Match Report

Hendon
3
Wealdstone
4
Date:
Saturday 26 December 1936
Competition:
Athenian League
Attendance:
Unknown
Venue:
Golders Green

Match Report

Boxing Day enthusiasts at Claremont Road saw Golders Green give away two more points when they allowed Wealdstone to get the upper hand of them and win by the odd goal in seven. The match was full of incident, and from the beginning it was clear that Wealdstone were going to overrun the lightweight team of the Green, although the heavy going on a ground the appearance of which rather resembled a plate of porridge should have favoured the lighter team.

Bloxham, the Green's right half, deserves a great deal of congratulation for the skill and dogged determination with which he played, because he was suffering from a very unpleasant internal injury. He was taken to hospital after the match, but later allowed to go home, as the injury was not as bad as had at first been feared. W. Boston was suffering from the effects of Friday's match, when he strained himself slightly, but he played a good game.

The first " 45 " was fast and furious, play travelling from end to end of the field after the kick-off taken by the Green. Scott, who was playing on the Wealdstone left wing, displayed some very clever footwork and several times deceived Breagan and Browne. Bloxham and W. Boston were rather more wary, however, and usually contrived to foil any attempts to get through.

On one occasion when F. Boston got the ball he made a very fine run right down the left wing and quickly centred. Soden picked up the pass neatly, but before he could shoot Loveday, Wealdstone's right back, spoiled a clever piece of work. He cleared the ball right up the field and Showler, the right half, took it away to the Golders Green goal; Painter, however, saved the shot and played the ball to midfield. Here it was intercepted and sent back to Wilson, who, with a gentle shot, placed the ball between W. Boston's feet; it then rolled steadily on over the line before Painter realised what had happened.

Then the Green showed a touch of speed and Soden, centre-forward, was steadily outrunning his opposite number, Potts. He made one clever movement down the field and, deceiving Jearrard with a pass to Lawson he would have had a good chance to score, but Lawson was caught with the ball and lost it. Browne came to the rescue and tried to help Soden to get the move going again. It was too late, however, and by the time Soden was ready to shoot Ellis and Loveday, the backs, were on to him and cleared. Play then came up to the Green's half-back line and Bloxham gave a nice display, finally passing the ball to Bucci, who gave the Wealdstone men the run of their lives in his usual lively style before passing on to Soden. This new centre-forward then made circles round the Wealdstone defence and, taking his time, he made a perfect shot which found the back of the net while Walker wondered where the ball had gone.

Wealdstone could not lie and play quietly with the score one all, and very soon after this Wilson put another shot past Painter, who did his level best to stop it. Soden, by clever work, then made his way towards goal, but miskicking spoiled the best chance he ever had of scoring. There was nobody else except the keeper near the goal, and he kicked the ball round the wrong side of the post.

After the goal-kick F. Boston captured the ball and made another nice wing run, but his try at goal was frustrated. After more even play Bidewell and C. Brown worked out a clever move and Bidewell placed a fine shot in the net. The interval score was 3-1 in favour of Wealdstone.

There was only a short interval at half-time as the light was bad, and when the whistle blew the game recommenced like a whirlwind. Wealdstone swept right down to the Green's goalkeeper. There was a tussle for the ball, and finally Painter cleared it, but on the heels of this tussle came a thrill.

The ball was seen rolling gently into the Green's goalmouth, and nobody was near it! The keeper was out of goal and the other players were all in a knot looking for the ball amongst their feet. Painter saw what was happening and made a frantic dive to save, clawing at the ball to bring it back. W. Boston did likewise at the same time, and between them the point was saved, but not before the crowd had released a yell of " Goal !"

This seemed to add to the zest of the Wealdstone men, and they pressed hard. For a time the home defence was equal to the strain, however, and finally Breagan got away down the touchline with the ball. He held on to long and deprived the Greens of a chance to score by not passing in to J. Browne.

Scott played a good game throughout, being responsible for a lot of the Wealdstone attack, and here he once again tripped round Bloxham and Breagan and passed to Wilson. Wilson came downfiels and passed back to Scott, who shot. Painter saved neatly, but failed to clear properly, and Wilson, trapping the ball, sent it back to make the score Wealdstone 4, Golders Green 1.

From this point the Greens fought like demons to catch up, and Broadis scored the next goal for the Greens after a foul. Wealdstone then brought the game back to the Golders Green goal and Painter made a beautiful save, clearing to Hayward, who passed the ball on to Bloxham, who took it away and shot neatly past Walker, making the score 4-3.

Finally the Greens made a great effort to equalise, but were unable to do so. At one attempt on the goal F. Boston made a valiant attempt to head the ball in, but he was just prevented.

In the Wealdstone team the outstanding players were Scott, Potts, Wilson and Bidewell, while Showler, a substitute called in with Jearrard, also played well. Bucci and Soden did much hard work for the Green, and considering that two unwell men were on the field they put up a very creditable performance.

Report by Hendon Times, 01/01/1937, p.15

Golders Green

1
F Painter
2
Bill Boston
3
Reg Hayward
4
Joe Bloxham
5
Bert Broadis
6
George Bucci
7
A J "Billy" Breagan
8
Johnny Browne
9
E W Soden
10
W T Lawson
11
Fred Boston

Match Events

J Wilson
15''
24''
E W Soden
J Wilson
30''
S Bidewell
44''
J Wilson
59''
67''
Bert Broadis
77''
Joe Bloxham

Wealdstone

1
E Walker
2
A Loveday
3
Bob Ellis
4
W F Showler
5
L Jearrard
6
A G Reeves
7
C Brown
8
S Bidewell
9
K Potts
10
J Wilson
11
D Scott