Report - Staines Town 2 - 5 Wealdstone
Pre season Friendly
Wealdstone saw off Staines Town with consummate ease with a 5-2 victory over the hosts at Wheatsheaf Park on Tuesday night. The Stones had led 5-0 with a David Pratt double as well as goals from Joe White, Jeffrey Monakana and Matt Lench before Staines pulled two back in the second half.
Stones boss Bobby Wilkinson rotated the squad with Stefan Brown, Bradley Bubb, Bradley Hudson-Odoi, Jonathan North, Jerome Okimo and Connor Stevens all left out.
And the Stones got off to a perfect start, scoring after 59 seconds. Monakana whipped in a delivery from a corner and Pratt met it at the front post with a diving header.
White, who had just joined the squad on loan from Stevenage, doubled the lead on five minutes when Jake Sheppard’s excellent cross-field delivery was chested down by the forward in the area, and with all the time in the world he slotted past the keeper.
It was clear on 19 minutes that the Stones were going to comfortably win the game when James Clark's crossing free kick was poked home by Pratt to make it 3-0.
Confusion surrounded Wealdstone's fourth goal on 38 minutes. Clark’s quick free-kick to Monakana caught the Staines defence napping and he cut inside and placed the ball perfectly inside the far post, however the ball went through the net, causing a few perplexed faces in the ground before the referee correctly gave a goal.
Stones made a wealth of changes at half time and it looked to be more of the same after Freddie Grant's deflected cross fell to the path of Lench who placed an easy finish past Staines’ substitute keeper Julian Schwarzer to make it 5-0 on 48 minutes.
The goal of the game was scored 10 minutes later by Brendan Murphy. He was played the ball by George Fry on the edge of the area and he hit an unstoppable curling effort past Callum Thomas in the Wealdstone goal.
Midway through the second half, Staines reduced the deficit to three goals. A cross was deflected into the path of Fry and he angled a low effort past Thomas into the far bottom corner.
This rejuvenated the hosts where they posed more of a significant attacking threat than their first half performance showed, but no further goals were added.
Stones are next in action on Saturday when they host Bromley at their special ‘Meet the Team’ Family Day, with all sorts of offers and things to do for all the family. 3PM Kick Off, more details at www.wealdstone-fc.com
WEALDSTONE: Thomas, Sheppard, Tyler (Grant 45), Wilson, Mambo, Lench (Williams 59), Monakana (Harris 45), Ahmidi (Green 45), Pratt (Slew 45), White (Abbey 45), Clark.
By Chris Woods
