By Noah Bercott
On a sunny bank holiday afternoon, Wingate and Finchley were to find they could not continue their brilliant goalscoring form from the opening four matches, with a lack of composure, and luck, in front of goal proving our downfall against a clinical Potters Bar side.
Ahmet Rifat made a few changes to the side that won at Canvey Island, while Potters Bar were unchanged from their win over Hastings on Saturday. An energised Wingate side looked to be dominating in the first 10 minutes or so with chances as early as the 5th minute, from Georgiou shooting straight at the keeper making him perform an impressive point blank save, before further chances in qucik succession in the 12th and 13th minutes involving Oladipo and Frempah. With Potters Bar already being put under pressure it did not look like it was going to be a comfortable afternoon for the away side. However just a minute later, they struck gold, Billy Cracknell making an excellent last ditch challenge leading to a corner which the clinical veteran striker Steve Cawley converted to take his tally to five goals in five matches for the Scholars.
The next 15 minutes were not as eventful as the fans would have hoped, with the Blues unable to strike back. A penalty handball appeal from the Blues was turned down and some uneventful corners from the away side. However, from the 30th minute onwards Wingate star men Ayo Tanimowo and Zack Newton both looked dangerous at every opportunity, but struggled to put it away in the final third. This would later go on to be the main theme of Wingate’s performance.
As the first half reached its conclusion, Wingate & Finchley would then have one more chance to capitalise on Potters Bar’s poor defending, with Rhamar Garrett-Douglas dispossessing the potters bar defender and passing it to Destiny Oladipo, only for it to be intercepted before he could find the end product.
Potters Bar made the first substitution of the match in the 45 minutes with number 17 Max Jessop coming on to replace Calvin Ekpiteta. As soon as the whistle for the second half was blown it was clear that Potters Bar were under a lot of pressure from Wingate, having no chances and minimal possession for the first 25 minutes, with Wingate looking dangerous on the ball. Then in the 59th minute Potters Bar number 1 denied Wingate once again with an incredible save from a long-range effort at goal outside the box.
Seconds later Wingate had a great chance with Georgiou breaking from midfield to pass it to Ayo who then hit the post, again the ball not quite falling to Oladipo on the rebound. Two minutes later Wingate were given another golden chance with Zack Newton charging down the right and finding Arthur Lontton who shot well over the bar.
After yet another fantastic chance for the hosts, Potters Bar then added to Wingate’s misery by doubling their lead. Through Bar number 14 Thomas Avgoustidis who slotted in from a rebound off the post in the 89th minute, shattering any hope of a Wingate comeback.
Wingate & Finchley did continue their habit of scoring in every game, thanks to a late goal from Ryan Lowe, his second of the season, fired it into the bottom right corner after the ball fell to him in the last action of the match to end the game 2-1 to Potters Bar.
Wingate & Finchley: Grainger; Cracknell; Byron; Iontton (Deslandes 78'); Frempah; Lowe; Garrett-Douglas (O'Donoghue 72'); Georgiou; Newton (Webb 86'); Oladipo (Obi 66'); Tanimowo Unused sub: Burzycki
Attendance: 347
Our next game comes in the FA Cup against Thame United, with a few weeks gap until our next home match, against Chichester City on 21st September. In the meantime, the FA Youth Cup is at the Maurice Rebak Stadium on 4th September with Romford U18s the visitors.
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