Wingate & Finchley's impressive FA Youth Cup run came to an end on Tuesday night against a strong Burgess Hill side who always just held the upper hand. The Blues had the better of the early exchanges with Charlie Waite flashing a header wide after 18 minutes, and Josh Goldstein firing a shot past the post a few minutes later. Goldstein had another opportunity a few minutes later, knocking wide from a few yards out after good home pressure. Despite this, Burgess Hill looked the more threatening in the final third and took the lead on the half hour mark, turning in a cross from two yards out which eluded the Wingate backline. However, as has been shown throughout the Youth Cup campaign, The Blues were more than capable of bouncing back, and ten minutes later Freddie Hill reacted quickest to a long range save from the keeper to head home the equaliser. Unfortunately for the home side the lead didn't last long. On the stroke of half time a brilliant cross from the right was expertly headed in to give Burgess Hill a retrospectively fair lead. It could have been 3-1 seconds later after their striker was put clear on goal, but his effort was well saved by the Blues keeper Ross Weinrabe. HT 1-2 Both sides came out for the second half looking for the goal that could change the momentum of the match, but it wasn't until the 75th minute that it came, and in rather fortuitous circumstances. Wingate's Jamie Nelson collected the ball outside the area and his shot deflected over the stranded keeper to make it 2-2. In truth it was a little against the run of play and the away side finally rubber stamped their superiority with two goals in the final ten minutes. Although Alex Williams pulled one back in injury time with a brilliant half volley to make it 4-3, it was symptomatic of a game that always appeared just out of the Blues' reach.
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