REPORT | WEALDSTONE 2-1 WOLVERHAMPTON WANDERERS

Wealdstone started their National League Cup campaign with a win against Wolverhampton Wanderers at Grosvenor Vale.

The visitors opened the scoring three minutes in after Matheus Mane played an excellent through ball into Ethan Sutherland. The Scottish youth international was able to comfortably square the ball for Fletcher Holman to tap in.

The Stones almost responded instantly after Moussa Diarra flicked a long throw into the path of Jack Cook, who was denied at point-blank range by the Wolves goalkeeper.

Nine minutes in, Nathan Young-Coombes was brought down by Saheed Olagunju whilst he was through on goal. However, referee Aji Ajibola only produced a yellow card.

Two minutes later, the Stones found themselves level courtesy of Sak Hassan. The Somali international winger produced a remarkable effort to score an Elastico (a goal directly from a corner).

The opening period of the game was extremely manic, as Wolves should have retaken the lead in the 14th minute. The hosts gave the ball away in their defensive third, and it was squared to Harvey Griffiths, who failed to keep his effort down.

Unfortunately, Young-Coombes suffered an injury and had to be replaced by Micah Obiero just before the 20-minute mark.

In the 20th minute, the hosts took the lead after some tenacious work from Daniel Nkrumah. The debutant won the ball back just outside of the Wolves box and played it to Hassan. He stood the ball up to the back post, where, after some assistance from the Wolves goalkeeper, it was met by the head of Nathan Tshikuna.

The Stones almost scored their third goal of the game in the 38th minute. Cook’s long throw played Nkrumah through on goal. He crossed the ball towards Hassan, who would have had a tap-in, but it was intercepted by Joshua Gracey in the Wolves goal.

Cook had another good chance on the stroke of half time. A corner was played short and eventually worked to Tshikuna, who played a beautiful left-footed cross onto the head of Cook, who unfortunately could not keep his effort down.

Half time: Wealdstone 2-1 Wolverhampton Wanderers

Sam Cox made a triple change at half-time as Deon Woodman, Alfie Massey and Marcus Day replaced Jack Cook, Dylan Kadji and Anthony Georgiou.

54 minutes in, the ball fell to Tshikuna on the edge of the Wolves box following a corner. He unleashed a fearsome strike on the half volley, which was only stopped by a Wolves defender who was standing on the line.

Wolves almost had a big chance in the 67th minute as their attacker was through on goal. But Phillip Chinedu made an excellent recovery tackle and cleared the ball for a corner.

After a rather dull period, Day was played through on goal after an excellent pass from Massey in the 78th minute. However, the Wolves defender made a good challenge, denying the number 25 the opportunity to shoot.

The visitors had the chance to level four minutes later after Sutherland’s cross found Daniel Mangue unmarked in the box, but the young attacker failed to hit the target.

The visitors had a small spell of pressure during the two minutes of added time, but the Stones’ defence easily dealt with the Wolves threat to close out a two-one win.

Wealdstone: Covolan, Cook (Woodman, 45’), Georgiou (Day, 45’), Kadji (Massey, 45’), Hassan, Chinedu, Diarra, Hutchinson, Nkrumah, Tshikuna, Young-Coombes (Obiero 19’) (Trialist, 60’).

Unused substitutes: Johnson, Tiensia.

Written by Aryan Jolly