Hadley Wood & Wingate 4 - 0 Hatfield Town

By Andy Gerlis

Hadley Wood and Wingate secured their first win of 2017 with a 4-0 thrashing at home to Hatfield Town.

Goals from Muyiwa Osenie, Vassili Mandeville and an own goal from Gregor McIntosh gave the Blues a three goal lead by the end of the first half.

The second was a more subdued affair, but Ned Clarke scored the fourth on his debut to cap off a well-drilled performance from another young Hadley Wood squad.

The result also means Wingate have recorded their first clean sheet since gaining promotion to the Spartan South Midlands Division One last season.

The Blues were ahead after just five minutes when Osenie forced goalkeeper Kieron Extence into a rash clearance, cannoning the ball off the striker and allowing him to roll it into an empty net.

At the other end, Ross Weinrabe’s positioning had to be good to thwart Jack Sheldrake and Steve Newton.

But the Blues’ lead was doubled when McIntosh diverted Tarum Dawkins’ cross past his own goalkeeper after 15 minutes.

Hatfield began to grow into the game and Weinrabe made a good double save before Darren O’Brien fired a shot into the side netting.

But Mandeville swung the momentum back into Wingate’s favour when he tucked Osenie’s cross into the bottom corner to send the Blues into the break 3-0 up.

The weather began to turn after the restart and the football followed suit.

Weinrabe parried a Stefan Saywell shot out for a corner and a deep Hatfield free kick was hacked away as it crept towards the line but there wasn’t much to warm either set of fans up.

With 20 minutes left Osenie contrived to poke a free shot over the bar from six yards out, though there was still time left for the forward to make amends.

10 minutes later his pinpoint cross found Clarke waiting in the box, the striker shifting his weight and tapping the ball back across the goalkeeper to make it 4-0 on his debut.

A lovely sidenote to a fantastic performance from Hadley Wood and Wingate, and one that serves to demonstrate the club’s belief in the development of its players.

Hadley Wood and Wingate: Weinrabe Williams (C) Mead Mandeville Toscani Cazaubon (Tunbridge, 60’) Dawkins Casey Osenie Webb (Clarke, 65’) Dujon (Reynolds, 74’)

Unused sub: Krasniqi

Attendance: 26