It took a 92nd minute equaliser from defender Ayo Tanimowo to ensure that Wingate & Finchley took a point against newly promoted side Chichester City in a first ever clash between the two teams at the Maurice Rebak Stadium on Saturday.
On a day that may well have seen the last good weather for a while, and a day where the club’s principal sponsor, FreshAir were at the stadium celebrating their 50th anniversary, the football on the pitch got off to a slow and steady start, with both teams taking time to get into their rhythm. Both of these sides had failed to keep a clean sheet in any of their previous six league appearances, so it was surely a matter of time before the near 200 in attendance saw a goal in North London. The Blues had made just one change to their starting XI from the midweek FA Cup exit; new signing Jaiden Drakes-Thomas coming into the midfield in place of Arthur Iontton who went off injured on Tuesday night.
In the opening half hour, Blues midfielder Andronicos Georgiou had a couple of good long-range strikes, one whistling over the crossbar and the other forcing a good save from visiting keeper Kieran Magee. The best chance of the first half came for the Blues, as Tanimowo beat his man down the left flank and his deep cross found Rhamar Garrett-Douglas at the back post whose first-time volley was well saved by Magee in the Chichester goal. The game remained goalless as the half time whistle was blown, although the home side were starting to assert their dominance.
In the second half, it was the visitors who came out stronger and they missed the chance of the game within ten minutes of the restart. An excellent long-range strike looked destined for the top corner but hit the angle of the post and crossbar, falling to Chichester’s striker Jimmy Wild who, with eight goals already this season, and with just an open goal in front of him from six yards, you would bet on him putting the visitors ahead, but he blazed his chance over the crossbar and into the neighbouring field. The Blues attempted to capitalise on this miss with good chances for Georgiou again, and Zack Newton, but the visitors did take the lead on the hour mark, with Jimmy Wild using all of his height advantage to get ahead of the Blues defence and nod past Charlie Grainger in the home goal.
As the final half an hour continued, the visitors looked to take the sting out of the game, while Blues manager Ahmet Rifat made a host of changes to try and influence the game, which looked to be leading to a disappointing home defeat until the second minute of additional time, when Billy Cracknell intercepted a Chichester pass high up the pitch, Georgiou played an instinctive pass to the right side where Tanimowo took a couple of neat touches to control, bring the ball inside an unleash an unstoppable strike with his left foot into the top left corner from 25 yards.
Ultimately, a draw was probably a fair result, which leaves Wingate & Finchley 16th in the table with eight points from seven games and the Blues will look to improve in their next fixture, a tricky away clash at Dover Athletic on Saturday 27th.
Grainger, Cracknell, Byron, Achuba, Webb, Drakes-Thomas (Talla 85’), Garrett-Douglas (Hernandez 68’), Georgiou (Frempah 90’), Obi (Oladipo 76’), Newton (Roberts 68’), Tanimowo.
Photos courtesy of Martin Addison.
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