Wingate & Finchley’s number 10, Antonis Vasiliou, continued his fine goalscoring exploits as the Blues saw off Carshalton Athletic by three goals to nil, at the Maurice Rebak Stadium on Tuesday night.
A first 25 minutes, completely devoid of action, was quickly forgotten when, in what can only be described as a stroke of luck, a calamitous Carshalton clearance hit the back of the net and put Ahmet Rifat’s team a goal infront.
The own goal, quite honestly, proved to be the only action of the first half. The visitors tried to find an equaliser, only for a severely stubborn Wingate defence preventing them at every opportunity.
Wingate headed in at the break, a goal to the good. However, they were still yet to break into second gear. Their engine hadn’t even been revved up, whatsoever.
To start the second period, half-chances seemed to come and go every few moments for the Blues. They seemed to have returned to the filed all guns blazing, a glorious sight to behold.
Eventually, the second goal came when Antonis Vasiliou slotted home from close range to double the hosts’ lead and add to his recently impressive goalscoring tally.
Minutes on from that, the Cypriot added his second and Wingate’s third of the night. This was Vasiliou’s fourth goal in the space of just ten days.
A flurry of late chances arose for Rifat’s men who kept on gunning for a fourth. Substitutes Sammy Ompreon and Dernell Wynter came close to striking goal but Carshalton keeper, Danny Bracken, limited the damage against the Robins.
Referee Harrison Blair signalled for Full-Time and, with that, continued Wingate’s highly entertaining winning run at their (recently) ‘Home Sweet Home’ in N12.
On Saturday afternoon, 14th-placed Bognor Regis Town visit Finchley. The Rocks are very much a team who score (and concede) goals for absolute fun!
As for Wingate & Finchley, an extremely reasonable 10 points out of a possible 15 in recent weeks has certainly restored some parity within their current Isthmian Premier Division campaign!
By Aaron Toubian