Wingate secure win over Thurrock (From Times Series)

Wingate & Finchley fight back to claim 2-1 win against Thurrock.

4:07pm Monday 3rd September 2012 in Sport

A second-half fightback from Wingate & Finchley saw the Blues complete a 2-1 victory against Thurrock.

Second half goals from Leon Smith and Anderson Pinto claimed the three points for Wingate after the home side had taken an early lead when Marc Weatherstone put the ball in his own net.

Wingate started the game brightly with quick offensive passing causing problems for the Thurrock defence.

The early pressure resulted in the first chance of the game falling for Wingate midfielder, John Kyriacou. The winger controlled Sam Berry’s long pass, before cutting in and firing a shot at William Viner in the Thurrock goal which he did well to hold.

Wingate continued to impress, with the front two of David Laird and Leon Smith linking well to create the next chance.

Laird played a lovely ball through to Smith which put him clean through with only the Thurrock keeper to beat. However the ball got stuck under his feet and he shot wide under pressure from the recovering Thurrock defenders.

Despite the early pressure from Wingate, it was Thurrock who took a surprise lead in the ninth minute.

A soft free kick was awarded to Thurrock with the following free kick floated into the Wingate area.

A mixture of poor defending and bad luck resulted in the ball cannoning of Wingate defender Weatherstone and into the net.

Wingate continued to cause problems for Thurrock despite the setback of falling a goal behind. The impressive Berry created the next chance of the game, releasing Smith who again failed to capitalise on a one on one situation .Laird was the next Wingate player to try his luck, shooting narrowly over from the edge of the Thurrock area.

With the half time whistle approaching, Wingate were controversially denied what they believed was a stone wall penalty. Smith did superbly to dispossess the Thurrock centre-back in the penalty area.

In his attempts to win the ball back, he appeared to clip Smiths hills but neither the referee nor the assistant saw any infringement, much to the Wingate players and managements disbelief.

Thurrock started the second half the stronger of the two sides and immediately had the visiting side on the back foot. Wingate keeper Bobby Smith was then called into action saving well from a header by Thurrock winger Sam Taylor.

Much like the first half, however, the next goal came against the run of play on the hour mark. Wingate showed the passing quality they displayed in the first half, but this time Smith made no mistake in front of goal. A swift passing move saw Laird play a lovely pass through to Smith who slotted under the advancing Thurrock keeper.

Thurrock nearly struck straight back, but Bobby Smith was alert to tip wide Shamir Mullings curling long range strike.

This proved to be a crucial save, with the Wingate winner coming soon after. Anderson Pinto picked the ball up in the middle of the pitch before driving straight for the Thurrock goal. Despite having options either side, he decided to go for shoot, with the resultant effort superbly finding the bottom corner of the Thurrock net.

Thurrock continued to press but Wingate saw out the remaining 20 minute thanks to some superb defending, particularly by Weatherstone, to secure a well deserved three points.

Wingate and Finchley: Smith B, Weatherstone, Wright, Henry, Street, Nielsen, Kyriacou, Berry, Smith L, Laird (Morris 78), Pinto (Jones 75).

Unused substitutes: Kalipha, Docker, Shehu.