Bank Holiday win for the Blues
A superb first half display saw Wingate take the three points in a thrilling Bank Holiday Monday clash.
Ryman League Premier Division
Enfield Town 2 Wingate & Finchley 3
Monday, 25 August, 2014
The Bank Holiday August fixture is meant to be a match played in late summer weather. This game was played in monsoon conditions at the impressive QE Stadium. The pitch condition were excellent which was a great credit to The Enfield Town grounds man who had to get the pitch prepared in two days following a Rugby League match on the previous Friday.
Despite the unseasonal conditions the players must have been satisfied with the playing conditions. Wingate came on the back of two victories and Enfield one win and one defeat in the last two games so it looked all set up for a good local derby. Danny Nielsen only made one change from The Tonbridge victory as Mark Weatherstone replaced the injured Stuart Lake for his first start of this season.
Wingate started the stronger of the two teams and soon started to dominate the match. Gaining some confidence from the run of good form helped Wingate in these early stages, it was no surprise when the first goal came and what a goal it was. In the 18th minute Karl Oluyide picked the ball up on the halfway line and started a mazy run going through the whole Enfield team before a neat one-two with Rob Laney saw him fire home an unstoppable shot from just inside the box.
Credit must go to the referee who waved play on despite two Enfield fouls on Oluyide and after the goal was scored, dished out the appropriate yellow card. It was not long before Wingate extended their lead when a fine cross by Ronayne Marsh Brown found James Kaloczi who side footed the ball home from 10 yards out.
Two-nil up with forty minutes gone. David Knight and Karl Oluyide had a role to play in the third goal on the stroke of half time as they set up Rob Laney who fired home from close-range. A half-time lead of 3-0 should have been enough to leave the visitors comfortable but the second half was to prove a totally different affair.
The half time period was punctuated by the dismissal of Enfield Town manager George Borg to the stands for some highly inappropriate remarks to The Wingate players which will no doubt be the subject of an extensive FA investigation.
Enfield came out fired up for the second half and as the visitors had dominated the first half so the home side dominated the second. Neil Cozens pulled one back in the 49th minute and then a second in the 72nd minute which left Wingate & Finchley hanging on for the final twenty minutes.
With only five minutes remaining, Bobby Smith came to the rescue as he pulled off a tremendous save stretched to his right which denied Enfield an equaliser.
In the last minute of injury time Scott Shulton broke through the Enfield rear-guard and squared the ball to Ahmet Rifat who had a simple tap in but just put his shot wide which left just enough time for Enfield to break and Kieron Street to put in a reckless tackle which the referee deemed to be a red card offence.
A fine local derby which sees Wingate pick up nine points from their last three games scoring, nine goals and conceding two. Given that this ended a run of three games in seven days, the Wingate & Finchley players looked weary and the five-day rest before they entertain Hornchurch on Saturday which will be appreciated.
Wingate & Finchley Line-Up:
Bobby Smith, Mark Goodman, Ronayne Marsh Brown ( Paul Wright 40), James Kaloczi, Kieran Street, Marc Weatherstone, Leon Fisher, Tommy Tejan-Sie, Karl Oluyide (Scott Shulton 70), David Knight (Ahmet Rifat 65) , Rob Laney
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