Wingate & Finchley kicked off their busy October with a disappointing result against Bury Town at the weekend; Tuesday night’s Velocity Trophy fixture presents an opportunity to bounce back and build some momentum in a vital few weeks for the club’s season.
The Blues are entering the Trophy at the 3rd round stage, where last season they fell to a 3-2 defeat away at Hullbridge Sports. Meanwhile, Potters Bar reached the final of the competition last season before falling 3-0 to National League South-bound Aveley.
Our opponents
Potters Bar will need little introduction to most Blues fans, being less than 10 miles north of Summers Lane and a regular fixture in the Isthmian Premier League over the last few years. Last season they finished 13th (3 places and 5 points ahead of the Blues) after a very strong start where they occupied a play-off position before Christmas before falling away in the second half of the season. They are currently sat 20th in the league table with 6 points from their first 10 games, although the club has seen a number of new faces join throughout the season so far as they look to improve their fortunes on the pitch.
Head To Head
Last season, Wingate & Finchley managed to secure the double over Potters Bar, with a Dylan Kearney brace proving too much for the visitors at the Maurice Rebak in April, while in January we won by the same scoreline at The Lantern Stadium thanks to goals from loanee Ansu Janneh and a Dernell Wynter rocket.
We last faced each other in the Velocity Trophy back in 2017 where Luke Ifil scored a late winner and he will be hoping to do the same again on Tuesday night.
Last Time Out
Both sides’ most recent fixtures came in the FA Trophy 3rd qualifying round. Our 1-0 defeat at the hands of Bury Town on Saturday will be fresh in the minds of the side that will be looking to make amends in the Velocity Cup. Ahmet Rifat did not hide his disappointment at during his post-match interview and so it sets up Tuesday's cup tie fantastically.
Potters Bar on the other hand had their best result of the season on Friday night with a 4-1 victory against fellow Step 3 side Berkhamsted. New signing Temi Babalola bagged a first half hat-trick to ensure that they came out victorious despite Berkhamsted taking an early lead in the fixture.
Players To Watch
Forward Jardel Adeyinka had to wait a few weeks for his Wingate & Finchley debut but has provided a lively impetus to the frontline in his few cameo appearances in recent weeks and will be pushing to start against Potters Bar.
For the visitors, clearly new signing Temi Babalola is one to watch after scoring a hat-trick in the first half on Friday, while he is not the only Scholar with a 45 minute hat-trick for Potters Bar this season with Brandon Adams also scoring three in the first half against Folkestone Invicta recently.
Tickets are £12 (£8 for concessions, and FREE for U18s), and we look forward to welcoming you to watch knockout competition football in a local derby. Come on you Blues!
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