Walton & Hersham 3 – 3 Wealdstone
Walton & Hersham3 - 3
WealdstoneWealdstone play out an exciting 3-3 draw in their first pre-season game away at Walton & Hersham.
The hosts took the lead early on when Josh Tobin stuck a bullet header past Archie Matthews from a pinpoint in-swinging cross.
The scores were level in quick succession when a lazy back pass from a Walton & Hersham trialist found the back of the net.
The Swans took the lead in the 61st minute when a trialist finished calmly past Jacob Adams, after seeing his prior shot blocked by Luke Dreher.
The hosts found themselves two goals ahead when another Trialist found himself space on the wing, drove towards goal and slotted calmly into the side netting.
Sean Adarkwa pulled one back for the Stones with 20 minutes left after capitalising on a poor clearance and finishing well.
Dom Hutchinson was on hand to complete the Stones comeback when he equalised in the 75th minute.
In typical pre-season fashion, two different starting XIs made up both halves of the game. Craig Eastmond, Enzio Boldewijn, Todd Miller, Archie Matthews and Sam Ashford made their first starts for the club during the first period. Elliott Simmons made his Stones debut in the second-half.
A fast start for the Stones saw them almost take the lead after just four minutes when Alex Dyer latched onto a back-pass, but struck his effort off the post.
Matthews made a steady start to his Stones career when he pulled off a fantastic outstretched save to deny a trialist after eight minutes.
However, he could not deny the hosts just two minutes later when Tobin stuck a bullet header past him to open the scoring.
Ashford came close to opening his Stones account with a well-hit effort after 13 minutes, but Barker got down quickly to deny him.
The Stones striker played a part in the next chance of the game as he put the pressure onto the Swans trialist defender, who played a back pass into the back of the net to level the score.
Both sides came out for the second-half much changed, but it was the hosts that would take the lead once again, when a trialist struck his first effort into Dreher, but followed up his own rebound with a finish into the corner.
Finding himself with acres of space, a trialist for Walton & Hersham drove towards the Stones goal in the 61st minute, taking it all the way to the box and slotting home to make it 3-1.
Just one minute later, some brilliant wing-play from Trae Cook-Appiah saw him square into the path of Adarkwa, who’s shot fizzed narrowly wide.
Not letting it affect him, Adarkwa kept his composure for the next chance of the game when he capitalised on a poor clearance and finished well to make it 3-2.
73 minutes in, the Stones would complete their comeback when Hutchinson placed a header past Barker, not his usual method of finding the back of the net.
The Stones can take a lot from the 3-3 draw when they travel to Chesham United for their next pre-season game on Saturday.
WEALDSTONE XI (1st Half): Matthews (GK), Cesay, Woodman, Trialist A, Mason, Dyer, Eastmond, Boldewijn, Obiero, Miller, Ashford.
WEALDSTONE XI (2nd Half): Adams (GK), Brookshaw, Dreher, Barrett, Trialist A, Simmons, Trialist B, Cook-Appiah, Kretzschmar, Hutchinson, Adarkwa.
Match Report: Will Beaman
Match pics: Jon Taffel HERE