Wellington Amateurs 1 – 1 Stone Old Alleynians, WMRL Premier Division, 23rd August
The Alleynians earned their first point of the season with a hard-fought draw away to Wellington Amateurs in Telford on Saturday.
Danny Heard’s first-half strike gave the Old Boys the lead, but the hosts hit back with a 70th minute header to earn a share of the spoils.
“It was good to get off the mark with our first point,” said Old Boys manager Matt Smith. “We were the better side and had some good opportunities at 1-0, but but didn’t quite have the composure in the final third to pick the right pass and kill them off. It was a very positive performance and we will take that into our next game and build on it. We still have over ten first team players unavailable so hopefully we can bolster the squad and kick on in the coming weeks, but the lads that came in today were excellent and have created competition for places.”
A late reshuffle prior to kick-off saw Ollie Davies left on the bench still feeling the effects of a chest infection, and several reserve team players featured in an Old Boys squad that was looking to bounce back from three consecutive league defeats.
The Old Boys started the livelier and could have gone ahead through George Askey, whose glancing header was ruled out for offside midway through the first half as the Old Boys asserted their dominance in possession. Luke Askey then had a great opportunity to test the goalkeeper with a free-kick 25 yards from goal, but sent his effort high and wide.
Heard and Callum Moloney combined well in midfield, Heard in particular finding joy on the ball as he linked up with Sam Wilson to send the latter clean through on goal, but the jinking midfielder rolled a tame effort straight at the goalkeeper.
Heard took matters into his own hands shortly before half time, as a Paul Griffiths corner was headed back across goal by Luke Askey, Heard pouncing on the loose ball to volley home from close range and give the visitors a deserved lead.
The scorching afternoon heat influenced a drop in the pace of the game as the second half got underway, but it was still the Alleynians who looked favourites to add to the scoring as Griffiths and Heard both went close with distance efforts.
The Old Boys were made to rue their inability to add to their lead with 70 minutes on the clock though, as the home side eventually had some joy in front of goal and levelled from a well worked corner kick. An excellent delivery was met by a Wellington attacker who stole a march on Askey to power his header down and into the goal for the equaliser.
As the clock ticked down the Alleynians pushed for a winner, and substitute Carl Dibden went close with a driven effort that the goalkeeper was equal to.
A late Alleynians corner then almost proved the undoing of the visitors as a Wellington counter attack sent a forward clean through on goal, only for Old Boys goalkeeper Atilla Zerikoglu to stand his ground and save the Stone side a point.
There was time for one last Alleynians attack, as Dickie Hewitt marauded forward down the right flank, latching onto Dibden’s cut-back only to see his effort blocked before Adam Heath blazed the rebound over the bar.
[box type=”info” align=”aligncenter” ]Stone OA: Zerikoglu, Hewitt, L Askey, Smith, Taylor, Heard, Moloney (Heath), Griffiths (c), Wilson, Thorley, G Askey (Dibden)[/box]
There are lots more match photos HERE
