PREVIEW: Wealdstone vs Southend Utd
- Aryan Jolly
- 8 minutes ago
- 5 min read
One of the most successful seasons in the history of Wealdstone Football Club is set to culminate in the Stones’ biggest game in 41 years as they make the short trip to Wembley to face Southend United in the FA Trophy Final.
The Basics
Date: Sunday, May 17
Venue: Wembley Stadium, South Way, Wembley, HA9 0WS
Competition: The Isuzu FA Trophy
Kick Off Time: 4:30 pm
Broadcast Information: The game will be available to watch live on TNT Sports and HBO Max
News From The Vale
A final run-down of events leading up to the final:
Gates at the Vale will open at 9am on Sunday. DD’s Catering will be serving a special breakfast menu, merchandise will be available at the Boardroom Terrace, and the clubhouse bar will begin serving drinks from 10am. Please note that car parking will be available for free on a first-come, first-served basis.
Fans will be able to see the players off from the Vale at around 11am. They will then head for a pre-match meal at their team hotel before taking to the Wembley pitch!
The Vale Bar will close at 1:30pm. This is to ensure fans leave The Vale before 2pm, giving staff a chance to close the gates and make it to the stadium on time.
Wealdstone at Wembley merchandise:
There is an array of options available for fans who wish to commemorate Sunday’s special occasion with a memento.
The club have produced a range of merchandise which includes t-shirts, flags and bucket hats. These will be available to purchase at The Vale on both Saturday and Sunday. Click here if you would like to have a look at the full Wembley 2026 range in advance.
The newest additions to the club’s Wembley 2026 collection are the Post-Match Photobook and the Post-Match Programme. Both products aim to allow fans to relive a personalised experience of the event for eternity via a simple process that will allow you to add your own photos from the special day to the books.
For more information about the products, click here. Note that both the photobook and post-match programme are available at discounted rates should you pre-order them.
Our kit partners, Kelme, are also offering an FA Trophy Final range in which special text will be embroidered on a range of club products, including a match shirt and 1/4 zip sweatshirt. Please note that these items will now not arrive in time for the final and are not available to buy at The Vale.
The Run To The Final
It has been a long time since the Stones’ last league game, never mind the start of their FA Trophy campaign! Here is a rundown of how the Stones reached Wembley for the first time in a generation.
FA Trophy Third Round: Wealdstone 2-1 Cheshunt - The Stones secured a relatively comfortable victory in their first FA Trophy game of the 2025/26 season against step three (seventh tier) opposition.
The visitors produced an energetic first-half performance, Mathias Faming forcing Dante Baptiste to make a magnificent one-on-one save half an hour into the match.
Wealdstone took the lead early in the second half, Micah Obiero scoring a tap-in on the counterattack. The Stones doubled their lead via Connor McAvoy, and a late goal from the Ambers was not enough to trouble the overall result.
FA Trophy Fourth Round: Wealdstone 1-0 Dagenham & Redbridge - This time facing a high-level side from the league below, the Stones produced another routine victory.
The Stones peppered the Daggers’ defence throughout the game, with Lee Bradbury’s side only having one chance of note.
Micah Obiero scored the much-deserved winner nine minutes from the end of normal time.
FA Trophy Last 16: Forest Green Rovers 0-3 Wealdstone - Sam Cox’s side produced what was at the time their best result of the season as they dominated a promotion-challenging Forest Green.
Captain on the day Enzio Boldewijn opened the scoring in the 22nd minute from a corner, but the hosts had the better of general play.
Robbie Savage’s side were unable to capitalise on their possession, as Olufela Olomola pounced on a loose ball in the box to double the Stones’ lead. Sean Adarkwa, returning from injury, sent Stones fans into dreamland as he put the result to bed in stoppage time.
FA Trophy Quarter-Final: Kidderminster Harriers 1-1 Wealdstone (Wealdstone win on penalties) - During a time when the club was undergoing a lot of changes, the players stepped up and delivered a gritty performance against a Kidderminster Harriers side that have since won promotion from the National League North.
Sean Adarkwa’s early opener was cancelled out shortly afterwards by the hosts, before the game petered out and went to penalties.
The Stones produced six perfect spot-kicks before Dante Baptiste saved the Harriers’ sixth penalty to send the Stones into the semi-final.
FA Trophy Semi-Final: Wealdstone 1-0 Marine AFC - Whilst it was not a vintage performance by any means, the Stones got the job done against Marine courtesy of a famous Micah Obiero chip in the 94th minute.
Both sets of players looked like they felt the pressure of playing in front of a record-breaking crowd of 4,000 fans, as a number of half-chances did not come to anything.
Just as everyone in the ground began preparing for penalties, Baptiste played a long ball through to Obiero, who caught the ‘keeper off his line and sent the Stones to Wembley.
Opposition Overview
Stones fans will be incredibly familiar with Saturday’s opponents, Southend United, who they have already played three times this season, including on the final day of their 25/26 National League campaign.
The Shrimpers had already secured themselves a playoff spot before that game, and they ended up finishing in sixth place in the National League, accumulating 81 points from their 46 games.
They went on to lose their playoff quarter-final match against Scunthorpe United. Harry Taylor, a defender who had played nearly every minute of the campaign for Kevin Maher’s side, was sent off at the end of the game and will be unavailable for the final.
But Southend possess a number of attacking threats. Their top scorer this campaign was technical striker Andrew Dallas, who netted 17 times in 43 league games, whilst swashbuckling right-back Gus Scott-Morriss found the net 15 times in the league.
Kevin Maher has a number of talented players to lead the line alongside Dallas, with Charley Kendall, Slavi Spasov and Josh Walker all scoring at a reasonable rate this campaign and Tom Hopper and Harry Cardwell providing invaluable experience.
Buy Your Tickets Now!
At the time of writing, the club have sold over 13,000 tickets for the big day out at Wembley.
It would be great for the players if we could push that total to 15,000 in the final couple of days, so tell all of your friends and family about what’s going on and get them to buy their tickets using the link below!
