Aveley got off to a flying start however, when Jarreau McCarthy broke through in the first minute and forced an excellent save from Glen Johnson. The rebound fell back to McCarthy and with the goal gaping he could only find the post. The first half was a scrappy affair with both sides being restricted to shots from distance. Wingate & Finchley’s Elvis Balic tested the Aveley keeper with a solid drive from 30 yards, whilst Ainsley Gasper flashed wildly at the other end when he should have done better.

Balic should have given the visitors the lead with a golden chance on the half hour mark. A cross from Denis Paratusic fell to Calvin Petrie at the far post and his shot was well blocked by the keeper. The ball perfectly to Balic inside the 6 yard box but he somehow managed to spoon the ball onto the crossbar when it was easier to score.

The half time deadlock was a fair reflection of the game, but the visitors came out with all guns blazing in the second half and controlled the majority of possession. The deserved breakthrough came 12 minutes in with Joe O’Brien’s second long distance goal of the week. Petrie and Balic were involved in the neat build-up on the left side, the ball was squared to O’Brien in a central position outside the box and he struck the ball sweetly over the keeper and into the roof of the net.

Darren Assiamah came very close with a left-footed drive that just missed the top right corner with the keeper beaten, and Billy Amarteifio had a free header from a corner but could only head wide. For all of Wingate & Finchley’s dominance they could only muster a one goal lead, and the game changed when substitutions were enforced due to the hard-working O’Brien and Daniel Clarke needing a much deserved rest.

With two minutes remaining a quick break from Aveley resulted in another good save from Glen Johnson, but the ball fell to Shahed Ahmed who coolly slotted under the keeper to level the scores. Aveley almost stole all three points in injury time when the woodwork was struck for a third time in the game – Ainsley Gasper the unlucky man when his lob rebounded off the crossbar.

Manager Adam Lee was left bitterly disappointed, “After a slow start we came back into the game and then totally controlled the second half. After scoring a great goal through Joe O’Brien we had another couple of great chances to score the 2nd goal that we needed but the boys got tired – made one mistake, and dropped two points.”

Wingate & Finchley: Glenn Johnson, Denis Paratusic, Guy Helman, Darren Assiamah, Billy Amarteifio, Shola Oyedele, Joe O’Brien (Jamie Hazell 84), Elvis Balic, Tashan Bradshaw-Brown, Daniel Clarke (Jerome Boyce 77), Nathan Eno (Calvin Petrie 28). Subs: Marc Weatherstone, Daniel Anfossy.