Wealdstone 2 – 3 Solihull Moors

Solihull Moors Website Match Report

Solihull Moors took home all three points with a valuable 3-2 away win against Wealdstone in the National League, at the Grosvenor Vale Stadium on Tuesday night. 

Oscar Rutherford returned to the starting line-up, while Elias Kachunga made his first National League start for The Moors. Scott High and Junior Tiensia made way, with both taking their place on the bench.

A quick-fire start saw Solihull go into the lead, Marvin Johnson scoring with a heavily deflected free-kick after just 3 minutes. Jamie Andrews then headed in from a Johnson corner to make it 2-0 before half time. It took until the 81st minute for Wealdstone to respond, with Aaron Henry scoring a spectacular long-range effort to reduce the deficit. Just 3 minutes later, Joe Sbarra provided the assist for fellow substitute Scott High to make score 3-1, before another substitute, Wealdstone’s Fejiri Okenabirhie instinctively poked home to set up a nervy finish, but The Moors held on for a priceless victory.

First half

A lively start saw some good play from both sides, with Solihull catching the home side on the counter-attack early on, which led to Ben Wodskou breaking away down the wing and winning a free-kick on the right corner of the box.

GOAL – 3′ Moors. Up stepped Marvin Johnson, who’s set-pieces have been a real threat since joining, to strike a curling effort towards goal, hitting the wall, before wrong-footing goalkeeper Sam Long and landing in the back of the net. A dream start for Chris Millington’s men. 0-1

Wodskou was involved again moments later, winning another free-kick with the type of hold-up play our number 22 is beginning to show more and more of each week after returning from injury.

A lovely Wealdstone move from the left started with Dan Chesters, through to Aaron Henry, and then to Ronan Maher who broke into the box and tee’d up Okomola to shoot, but the attackers strike lacked the power to beat Sam Johnson.

A chance for Wodskou then opened up on the left, in a similar position to his stunning strike against Carlisle on the weekend, but this time his low shot was gathered easily by the keeper.

Maher, who was looking like the home teams biggest threat, then received the ball on the wing, cut in onto his left foot and struck towards goal, but was denied by Tyler French who came flying in to block the shot.

Oscar Rutherford then clipped in a cross down the other end that Wodskou got on the end of, but couldn’t keep down as he glanced well over.

Jevon Mills pulled out a great slide tackle to prevent Luke Norris getting a cross in, with the ball going out for a corner. The resulting corner was played short, and was worked to the edge of the area through a combination of Aaron Henry and Luke Norris. Ronan Maher took possession and saw his effort sneak through everyone, except for Alex Whitmore, who had positioned himself perfectly on the line to clear.

DISALLOWED GOAL – 17′ Wealdstone. Luke Norris had the ball in the Moors net with a fine finish from 15 yards, but the linesman flagged for a very close offside.

Some great skill on the right saw Rutherford break into the middle of the pitch, before Woods played a long ball to Wakeling, who flicked into space for Wodskou to run onto. The striker seemed second favourite, but showed great strength and pace to get to the ball first and have an effort on goal. The strike was saved and went out for a corner.

GOAL – 19′ Moors. The corner was taken by that man again, Marvin Johnson, who bent a terrific ball into the 6-yard box, for Jamie Andrews to nod in with a simple header. 0-2.

Wealdstone seemed to be shellshocked, as despite been 2-0 down, they hadn’t actually played badly. The Moors were just ruthless and pressing the home side impeccably, leaving them with little choice but to play the ball backwards and sidewards. The best example was when Jacob Wakeling won possession around 30 yards out after pinning the defence in, before trying to lay a pass into Wodskou, who was through on goal, but unfortunately the ball was well intercepted by the defender.

Some more good work by Rutherford, saw the returning wide man get himself into the box, his ball was played to Wakeling, who’s first time effort was always sailing high and wide.

Wealdstone had a similar chance down the other end, with the same result, this time, Morriston struck well wide.

Another stroke of bad luck then hit the home side, when Maher went down injured on a couple of occasions, the second led to the winger been taken off and replaced by former Moors man Joe Newton. A tactical tweak saw Dan Chester move from the left to the right, to accommodate Newton’s arrival on the pitch.

Not to be affected by the disruption in play, Wealdstone came back onto the front foot, seeing a Norris header just fall short of reaching his own man, and then Sam Johnson having to be alert to fly out and collect a loose ball ahead of an attacker.

