Wingate tumble out of FA Trophy
FA Trophy First Qualifying Round:
Arlesey Town 2 Wingate & Finchley 1
Saturday, 1 November, 2014
Wingate largely dominated possession, and quickly created openings. Iffey Allen was lively on the right wing, and he received a deep free-kick, before driving with the ball down to the byeline. He drilled the ball across goal where Rob Laney was inches away from heading the ball into an empty net.
Soon afterwards Allen interchanged the ball on the edge of the box with David Knight, as the latter fired the ball on goal but straight at goalkeeper Nick Thompson.
However, it was Arlesey who took the lead, scoring with their first attack. Former Blue Dean Mason cut inside from the left wing by the edge of the area, and sent a low drive into the bottom left corner in the 17th minute.
Wingate had pressure but many shots were forced to be taken from the edge of the area. They went close when Tommy Tejan-Sie broke free from a short corner and chipped to Marc Weatherstone – but he headed over from six yards at full stretch.
The Blues came out with all guns blazing after half-time, and Mark Goodman had an early break in the second half, but his superb low cross was turned inches wide at the far post by Knight.The deserved goal finally came in the 54th minute. Rob Laney was tripped inside the box, and Knight comfortably slotted home the penalty.
Wingate continued to pour forwards – Knight combined with Allen down the left, and set the ball back to Nico Muir, but his stinging drive was parried by Thompson. There were three other cutbacks from the byeline but Wingate could not make the chances count.
Then the tide began to turn late on with Dean Mason dangerous again, having switched wings. He went on a purposeful run and shot across to the far post where Bobby Smith superbly tipped it wide.
Arlesey took the lead with three minutes remaining. James Sage scored at the end of a scrappy corner as the ball fell to him nicely in the box and he volleyed home from ten yards to seal an unlikely victory.
Captain Marc Weatherstone said “We were dominant that game, and created more chances than we have for a long time (17 shots on target). It was a game where we played well and mixed up our style to switch between direct and short. We can only take positives from this game and we’ll move on to Margate on Tuesday night.”
Lineup:
Smith, Goodman, Marsh-Brown, Tejan-Sie, Weatherstone, Harold Joseph, Knight, McCluskey, Laney, Allen (Lake 85), Muir (Udoh 80). Subs Wright, Metcalfe, Sharpe.
Attendance:
125
Referee:
Josh Smith
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