| Wingate & Finchley kept their unbeaten run in 2007 going as they travelled to Wodson Park home of Enfield to be faced by an heavy pitch with the goalmouths very muddy and sticky, a fact that was illustrated just before the break when Dean Williams header stuck in the mud allowing Paul Daley to make a save.
With the conditions as they were this was never going to be a great game as the ball needed to be played with the right weight otherwise it either fell short of the intended target or ran away form the target but it was credit to both sides that they tried to play football. The opening minutes saw both sides trying to assert themselves and an outbreak of handbags at ten paces soon had the referee reaching for his notebook and making the first of six bookings in the game, but things settled it was the Blues who created the opening shot with Chris West laying the ball back to Joe O’Brien whose dipping effort dropped agonisingly over the bar.
The Blues had a further chance to take the lead when a well taken free kick was headed on by Ahmet Rifat to the far post where Dean Williams directed his header downwards only to see the ball stick and Daley saved. On 35 minutes Enfield won a free kick which found JOHN STEPHENS who struck home the first goal conceded by the Blues in 2007. With half time almost reached a superb move from the Blues ended with an O’Brien cross reaching the head of Leon Osei who headed over with the goal begging.
This miss just before the interval did not worry the Blues as two minutes into the second half a corner to the near post allowed DARREN ASSIAMAH to lift the ball over Daley for his second in two games. Jirka Houdek then found himself one on one with Daley but lifted his head as the ball sailed over the bar. Nineteen minutes from time a double substitution saw Bradshaw-Brown and Gradosielski enter the fray and these two combined to release Bradshaw-Brown who was ready to pull the trigger only for a great tackle to clear the ball to safety.
Another point gained by the Blues who welcome AFC Hornchurch to the Abrahams Stadium on Tuesday for what should be a gripping encounter between two sides who give little away at the back.
Wingate & Finchley: Ed Thompson 7; Jirka Houdek
8; Guy Helman 8*; Craig Ellis 7 (Captain); Billy Amarteifio
7; Ahmet Rifat 7; Darren Assiamah 7; Joe O’Brien 7 (Mark Gradosielski 71); Dean Williams
7(Tashan Bradshaw-Brown 71); Chris West 5 ; Leon Osei 6. Subs not Used: Danny Berg; Daniel Stanton; Stephen Badu
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