Stones leave FA Cup comeback too late at Boreham Wood
Wealdstone bowed out of the FA Cup following a thrilling 5-3 defeat to Boreham Wood at Meadow Park.
Boreham Wood took the lead through a pinpoint effort on 25 minutes from George Broadbent who struck the bottom corner from the edge of the box. Five minutes later the Wood doubled their advantage when Zak Brunt dispatched a penalty into the top-left corner.
The second half saw what was almost an incredible fightback from the Stones. Cameron Coxe put the home side 3-0 and the game looked dead and buried. Some away fans even headed for the exit.
Olufela Olomola and Danny Denton traded goals, Simeon Akinola made it 4-2 and then Olomola got his second of the day to put Wealdstone within touching distance of a remarkable leveller. But Danny Elliott killed the game with a fifth for the hosts.
The Stones started slow and were almost caught out early on when Tyrone Marsh went down under the challenge of Jack Cook inside the box. The home side were denied the penalty on this occasion.
Yet Stuart Maynard’s side were punished for their slow start 25 minutes in when Broadbent picked up the ball on the edge of the box, shifted the ball onto his left foot and fired the ball past Sam Howes into the bottom right corner to give his side the lead.
As they did the week before, Boreham Wood doubled their advantage after being awarded a penalty for a foul by Cook. Having been fouled, Brunt stepped up to take the spot kicked and dispatched his effort precisely into the top-left corner.
Having gone into the break 2-0 down, Maynard’s side looked to change their fortunes and almost pulled one goal back after Dom Hutchinson’s left-footed effort went just wide of Nathan Ashmore’s goal.
On the 67th minute, Luke Garrard’s side scored their third goal of the game when a superb cross from Dennon Lewis was headed into the back of the net by Coxe, their midweek loan signing from Colchester.
Just two minutes later, Olomola headed in a near-post effort from a corner to pull a goal back for the Stones and give his side a glimmer of hope. Unfortunately for the Stones, their hope was short lived as ten minutes later, Denton was played through on goal and smashed the ball into the roof of the net to put the home side 4-1 up.
Wealdstone refused to give up, and brought the game back to a two-goal deficit when substitute Akionola scored his second goal in two appearances when he tapped in Jaydn Mundle-Smith’s low ball into the box with ten minutes left to play.
The Stones continued to fight back and set the game up for a thrilling ending when Olomola tapped in Giovanni McGregor’s square ball into the box to make it 4-3. With Wealdstone giving everything to find the leveller, they found themselves open on the break and saw substitute Elliott score to put the home side 5-3 up with virtually the last kick of the game to make it two wins in a week over Wealdstone.
It's another disappointing early exit in the competition for the Stones who now have to focus on the league when they travel to Dorking next week.
Stones: Howes; Cook (c) (Barrett 84), Elerewe (Sesay 60), Habergham; Mundle-Smith, Charles, Dyer, Allarakhia, Hutchinson (Akinola 64), McGregor Olomola. Subs:
* Pictures by Jon Taffel and Darren Campbell