Wingate and Finchley 2 - 2 Corinthian-Casuals
Isthmian League Premier Division
Saturday 28th August 2021
Report and Photos: Stuart Tree (full set of pictures here)
It was Corinthian-Casuals best result at Wingate and Finchley for years but James Bracken will feel aggrieved with not taking all three points home following a stellar first half performance.
A brace from Warren Mfula inside the first half put Casuals in the driving seat for their first win of the season but were pegged back by their hosts with just six minutes remaining.
Casuals had the better of the attacking play in the first period with the front three of Mfula, Kieron Cadogan and Ben Cheklit regularly slicing through the Wingate back line. A great ball to Mfula saw the striker calmly finish from 15 yards to give Corinth the lead within quarter of an hour.
Fifteen minutes later and Mfula was once again on hand to race through and put a second past Fergal Hale-Brown in the Wingate goal (see photo above).
The game could’ve been put to bed just before the break when once again, Mfula had broken through latching onto another delightful ball only for this occasion to see his shot saved by Hale-Brown. Had that chance been taken and Wingate would’ve faced an almost insurmountable task in getting back into the game.
As such with football, the third goal is always the key; Casuals could’ve easily snatched one early on in the second half. Again, penetration into the Wingate box was frequent, just the defending was more resolute. Elliott Bolton’s rasper of a shot was well tipped over the bar by the increasingly busy Hale Brown.
But Wingate struck back with a fine goal of their own. Bilal Sayoud placed his header from a cross perfectly into the bottom corner past a despairing Danny Bracken.
And that’s when it all started to shift in momentum. It wasn’t helped when Casuals lost Michael Abnett through injury only for Hakeem Adelakun, his replacement, to also be subbed off just ten minutes after coming on, again through injury. This forced players to be shifted out of position and gave Wingate even more impetus to mount a challenge.
It all went wrong for Casuals with just six minutes remaining. A failed roulette turn by Will Efambe was seized upon by Wingate who capitalised – Danny Bracken saved well from the original shot but Jack Strange’s clearance hammered into Darnell Goather-Braithwaite and as such with bad luck, flew into the back of the net.
It could’ve gotten worse for Casuals, who were hanging on by the end. Bracken collided with Coskun Ekim, allowing Wingate through on a keeperless goal but the final shot was deflected over by an unnamed Casuals rear-end. And Bracken pulled off an outstanding save to ensure it wasn’t an entirely fruitless afternoon.
Certainly a ‘game of two halves’ Casuals will need to put in more of their first half performance and less of their second half effort if they’re to get points out of Monday.
Isthmian League Premier Division
Saturday 28th August 2021
Report and Photos: Stuart Tree (full set of pictures here)
It was Corinthian-Casuals best result at Wingate and Finchley for years but James Bracken will feel aggrieved with not taking all three points home following a stellar first half performance.
A brace from Warren Mfula inside the first half put Casuals in the driving seat for their first win of the season but were pegged back by their hosts with just six minutes remaining.
Casuals had the better of the attacking play in the first period with the front three of Mfula, Kieron Cadogan and Ben Cheklit regularly slicing through the Wingate back line. A great ball to Mfula saw the striker calmly finish from 15 yards to give Corinth the lead within quarter of an hour.
Fifteen minutes later and Mfula was once again on hand to race through and put a second past Fergal Hale-Brown in the Wingate goal (see photo above).
The game could’ve been put to bed just before the break when once again, Mfula had broken through latching onto another delightful ball only for this occasion to see his shot saved by Hale-Brown. Had that chance been taken and Wingate would’ve faced an almost insurmountable task in getting back into the game.
As such with football, the third goal is always the key; Casuals could’ve easily snatched one early on in the second half. Again, penetration into the Wingate box was frequent, just the defending was more resolute. Elliott Bolton’s rasper of a shot was well tipped over the bar by the increasingly busy Hale Brown.
But Wingate struck back with a fine goal of their own. Bilal Sayoud placed his header from a cross perfectly into the bottom corner past a despairing Danny Bracken.
And that’s when it all started to shift in momentum. It wasn’t helped when Casuals lost Michael Abnett through injury only for Hakeem Adelakun, his replacement, to also be subbed off just ten minutes after coming on, again through injury. This forced players to be shifted out of position and gave Wingate even more impetus to mount a challenge.
It all went wrong for Casuals with just six minutes remaining. A failed roulette turn by Will Efambe was seized upon by Wingate who capitalised – Danny Bracken saved well from the original shot but Jack Strange’s clearance hammered into Darnell Goather-Braithwaite and as such with bad luck, flew into the back of the net.
It could’ve gotten worse for Casuals, who were hanging on by the end. Bracken collided with Coskun Ekim, allowing Wingate through on a keeperless goal but the final shot was deflected over by an unnamed Casuals rear-end. And Bracken pulled off an outstanding save to ensure it wasn’t an entirely fruitless afternoon.
Certainly a ‘game of two halves’ Casuals will need to put in more of their first half performance and less of their second half effort if they’re to get points out of Monday.
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