Times Sport
Wingate & Finchley held to draw at Leatherhead
12:41pm Wednesday 22nd February 2012
Wingate & Finchley manager David Norman will surely see last night's 2-2 draw at Leatherhead as two points dropped after eight second-half minutes saw his team concede twice in a game they otherwise dominated for long spells.
Norman named the same starting XI for the second game running but the first chance of the game fell to Leatherhead's Harry Ottaway when the striker was seemingly clean through on goal, only for Bobby Aisien to use his strength and pace to dispossess the front man and clear to safety.
Wingate started well, with some nice neat touch-and-go passing involving Gazmend Dauti, Ola Williams and Leon Smith down the right just failing to create an opening as full-back Williams' cross just missed its target and sailing over the bar.
But the visitors took a deserved lead in the 11th minute when midfielder Dauti picked out striker David Laird, who turned on a sixpence and produced an outstanding lobbed finish to leave keeper Chico Ramos stranded.
Wingate captain Marc Weatherstone showed his defensive instinct to head clear two corners in quick succession as the home side looked to respond to falling behind. Weatherstone’s central defensive partner, Aisien, also had to be alert to stop the lively Ottaway from a clean strike at goal.
Ross Parmenter had a speculative effort from the corner of the 18-yard area well turned around the post in the 21st minute as Wingate again took control of proceedings.
Leon Smith should have doubled the away side's advantage as the striker latched onto a flick from strike partner Laird but the forward's low shot was deflected just past the post.
Bobby Smith showed good awareness between the posts as the largely untroubled goalkeeper was alert to stop a sweetly-struck Vernon Francis volley from the edge of the area.
The goalkeeper reacted quickly just moments later as the lively Ottaway found himself through on goal. Smith stayed big until the final moment and denied the striker with a fine save down to his left.
Just before half-time, Williams was lucky to get away with what appeared to be a handball inside the box when the defender's hand seemed to stop Mu Maan's cross from making its way across goal. The referee waved away the appeals and Wingate took their one-goal lead into the break.
Leatherhead made two changes at half-time, bringing on Kev Terry and Elliot Thompson on either wing to replace the ineffective Thomas Bunt and Maan.
The changes had the desired effect as Leatherhead scored twice in the opening seven minutes of the second half to completely turn the game on its head.
The first goal came as Wingate striker Leon Smith gave away a free-kick on the edge of his own box just two minutes after the restart. Mark Simmons whipped in the resulting set piece and Ottaway powered a header in from six yards to level.
Just four minutes later Terry played a one-two with Ottaway and produced an unstoppable right-footed finish into the roof of the net.
Wingate started to come back into the game towards the hour-mark, with Leon Smith and Laird starting to get involved once more. Dauti had a goal-bound shot blocked as the visitors started to move the ball around as they had in the first half.
With just over an hour played, Leon Smith produced a wonderful equaliser as he volleyed into the bottom corner after some neat footwork from Laird gave him the space to pick out his strike partner.
Tony Burke was next to try his luck as the winger attempted to test the keeper from all of 35 yards from a set piece but the ambitious effort sailed over the bar.
In the 72nd minute, Wingate won another free-kick at the edge of the box. This time Gary Burrell stepped up and his curling effort from 25 yards looked to be a routine catch for Ramos but the goalkeeper was lucky to see the ball trickle wide as he let it slip through his fingers.
Ramos looked a lot more assured as he tipped a stinging Dauti volley over the bar when a yard either side of the keeper would have seen Wingate take a deserved lead with a little under ten minutes to go.
The game ebbed and flowed in the closing stages, with neither side creating any real scoring opportunities. Referee Peter Georgiou booked both Aisien and Tommy Hutchings in added time for what looked like a simple case of two players running into each other.
There was time for one more effort from Finchley when Burrell did superbly to get to the bye-line and pull the ball back to the edge of the six-yard box but Leatherhead defender Coyle intercepted and cleared.
Leatherhead: Ramos, Andrew, Gross, Coyle, Dean, Brunt (Thompson 46), Francis, Simmons, Ottaway, Hutchings, Maan (Terry 46). Not used: Hill, Richmond and Diedhiou.
Wingate & Finchley: B Smith, M Weatherstone, Street, Parmenter, Williams, Aisien, Burke (Fisher 78), Dauti (Mitchell 81), L Smith, Laird, Burrell. Not used: Fowler, Nielsen and Douglas.