Wealdstone 4 – 5 Hendon
Wealdstone
4 - 5
HendonIN a truly remarkable game of football with a remarkable scoreline, Wealdstone lost their first game in the new campaign. And this was despite being 4-1 ahead as the first half entered it’s second minute of stoppage time.
Those are the bare facts; the truth behind them is that the Stones’ midfield was not strong enough defensively, putting massive pressure on the defence, pressure it ultimately could not resist.
Add in the fact that key players had to be replaced following a couple of crude, unpunished challenges meant that disaster was always a possibility.
But it all made for a fantastic evening of goalscoring and tension.
Richard Jolly had gone close and both Burgess and Ofori failed to net good openings for the visitors in the first five minutes before Duncan brought down Gary Burrell and Ryan Harris scored from the penalty spot.
This was a lead that was to last just five minutes as Hendon poured forward.
Aiteouakrim scored from close in after slick passing saw the Stones defence seeming to be chasing shadows.
It was turning into a very open game but somehow, almost until half time, Wealdstone scored with every attack. Jolly restored the lead with a superb 19th minute side foot volley of Burrell’s ball to the near post, then on the half hour a corner, headed back across goal by Liam Baptiste was headed in by Paul Adolphe.
When Jolly reacted first to another left side ball into the box to make it 4-1 the game would seem to be over, given a half time reorganisation to strengthen the middle. Hendon had other ideas, and when Ofori headed in after three minutes of stoppage time it was obvious the game had a lot of life left in it.
And so it proved. Carl Ashton didn’t come out for the second half and with Andy Keepence already having hobbled off, both as a result of nasty challenges that referee Osborne failed to punish, the second half Wealdstone side were under even more pressure than the first. In an nutshell the ball rarely got up the Wealdstone front pair. When it did Phil Turner was wide with one effort as the Hendon keeper King advanced and could not get sufficient power on another.
Frendo brought the deficit to one 20 minutes into the half, running onto a defence splitting pass straight through the middle and curling a left foot shot past Russell Ling.
It was now a question of whether Wealdstone could hold on. If Osborne had made the right decision and sent off the already booked Ofori for another poor tackle, they might have done, but the question was definitely answered ten minutes from time when Ofori’s shot from the edge of the box beat the bemused Ling who, it later transpired, was playing with a dead leg.
The goal that decided the game was a complete fluke. A mis-hit cross from the left by Murphy dipped over back-pedalling Ling’s outstretched arm to nestle in the far corner.
Wealdstone had just once chance to level in the few minutes that remained, but Jolly lost his balance after wriggling past King and, by the time he had regained it, defenders were back on the line and the shot that came cleared the bar.
Harrow Times – Steve Paull