Wingate battle to East Thurrock draw (From Times Series)

Wingate battle to East Thurrock draw

9:23am Monday 8th February 2010 in

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by Paul Lerman

Wingate & Finchley 1
East Thurrock United 1
Ryman Division One North

Two of the league's playoff contenders shared the points in a one-all draw, although East Thurrock will consider themselves to be unlucky not to have won the game, having had the better of the chances throughout the first half.

In the second minute, an East Thurrock corner caused a quick scramble in the Wingate & Finchley area, and the ball somehow bounced off a few heads and hit the post but the ball ended up safely hacked away by a defender.

For the Blues, a clearance from Craig Ellis found Gary Burrell who capitalised on defensive confusion, but his early shot was hooked wide across the face goal. At the other end Kris Newby similarly sent a low shot across the face of goal when striking early from distance. Sam Higgins then should have scored when he rounded Gavin King but he was forced wide and the angle was tight as he rolled the ball into the side netting.

A few minutes later King managed to pull off a fingertip save from Max Cornhill to keep the scores level and from the resulting corner the well-positioned James Edgerley made a block by the goalpost.

Sam Higgins then sent an agonisingly slow lob over King but it bounced a matter of inches wide of the right post.

The visitors' goal came ten minutes after the break. Kris Newby was put into space on the right side of the area and drilled the ball low into the bottom right hand corner of the net with a perfectly sweet shot. Their cutting edge continued and Higgins had a one-on-one that King blocked with his foot. However it was now that Wingate & Finchley started to find their offensive rhythm.

Debutant Tidjane Carvaleo had a curling shot but the keeper Richard Wray plucked the ball out of the air at full stretch.

The equaliser came with 13 minutes remaining. Burrell cut inside from the wing and played the ball up to the box where it was laid off neatly for Carvaleo. He sized up his options and then confidently floated the ball over the stranded Wray into the far left corner with an accurate curling finish.

The home side finished with ten men as Jordan Fowler was shown a red card for a slightly reckless challenge, but neither side pushed on from here and settled for a point apiece.

Lineup: Gavin King, Marc Weatherstone (Chris Chase 75), Paul Wright, Jordan Fowler, Dan Nielsen, Craig Ellis, James Edgerley (Tidjane Carvaleo 59), Marc Henry (Ahmet Rifat 48), Leon Smith, Dave Laird, Gary Burrell. Subs: James Gershfield, Michael Sharman.