Lazy Saturday Afternoon

Wednesday 24th March 2010
Smith 13, 29, 90+3, 90+5
 

They say 'It ain't over 'till the fat lady sings', and tonight, the 5 minutes she waited proved to be the difference.
It was back to Cricklefield, and it's dire two-bob pitch, for the second time in a week for a match that I was expecting us to win and, after 30 minutes, that prediction was looking good.
The first goal came via a peach of a through ball from Mitch Hahn, which Leon Smith latched onto and buried in the bottom corner. Smiths second was similar, running onto a Chris Chase flick on, before calmly placing the ball in the opposite corner.
Forest had sacked their manager at the weekend, and looked toothless. Wingate looked as comfortable as I'd seen them, and Smith nearly had a first half hat trick but his shot hit the crossbar.
The problem with many teams in Wingates position, is that there's always the danger of complacency creeping in and, in the latter stages of the first half, Forest pulled a goal back when Luka Frankis, recently signed from Billericay Town, hit a decent left footer over the keeper, after the defence failed to clear.
So, at half time it was 2-1 to us, and we knew that Forest would come out in the second half all guns blazing.
As predicted, the Forest team started the second half like a pack of raging bullocks, completely transformed from their uninspiring first half performance.
It was now Wingate on the back foot, and we were given a scare when Frankis sent a free header wide.
10 minutes into the second half, Forest got their equaliser with a low, long range shot into the bottom corner. Now there looked to be only one winner, and what should have been a formality, was now turning into something that wasn't (note to self .. buy a dictionary!)
Straight from the restart, we could have restored the lead after Chris Chase hit the post from short range, from a superb Smith cross. By now, both teams were pushing forward looking for the winner, and it was Forest who took the lead, after some slack defending gave Gabriel the chance to shoot past Gavin King.
It was then, that we started to pile the pressure on, and with time ticking away it was looking like the first defeat of the year was coming.
Forest, understandably, began time wasting, which would end up biting them on the rear end.
With 93 minutes on the clock, Chase lobbed a cross into the area, and Smith completed his hat trick with a powerful header. It was a 'get out of jail' moment, which got sweeter 2 minutes later.
In the 95th minute, and with the ref ready to call time, Leon Smith received the ball in the area and, after what seemed like an hour getting it under control, put it in the net for his, and Wingate’s fourth.
It was an unbelievable end to a fantastic game, and one I personally won't forget in a hurry.


The Ground
£7.50 for me, little ‘un not present
Programme – There wasn’t one

I didn’t bother bringing a camera, as the photos would have more or less been that same as the Ilford ones, considering they play at the same ground and all that …