Wingate edged out by Maldon (From Times Series)

Wingate edged out by Maldon

9:12am Wednesday 25th November 2009

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by Paul Lerman

Maldon Town 2
Wingate & Finchley 1
Ryman Division One North

The phrase 'a game of two halves' could not be more apt than for this match, as a quite ridiculous seaside wind ruined any chance of good quality football being played. Maldon Town had the tailwind through the first half, and being used to it on their hone ground helped them to dominate for the 45 minutes.

>From a move down the right wing Steve Wareham scored a high lob in only the third minute over the stranded Gavin King as they got off to the perfect start. In the 22nd minute Maldon doubled their lead. A lofted ball fell nicely over the defence towards Sean Beverny who confidently rounded King and rifled the ball beyond the covering Dan Nielsen.

The Blues did look to hit back and Ahmet Rifat had a volley that he pulled wide, and Marc Henry had a header under pressure which was sent inches over the bar.

The change of ends brought an expected totally different second half. James Gershfield sent a low left-footed drive just wide of the post before Ahmet Rifat pulled a goal back in the 69th minute. He struck a beautiful volley from the edge of the area low into the left corner as the Wingate & Finchley pressure finally began to wear the home side down.

Maldon Town had a few shots from distance at the other end, the closest of which was from Jack Jeffries whose swirling effort hit the side netting.

King then pulled off a superb one-on-one save late in the game, and then in the dying moments the Blues had their golden chance to equalise. Leon Smith powered past his marker to reach a low through ball first and he rounded the goalkeeper. However he misconnected with the shot and the centre-back had enough time to recover and clear the ball from the goalline.

Ahmet Rifat was sent off soon afterwards for a second yellow card after handballing in Maldon's box, and it was defeat for Wingate & Finchley whose players had simply taken too long to get used to the horrendous conditions.

Lineup: Gavin King, Marc Weatherstone, Aynsley McDonald (Rob Ursall 60), Jordan Fowler, Marc Henry (Leon Smith 60), Daniel Nielsen, Craig Ellis, Ahmet Rifat, James Gershfield, Dave Laird, Michael Lenahan (Terry Payne 76). Subs: James Edgerley, Frankie Webb.

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