance to double his and Wealdstone’s tally just after half time but failed to convert his chance, dinking the ball over the bar, having been played in on goal once more.

Lively Halifax midfielder Jordan Keane saw two efforts go agonisingly wide of Howes goal as Chris Millington’s side searched for an equaliser.

With ten minutes to go in the second period, Browne once again found space in the box after some smart dribbling, but was once again denied by Sam Johnson in the Halifax goal.

With five minutes added on, the Stones soaked up pressure from Halifax and were never really in trouble of surrendering their hard-fought lead.

Wealdstone travel to Gateshead on Saturday where they’ll look to carry on their strong start to the season.

WEALDSTONE: Howes, Cook (C), Barrett, Charles, Elerewe, Barrett, Allarakhia (Napa 63), Ferguson, Browne, Hutchinson (Sesay 79), Kretzschmar, Habergham. Not used: Dyer, Mundle-Smith, Mongoy.

Report by Will Beaman

Jon Taffel Match pics HERE

Adam Williams Match pics HERE

Mike Renny Match pics HERE

Stuart Maynard post Match summary:-

Stuart Maynard was most satisfied with the first clean sheet of the season his side kept as the Stones roared up to second in the National League on the back of a third win in four games.

Maynard choreographed a 16th-place finish last season on the back of double-figure clean sheets – and the manager was keen to get his side back to that level of obduracy.

At the fourth time of asking, after conceding two against Bromley, one controversially at Eastleigh and one at Oldham, the boys in blue claimed a shut-out yesterday to padlock a 1-0 home win over FC Halifax.

“The clean sheet is massive,” said Maynard. “We got 14 last season and I’m a firm believer that they bring you success. And we deserved it. I’m absolutely delighted with it as we had to dig deep for it.

“The first half was an outstanding performance from the lads. And I think we scored another goal like we did at Oldham, probably 15 to 20 passes. It’s great for the lads to be playing some of the football they are playing and to be able to put their foot on the ball and be brave. We had to be patient today. We knew we’d get possession around the back and we knew we had to be patient, using the goalie to get us out and then the gaps eventually open up. Some of the movement from the lads was unbelievable.”

Ashley Charles was the heartbeat of the performance, dictating play from the base of midfield, spreading the ball from left to right and putting out any fires in front of the back four.

“He’s one of the unsung heroes,” said Maynard. “He’s getting on the ball and showing what a good technician he is. He works so hard for the team and covers the ground of two or three players. He gets better and better and him, Max and Fergy complement each other so well. They run players away with their pace and power and then Charlesy can get on the ball. He was outstanding today.”

Dom Hutchinson, another who came through the system at Watford, was not far behind Charles in the Man-of-the-Match stakes. He worked his socks off in his new role on the right and got in behind as often as he got back to defend.

“He’s got pace, athleticism and end product,” said Maynard. “He’s still finding his feet at this level. He got goals and assists for Eastbourne and I think he can do that for us. First and foremost his work ethic was great. The work ethic is key and that’s why we are having the results we are.”

Maynard agreed his side are becoming more streetwise, which is helping them to close games out against vaunted opposition like Oldham and FC Halifax. He said the experience of new boys Max Kretzschmar and Sam Habergham has added know-how to the group and they will be vital in helping to keep feet on the floor after a flying start to the season.

“Winning breeds confidence which is good,” said Maynard. “Our job is to not look too far ahead as you can’t afford to do that in this division. You can lose seven on the bounce quite easily. Grimsby came here last season as a top team. We beat them and then after that, they didn’t win a game in nine. It can happen to anyone, so we’ve just got to keep focussing on one game at a time.”