Johnson then almost had a moment to forget, a long-range effort that deflected and looped up into the sky nearly caught the new Moors keeper out, when his attempted punch didn’t go to plan, and only landed inches above the crossbar. A let off, but a welcome change in fortune as it’s the type of luck that’s been going against us all season.

Perhaps the best example of the effort put in by all of the lads in the first half, was when Wakeling of all people, got back into his own box and brilliantly cut out a cross, before eventually clearing the ball away with a big header to get his side up the pitch and ease the building Wealdstone pressure right before half time.

Tyler French then held off Stone’s striker Olufela Olomola in the box with the last action of the first half, as the attacker looked to turn and shoot. An almost perfect first half performance away from home, but work still to do in the second 45.

Half-time score –

Wealdstone 0-2 Solihull Moors

Second half

Gary Waddock made a change for the second half. Connor McAvoy came on for Reading loanee Abraham Kanu and it seemed to make a difference for his side, who looked to get the ball forward quicker and be more positive as they chased the game.

Chesters struck a good effort from outside the box for Wealdstone, but saw the ball fly wide of Sam Johnson’s post, before Norris had a decent attempt from the left that Johnson gathered at the second time of asking.

An enforced substitution on 55 minutes for The Moors led to Rutherford been replaced by Carter Pinnington. Unlucky for Oscar, who showed glimpses of what we’ve been missing.

Millington then decided to bring on two more sets of fresh legs, with Scott High and Joe Sbarra introduced, in place of the tiring Elias Kachunga, who’s work-rate and class showed throughout, and Ben Wodskou, who again was a massive threat.

Not long after, Norris, on his weaker left foot, went for goal from around 25 yards, but saw the ball fly well over the bar as the home side began to get desperate and were restricted to long range strikes.

The Moors defence did well again on 65 minutes, Whitmore slowing down the attack before a combination of Solihull players managed to get the ball away.

Andrews nodded just wide from a Woods free-kick, after Wakeling was fouled following a burst down the left, in an increasingly rare attack for the away side.

Wealdstone broke and earned a corner shortly after, but Sam Johnson, with his huge frame came and collected confidently, as the likelihood of positive result edged closer and closer.

Into the final 15 minutes, just when it was needed, the Solihull pressing was on show again, pushing Wealdstone back into their own half and forcing mistakes.

GOAL – 81′ Wealdstone. Some resolute defending from The Moors saw Sam Johnson save, before Tyler French and Mills somehow cleared off the line. The ball was cleared, before finding its way to Aaron Henry, who took a touch and curled in an absolute wonder goal from 25 yards to drag his side back into the game in style. 1-2

Mills again produced some outstanding defending, his outstretched leg clearing away, ahead of the incoming Wealdstone attackers.

GOAL – 84′ Moors. A lovely dink down the line by Marvin Johnson sent Sbarra into space on the left, the midfielder was the calmest player on the pitch, rolling an inch-perfect pass into the path of midfielder High, who fired in to restore our two-goal lead! 1-3.

GOAL – 89′ An overhit cross from the right was collected by Newton, who fired a harmless looking cross-shot towards goal, and Fejiri Okenabirhie reacted fastest to poke home. Game on, again. 2-3.

Florent Hoti was brought on for Ryan Woods as The Moors looked to seal the game as the home team flooded forwards. The attack-minded midfielder looked to have broken through on goal, but a heavy touch took the ball away and the chance was gone.

With Wealdstone now desperate and pumping long balls and crosses in at every opportunity, Alex Whitmore then produced a proper captain’s clearance, when he threw himself into a diving header to stop a threatening ball into the box.

Into 6 minutes of added time, and with Wealdstone goalkeeper Sam Long going up for set-pieces, it was Jevon Mills turn to be his sides hero. Firstly, getting his head to the ball to clear for a corner just as a Wealdstone attacker was about to strike. The same man again then pulled out two more crucial headers as Solihull dug in and waited for the referee to blow for full-time, and seal a remarkable win away from home.

Full-time score –

Wealdstone 2-3 Solihull Moors

Attendance – 1435

A huge thank you to the 49 travelling Moors fans💛💙

We hope you enjoyed the match and all have a safe journey home. You fully deserve those 3 points for your incredible support. COYM💛💙

Man of the match – My man of the match goes to Marvin Johnson. Three swishes of that wonderful left foot, provided three major contributions towards tonight’s goals. Sensational.

Written by Scott Cattell