National League
Wednesday 23rd October 2024
Kick Off 19.45 Actual 19.47
Wealdstone 3 Braintree Town 2, attendance 1,163
10’ 1-0
13’ 1-1
16’ 1-2
54’ 2-2
67’ 3-2
@ Grosvenor Vale
Ruislip
HA4 6JQ
£5 Admission
£3 Programme available, didn’t bother buying.
I’d visited Wealdstone at their former Lower Mead ground in Harrow back on 23rd March 1991, when they lost 1-3 to Waterlooville (att. 474) in a Southern League Premier Division match, just weeks before they vacated the ground, which has now been built on. After a number of ground shares, they moved in with Ruislip Manor, at the ground here at Grosvenor Vale, which later became their permanent home. I’d seen Ruislip Manor beat Aldershot Town here in an Isthmian League Division 1 match back in February 1995, so a revisit was long overdue. To be honest, I don’t remember anything of that visit. The ground would certainly have been less developed than it is now, with its hotchpotch of stands and side to side sloping pitch giving it some charm and it has a capacity of just over 4,000. That wasn’t tested tonight, despite a superb offer of £5 admission price (normally £18 for standing) for all, with the game designated as a ‘Community Trust Game’. Good to see it included the away section too and not just an advance price either! I had a cheeseburger with chips and a cup of tea and still ended up a quid up on the normal cost of just getting in!
Anyway, on to the match. It was an early season relegation battle, with second bottom hosting fifth from bottom (4 go down) and a game where both teams would have fancied their chances of taking the three points. Wealdstone went in front inside ten minutes, when a corner on the right was swept in at the far post by Ashford. Braintree were level four minutes later, when a diagonal free kick into the box was met by Annesley, whose flicked header at the near post found the far corner. Two minutes later the visitors were ahead, when Powell intercepted an awful defensive pass and finished with the goal gaping. Wealdstone levelled nine minutes into the second half, when a ball in from the right was put in by Reid and they got what turned out to be the winner midway through the half, when Ashford scored his second goal of the game, finishing with a left footed shot that was deflected past the ‘keeper at his near post.
Having arrived at the ground just over an hour before kick off, I’d managed to grab a parking space in Grosvenor Vale (the road that gives the stadium it’s name), no more than 100 yards from the entrance. It certainly paid off, as a quick getaway meant I was able to beat the M25 overnight closure at J10 on the way home.
