Match Preview
Next up - Wingate & Finchley home on Saturday, 12th November at Wodson Park, SG12 0UQ, Buildbase FA Trophy 2nd Qualifying Round. Kick off 3pm.
With the youth team's glorious run in the FA Youth Cup now at an end attention switches back to the first team and their chances in the FA Trophy. We have home advantage but face a strong Wingate & Finchley team who currently sit in 11th place in the premier division table.
Last Saturday they lost 3-1 at Bognor Regis who by virtue of that win then went top of the premier division but on Tuesday they won 3-2 at home to FA Cup heroes Merstham. They claimed the points thanks to Reece Beckles-Richards' second goal of the night with just four minutes to go. By my calculations that goal made Beckles-Richards their top scorer this season, one ahead of former Ware man Billy Healey.
Our opponents reached this stage of the competition with a 2-0 home win over Grays Athletic (twice winners of the Trophy) in a replay after a 1-1 draw on the day we were winning through at VCD Athletic. This is their fifth time in the 2nd Qualifying Round (including once as Finchley in 1975) but they have only once progressed beyond that beating Sutton United on penalties in a replay in 2008 before losing to Farnborough Town in the 1st Round proper.
We too have only reached the 3rd qualifying stage once though on that occasion (1979/80), having progressed through three previous rounds and scoring seven goals without conceding at all, we lost 1-0 at Hertford who went on to beat Slough and then lose in the 2nd Round at Dulwich Hamlet.
A poster for this match is available here.
Our ten latest matches against Wingate & Finchley:-
| 23 February 2008 | Isthmian League Division 1 (N) | H | 3 | 1 | Frendo 3 |
| 4 October 2008 | FA Trophy Preliminary Rd | A | 1 | 2 | S Berry |
| 29 November 2008 | Isthmian League Division 1 (N) | A | 1 | 1 | Doku |
| 25 April 2009 | Isthmian League Division 1 (N) | H | 1 | 0 | Smith |
| 27 October 2009 | Isthmian League Division 1 (N) | H | 0 | 1 | |
| 20 February 2010 | Isthmian League Division 1 (N) | A | 1 | 3 | Buglione |
| 21 August 2010 | Isthmian League Division 1 (N) | H | 0 | 0 | |
| 15 January 2011 | Isthmian League Division 1 (N) | A | 2 | 0 | S Berry, Karagul |
| 11 August 2012 | Friendly | A | 2 | 2 | Wyllie 2 (2 pens.) |
| 1 August 2015 | Friendly | H | 1 | 2 | DaCosta (pen.) |
Our best and worst against Wingate & Finchley:-
| 30 January 2001 | Isthmian League Division 3 | A | 6 | 1 | Crace 2, Hatherley, Jones, Bishop, Beatty |
| 20 February 2010 | Isthmian League Division 1 (N) | A | 1 | 3 | Buglione |
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