Bartlett happy to turn in a lesser performance

Hendon 1 Wealdstone 4

WEALDSTONE bounced back from their early FA Cup exit in fine style to crush Hendon at Claremont Road.

Goals for Mark Boyce, Ryan Ashe, Stephen Hughes and a Charlie Mapes own goal secured the points and left Gordon Bartlett somewhat bemused.

"We played particularly well the previous couple of games but didn't get anything out of them," he said. "I thought we looked a little bit fatigued from the FA Cup game, didn't play particularly well and still won 4-1.

"It was one of our lesser performances, but I would be quite happy to not play well and win every week for the rest of the season."

Bartlett chose to move Ben Clarke to a forward position for this match in place of Ben Alexander and bought in Mark Boyce at right back and Luke Woods, fresh from his time with Malta Under-21s, debuted in goal. All three did well and contributed strongly.

Stones looked disjointed for long periods and allowed Hendon to dictate the play and possession. But Stones, for once, had the luxury of an early goal, brilliantly taken by defender Boyce after 14 minutes. He broke forward with pace, cut into the middle of the park and beat a defender with ease before sending a toe poked shot over Richard Wilmot from 20 yards.

Ashe missed a chance in front of Wilmot and Hendon should have equalised with a header that flashed past the far upright. I

A minute after the restart Lubomir Guentchev shot over when it would have been easier to score. The relieved visitors never looked back and they doubled their advantage with a well worked goal minutes later.

Hughes knocked the ball down into space for Ashe, who volleyed home.

Three minutes later the home side's misery was compounded when the unfortunate Mapes stuck out his foot to divert a cross-cum-shot past Wilmot. Hendon grabbed a goal back through substitute Brain Haule but Hughes restored Stones' three-goal advantage after some fine work down the left flank by substitute Nick Salapatas.

Wealdstone: Woods, Boyce,Massey, Gray,Martin, Ashe,Forbes, Hicks, Clarke,Hughes, Chappell [25a0] Wealdstone Reserves beat Cove 3-0 in the Suburban League Challenge Cup on Saturday. Graeme Montgomery opened the scoring before setting up Dean Papali for the second goal. Christian Assombalonga also scored.