STONES TRY AGAIN AFTER RED CARD FOR COX
WEALDSTONE FC’s Ciaron Brown is focused on doing it all over again tonight.
A red card for Sam Cox put paid to any chance of the Stones winning through to the first round of the FA Trophy on Saturday, as Bobby Wilkinson’s side were held to a 1-1 draw by Chelmsford City.
And Brown, who returned to the team at the weekend, said: “We dominated the first half and in the second it looked like we were getting on the front foot until a decision that could have gone either way unfortunately ended with Coxy being sent off. That killed the game for us, we tried to defend our lead and couldn’t.
“We just have to go again and I do fancy us. The manager always tells us ‘be confident, go into the game wanting to win’ and that’s what we’re going to do.”
Kick-off was delayed for ten minutes on Saturday due to Chelmsford fans and players being stuck in traffic on the M25 and their disrupted build-up showed as Wealdstone were on top in the first half.
The powerful Mustafa Tiryaki offered the first warning to the visitors when he chested and volleyed Ryan Sellers’ cross at Sam Beasant from the edge of the box after seven minutes.
Abobaker Eisa then made one of his trademark runs, beating Mark Haines and Luke Daley before his low cross almost forced Michael Spillane to fire into his own net.
And on 33 minutes the Stones took a richly-deserved lead. Danny Green’s corner was met by a thunderous header by Tiryaki, opening the Turkish forward’s account for Wealdstone.
Beasant did well to deny Eisa minutes later after Green had played a quick free-kick to the forward that caught Chelmsford’s defence napping.
Then, in the 59th minute, the game turned. Cox nipped Chris Dickson with the slightest of touches and, already on a booking, referee Will Finnie became sur- rounded by ten Chelmsford players and showed Cox a second yellow.
The Stones continued to offer a goal threat on the break and from set-pieces, with Beasant doing well to deny Eisa and Luke Williams.
The red card however, allowed Clarets boss Rod Stringer to make more attacking substitutions and the visitors scored through a combination of two of the replacements.
Chelmsford’s Daniel Green put in an inch-perfect cross for Shaun Batt, who nodded past Jonathan North with ten minutes to go to send the tie to a replay.
The rematch takes place at Chelmsford’s Melbourne Stadium tonight (ko 7.30pm).