Ex-WW players score in thrilling match
After Saturday's anaemic fayre at Crawley, Grosvenor Vale was the place to be tonight as Wealdstone entertained St Albans City in a National League South fixture. The 90 minutes of football was well worth the £13 admission price as an end-to-end game resulted in a 2-2 draw which was just about right on the balance of play and chances created.
Several ex-Wanderers were on show including Tom Cadmore, Matty Whichelow and Elliott Benyon for Wealdstone and Junior Morias for the Saints. It was Morias who opened the scoring for St Albans after Wealdstone keeper North had failed to hold a simple loose ball. Within minutes a left-foot drive by Elliott Benyon had levelled for the hosts and an eagerly fought match was deadlocked 1-1 at half-time.
Immediately after the restart the visitors again re-took the lead through Louie Theophanous after the Wealdstone defence failed to clear the ball. The visitors could have extended their lead but failed to take several chances. The inevitable happened though as Ricky Wellard drew the teams level with a powerful run and left-foot shot across the keeper. With several substitutions on both sides the energy went out of the game a bit and both sides had to settle for a point apiece.
This was high quality entertainment and a great advert for Non-League football. My man-of-the-match was Wealdstone right-back Eddie Oshodi - very polished and composed performance. Otherwise it may well have gone to Saints midfielder Shaun Lucien who looked a real threat going forward. A treat for the crowd of 824 and Monday Night Football at its best - sorry Sky - you missed this one.
Comments
Excellent report Andy. As usual.
Would love to hear Andy's thoughts on something a little closer to home. Last night's match was most enjoyable and the fact that I (and many others I've spoken to) thought that, despite the result, reflects relief that we were able to compete with - indeed dominate for long periods in the second half - a Championship side at close to full strength. We were at full depth with only 4 squad members available for the bench, 2 of whom are recovering from injuries.
I love Dale Jenkins' reports but I thought he was a little harsh with his marks last night. I'd have given everyone 8 apart from Stewart, McGinn and Southwell. They were all 9s in my book. And who is Luke Freeman? I thought he was with Bristol City?!
Last night's match was a huge improvement on Saturday at Crawley. Despite the injuries we need to keep a settled side with a settled pattern of play. The Southwell/Akinfenwa partnership looked a real handful and I thought McGinn was a welcome addition to midfield, as was Sido at right-back.
What disappointed me most about the Crawley game was how disjointed we were when attacking. At the back Scott Brown rolled the ball out two or three times to the back four who didn't seem to want it and just about avoided a calamity. After a summer off I thought the free-kicks and corners lacked any variety or invention. All in all not what I expected to see from a first game. I also thought Crawley were poor and will do well to avoid the bottom two.
With two home games to come it's a great opportunity to get the season back on track, albeit at an early stage. One point though - next Tuesday Accrington won't bring anymore than 150 fans. With so many people not holidaying abroad wouldn't it have been a good idea to open up the away end as a kids' holiday special? I'd rather have 500 children paying £1 each & maybe adults £10 than have large areas of empty seats. Create some interest while the weather's still decent.
Great idea for Tuesday night.
Can't imagine it's crossed anyone's mind at the club unfortunately.
Spot on summary as well.
@A_Worboys always a difficult one with midweek games and kids. Even though no school difficult to persuade parents to keep under 12s up until 11pm so would only appeal to teens.