Wingate & Finchley made their first appearance of the new season at the Abrahams Stadium welcoming Nationwide Conference side Grays Athletic. Both sides were looking at potential players for the new season as well as fielding their top stars which made for an open game. It was home keeper Ed Thompson who produce the first save of the night saving very well under pressure before at the Summers Lane end of the ground a quick corner between Daniel Stanton and Anthony Limbrick ended with a cross to the far post which was headed down to Ahmet Rifat whose scorching shot was well saved by the Grays Keeper. Further chances fell both sides way but the game remained goalless at half time. Wingate and Finchley made numerous changes at the interval and looked dangerous but with Grays introducing former Spurs player Jamie Slabber, Lee Boylan from Canvey Island and Aaron Mclean to the action the home defence was tested but stood up exceedingly well and were unfortunate when a cross was headed down for JAMIE SLABBER to score the only goal of the game.

After the match Coach Michael Stone reflected on the performance saying “I am very pleased with the application from the team. All the players gave a good account of themselves against a team playing in a much higher league and in full time training. We are looking much fitter and out match sharpness is getting better. We now have to make sure that in every game we keep getting stronger so that come August 19 we are fully prepared for our first game.

WINGATE & FINCHLEY (from):- Ed Thompson; Craig Ellis; Billy Amarteifio; Guy Helman; David Lovell; Simon Patterson; Craig Scotcher; Darren Assiamah; Jonathan Ellis; Jirka Houdek; Safraz Pivano; Daniel Stanton; Danilson Vicete; Leon Fisher; Danny Berg; Jake Gottlieb; Anthony Limbrick; Jon Nichols; Ahmet Rifat; Adam Stolerman; Dean Williams; Leon Fisher.