MATCH REPORT | Wingate & Finchley 3 Dartford 1
As more than 250 supporters turned up in cold weather conditions, the visitors started brightly when Dan Smith fired straight at Charlie Grainger after a great run following Rohan Vaughan’s neat pass (4).
However, The Blues forced a corner two minutes later, whereby Mackye Townsend-West got to the ball first at the far post to send a bullet header beyond Jonny Henly to open the scoring (6).
The hosts dominated a majority of the ball from then on, as they constantly searched for that important second goal. And they were rewarded for their efforts in the 37th minute…
An interception from a Dartford free-kick saw Sam Cornish play in Afi Adebayo with a delightful ball, before the latter unleashed a marvellous pyledriver which smacked Henly’s upright. The ball rebounded into the path of Camilo Restrepo, who simply couldn’t miss to give the hosts a deserved 2-0 lead at the break.
Dartford boss Ady Pennock was not a happy man at half-time, and he immediately made a triple change at the start of the second forty-five…
Luther Williams, Callum Jones, and Olly Box all came on to replace Samuel Okoye, Rohan Vaughan, and Eddie Dsane respectively (46). The Dartford boss would also swap Jeremiah Pinder for Sammie McLeod (50), before Joe Tennent made way for George Whitefield (53).
As we return to the beginning of the restart, we find Luther Williams trying desperately to get his side back in the contest with a sweetly struck volley… but the ball flies into the side netting instead of the goal (48).
Two minutes later saw The Blues all but seal the victory when Ryan Lowe breached the Dartford defence, raced forward, and fired in his side’s third goal of the afternoon (50).
Michael Olarewaju couldn’t keep his header down following a lovely delivery from Dan Carter (51), before Callum Jones forced Charlie Grainger into an excellent save seven minutes later.
The Darts did get a goal back via Dan Smith’s close-range effort after Olly Box’s initial strike had caused chaos in the host’s defence (69).
Both Jeremiah Pinder (83) and Denzelle Olopade (89) came close to pulling another goal back, but it wasn’t to be as Wingate & Finchley closed ranks to secure the win in what was a disappointing afternoon in London for the Darts.
With little time to rest, Michael Olarewaju and Co will dust themselves down and go again on Tuesday night, where they’ll look to respond away at Cheshunt.
WINGATE & FINCHLEY: Charlie Grainger, Mackye Townsend-West, Billy Cracknell (c), Sam Cornish, Ryan Lowe, Camilo Restrepo, Romeo Akinola, Stefan Ilic, Rhamar Garrett-Douglas, Kyron Horsley-McKay, Afi Adebayo.
SUBSTITUTES: Casey Shann, Abube Onuchukwu, Zach Newton, Remy-Lee Bennison, Ayyuba Jembang.
DARTFORD: Jonny Henly, Sam Odaudu, Michael Olarewaju (c), Joe Tennent, Samuel Okoye, Denzelle Olopade, Sammie McLeod, Dan Carter, Rohan Vaughan, Eddie Dsane, Dan Smith.
SUBSTITUTES: George Whitefield, Callum Jones, Olly Box, Luther Williams, Jeremiah Pinder.
Chris Palmer