RYMAN PREMIER LEAGUE
Wealdstone 7
Cray            1

WEALDSTONE were in seventh heaven in more ways than one after thrashing basement boys Cray Wanderers at the Vale on Saturday.

Their 7-1 win was their seventh game unbeaten at the start of their Ryman League season and they had seven different goal scorers to boot.

With Jerome Okimo unfit there was a debut for Joshua Hill at centre-back, while Glen Little’s game changing performance from the bench in last Monday’s win over Enfield earned him a first start in place of Peter Dean.

Hill took less than a minute to make an impression, his raking pass sending Scott McGleish clear for a shot which beat Wands keeper Andy Walker but was a whisker too high.

There was a scare at the other end on seven minutes when a half-cleared corner fell to John Estrada, whose shot deflected forcing Jonathan North to palm behind at full stretch, but the hosts were in charge and broke the deadlock on 13 minutes.

 Elliott Godrey’s cross from the right found Chris Moore and when the former Brentford man was upended by a rash tackle from Ben Davisson Sean Cronin larruped home from the spot.

Moore threatened a second with a header cleared by Jack Clark and the Wands’ left back was on hand again seconds later to block a McGleish header behind for a corner via the junction of post and bar.

The second had to come, but when it did on 33 minutes it had a large slice of luck attached. A quick free-kick from Little led to an attack down the right and though the initial ball in was cleared it ball found its way to James Hammond out on the right.

The full-back’s first time shot was wildly off target, but Moore reacted well to redirect the ball with his head to notch his fifth of the campaign.

With Cray in disarray Pett fed McGleish who in turn sent Little bursting into the box where he was brought down by Danny Young.

Referee Adam Bayliss initially said no penalty, but the eagle-eyed assistant flagged and the official had a change of heart and pointed to the spot.

With Stones’ policy being no player should take two penalties in a game, Cronin gave way to McGleish for the spot-kick.

The ex-Wycombe man’s first attempt was poor and parried by Walker, but the experienced striker followed up to poke in the rebound.

Just as everything was going smoothly Stones were caught by a rare counter-attack and James Frey skipped beyond North to pull one back with a shot to the far corner.

All of a sudden the hosts were looking lax and only a brave block by North prevented Leigh Bremner cutting the deficit further.

However, normal service was restored in stoppage-time as Moore escaped down the right and with McGleish taking a defender away with a clever dummy run the striker was able to set up Elliott Godfrey for a shot into the corner from the edge of the box.
North saved well from Davisson in a second half where Stones perhaps understandably lacked the same intensity of the first 45.

Hill’s first appearance came to an end early thanks to a 63rd minute clash of heads, Scott McCubbin returning from injury in his place and taking the right-back position with Hammond moving inside to centre-back.

Little too came off with 68 minutes played giving Jack Hutchinson getting another chance to impress.

Pett hit the outside of a post with a blistering drive a minute later, while Moore gave way to Reece Grant with 18 minutes to play.

The teenager’s impact was instant as 90 seconds later Walker misjudged a cross from the right and when McGleish teed up Grant his first shot was blocked on the line, the second stopped again by the arm of a prostate defender, but not to be put off the 18-year-old forced it in at the third attempt.

McGleish missed a sitter to make it 6-1, heading over a great cross from the left from Jey Siva and Grant was denied a tap in when a defender’s toe knocked a pinpoint cross onto the striker and behind for a goal kick.

Grant was booked in the aftermath for an unnecessary clash with keeper Walker.
The sixth arrived in stoppage time as Grant was fouled on the edge and ex-QPR youngster Stefan  Bailey curled an effort beyond the wall into the far corner.

There was time for a seventh as Pett released Siva down the left and the driven cross found Hutchinson arriving on cue to side-foot home his first goal for the club.

The visitors’ misery was complete when Danny Young, booked earlier, saw red for a cynical foul on Grant - In truth, he was probably glad to leave the scene of a humiliation.