National League
Forest Green Rovers 2
(Doidge 2, May 6,)
Wealdstone 2
(McFarlane 43, 89 )
Ebullient Wealdstone boss Matty Taylor lauded his side after they pegged-back a two-goal deficit at title favourites Forest Green.
Callum McFarlane’s last-gasp strike handed the Stones a last-gasp point after first-half goals from Rovers’ Christian Doidge and Adam May had earlier given the Gloucestershire side a flying start.
McFarlane made a fist of it for the Stones just before the break and then helped himself to a second on 89 minutes to claim a share of the spoils.
Stones’ boss Taylor felt the turning point in the match was a 20th minute injury to his keeper Archie Matthews, who was forced off with a dislocated shoulder. “We started the game terribly and I was fearing the worst,” bemoaned Taylor.”
Picture gallery by Peter Barnes
“After 10-12 minutes we were 2-0 down, both avoidable from our perspective. And then Archie (Matthews) ends up dislocating his shoulder, but the eight minute break gave me a chance to get the players in, and from that point moved the ball with such an intensity and we’ve come to arguably the team with the biggest budget in the league and dominated the ball and this now has to be the start of us picking up points.”
Earlier, Forest Green hit their straps inside 90 seconds – Jamie Robson clipping a cross onto the head of Doidge, who bagged his sixth goal of the season.
Rovers’ goal avalanche continued on six minutes – May’s audacious finish from the edge of the box made it 2-0.
A five-minute delay in play saw Stones’ keeper Matthews stretchered off on 20 minutes, Jacob Adams taking his place. Despite the injury setback the stoppage reinvigorated Wealdstone.
Rovers were on the backfoot, but Robson spared their blushes, clearing off the line from Jack Wells-Morrison with seven minutes of the first-half to go. Wealdstone’s resilience finally saw them claw their way back into the game when McFarlane volleyed home through a congested box with two minutes of the first-half remaining.
Wealdstone gained a second-half foothold. Jack Cook was a whisker away from netting parity as his diving header from substitute Elliot Thorpe flashed wide. At the other end, Emmanuel Osadebe howitzer from 30 yards saw Adams throw up a strong glove to clip the ball over the bar and then. Liam Sercombe saw his stinger clip the post.
Stones snatched a deserved point at the death .Robson initially cleared the ball off the line but McFarlane was alert to rifle home on 89 minutes.
Rovers’ boss Cotterill felt the delay following Matthews’ injury proved pivotal, he said: “I think the goalkeeper situation disrupted our flow and we didn’t quite look the same after that restart. At 2-1 the substitute keeper pulls off a great save from Manny Osadebe and Liam Sercombe hits the post and it goes on the inside. If those go in, it’s game over and when you are closing in on the 90th minute you’ve got to make sure you win that first contact in the box or you make sure you’re on that second ball.”
Team line-ups and player ratings out of 10
Forest Green (4-3-3): Ward 7; Long 7, Moore-Taylor 6, Tozer 7, Robson 7; McCann 6 (Bunker 63, 6), Sercombe 7 (78, 6 Quigley), May 7; McAllister 8, Doidge 7 (63, 7 Cardwell), Knowles 6 (Osadebe 63, 7).
Subs not used: Searle, Lavinier, Omotoye.
Wealdstone (3-4-2-1): Matthews 6; (Adams 20, 7) Cook 7, Marriappa 7, Barrett 7; Mason 6 (64, 6 Thorpe), Dyer 7 (Hutchinson 75, 6), Wells-Morrison 6, Tracey-Cesay 7; Boldewijn 6 (Sandat 88), Kretzcmhar 6 (Obrieo 46, 6); McFarlane 8.
Subs not used: Georgiou, Miller.
Half time: Forest Green 2-1Wealdstone
Referee: Paul Marsden
Star man: (Callum McFarlane Wealdstone, striker)
Attendance: 2,265
Rating: 3/5
Match statistics
Shots on target
FGR 7 Wealdstone 5
Shots off target: 0 4
Corners: 5 5
Offside:0 1
Fouls: 12 10
Yellow cards: 1 1
Red cards: 0 0
