Wingate & Finchley secured a league double over relegation-threatened Bowers & Pitsea, with a resounding 6-0 win in Essex on a freezing February afternoon that lifted the Blues into a comfortable mid-table 12th position. The win was effectively sealed after only 18 minutes as the Blues raced into a rapid three goal lead.
Wingate made a commanding start and turned the territorial domination into a goal after only seven minutes; Ogo Obi's early shot was parried by the keeper and Jaiden Drakes-Thomas reacted quickest to reach the ball to accurately volley home from a wide angle. Drakes-Thomas himself was the one who had turned over possession to start the move on the halfway line.
The lead was doubled after quarter of an hour with centre-back Ben Frempah heading home from Ryan Lowe's sumptuous in-swinging cross. The third goal to seal the win came after 18 minutes as Lowe won the ball high up the pitch, fed Theo Alexandrou down the left who in turn found Ogo Obi who completed with a calm finish from six yards.
After a brief lull in proceedings, the blue touch paper was relit when the fourth goal was scored in the 41st minute. Lowe again won the ball high up the pitch, and two passes later he had laid Drakes-Thomas through on goal where he made no mistake.
The fifth goal came in the 43rd minute as Frempah scored with a commanding header directly from a corner, reminiscent of his first and clearly exploiting a defensive weakness. In first-half stoppage time Lowe arrowed a shot against the upright leaving the goal count at 5 at the break.
Five minutes after the interval Alexandrou completed the rout with his first goal for the club, and arguably the most eye-catching goal of the match, latching on to a beautiful through-ball by Lowe and arrowing a shot into the top-right corner.
That was only in the 50th minute, and the tempo slowed for the rest of the game as Wingate & Finchley continued to dominate and had time to miss a few less clear-cut chances whilst seeing out the win in a risk-free manner.
Wingate & Finchley: Salamon, Garrett-Douglas, Hernandez (Tanimowo 58'), Cracknell, Frempah, Watt (Keller 68’), Georgiou, Lowe, Obi (Newton 77'), Drakes-Thomas (Bello 62'), Alexandrou.
Unused Subs: Restrepo
Attendance: 249
Photos courtesy of Martin Addison. Match report by Paul Lerman
Hear from manager Ahmet Rifat on Saturday's huge win below:
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