Rushden & Higham 0 W&F 10

Wingate & Finchley made the long trip up to Northampton to face Rushden & Higham FC, and returned to London in style, running out 10-0 winners. Ola Williams, Ryan Sellers and Ahmet Rifat made their first starts in pre-season with half a dozen first team players missing. The Blues broke the deadlock on 12 minutes as Rob Hastings burst down the right wing and played the ball cross the six yard box for Reece Beckles to tap in. Just over 10 minutes later, it was 2-0 and Beckles turned provider. His burst down the right allowed him to square the ball to Steve Wales, who stabbed home at the second time of asking. On the stroke of half time, Wingate made it 3-0 as Beckles received the ball inside the area of a ricochet and slammed the ball in at the near post underneath the keeper. The second half saw relentless pressure from the Blues, with new goalkeeper Shane Gore having a handful of touches of the ball. Within 15 minutes of the restart Ahmet Rifat's header in midfield fell to Hastings, who ran in and finished across a depleted Rushden goalkeeper. A minute later Tanashe Abrahams burst down the left, squared to Hastings who finished into the top corner from yards out. And Wingate's persistence continued to pay off as three minutes later, Abrahams stole the ball off a tired defence and finished at the near post for 6-0. Wingate's fans were forced to wait an arduous three minutes for the next goal, and it arrived in comedic style. Rushden's goalkeeper and centre back collided in the area and the ball floated to the head of Hastings who headed into an empty net. The eighth came five minutes later, in the 72nd minute, as Tarum Dawkins ran across the box and played in Hastings, who beat the offside trap and finished into the bottom corner. The penultimate goal came on the 80th minute as a poor clearance from a Joe Sharpe corner fell straight to Dawkins, who rifled his effort into the top corner. The win was wrapped up with three minutes to go as Sharpe's cross field ball found Dawkins, who played in Sellers, and the former Wycombe man's cross eventually fell to Abrahams who fired home and completed Rushden's misery. The performance will prove to be a confidence boost ahead of Monday's home game against Maidenhead United. Lineup: Gore, Ola Williams, Sellers, Cronin, Mbamarah, Rifat, Wales, Ifil, Beckles, Hastings, Dawkins. Subs: T Smith, Abrahams, Stevenson, Sharpe. Report by Nikhil Saglani