Wealdstone 1

Braintree Town 1

An excellent performance earned the Stones a valuable point against the unbeaten league leaders, but it should have been the visitors first defeat of the season as Gordon Bartlett's men squandered a host of chances.

Wealdstone's first chance came after just eight minutes when Brian Jones put man-of-the-match Simon Garner clear to lob the keeper as he was off his line, but he managed to make an excellent save by getting a finger tip to the ball at the expense of a corner.

Eighteen minutes later Garner set up Dennis Greene to find the net, only for Brian Jones to be ruled offside.

Braintree's impressive new signing Smith, came close with a shot that went just over the bar, and at the other end a Dennis Greene cross was headed wide by Roy Marshall.

Five minutes before the break Braintree went ahead with a soft goal against the run of play. Mayes took a low 25-yard free kick that Darren Bonfield misjudged and fumbled, with the ball hitting his knee and entering the net.

A minute later a Dominic Sterling header went inches over, then Roy Marshall's effort was cleared off the line by ex-Hendon player Hunter.

Stones could have scored twice in the first five minutes of the new half. A Jones cross was hit over from close range by Dennis Greene then Jones went clear, but uncharacteristically blasted over.

The deserved equaliser finally came on the hour when Paul Lamb's cross was hit goalbound by Garner and it was Braintree's keeper's turn to fumble the ball into the net to give the ex-Blackburn star his twelfth goal of the season.

Bonfield made amends for his earlier error with a good save from Bailey, andGarner had a fine 25 yard effort tipped over by stand-in keeper Cherry.

In the 80th minute it should have been the end of Braintree's excellent run when Garner's perfect ball put Jones clear once more, but again his effort went over as he tried to lob the advancing keeper.

Replacing the injured Paul McKay, Kenny Gayle's first touch found Greene whose shot was deflected for a corner. In the dying minutes Greene cleverly turned his marker but his shot went agonisingly wide.

When the final whistle went it was the Braintree supporters cheering with a sigh of relief, knowing their team were fortunate to have kept their unbeaten record still intact.

Gordon Bartlett would have been pleased with this scoreline before the game, but left disappointed at not getting maximum points.

WEALDSTONE: Bonfield, Lamb, Sterling, Moore, Waugh, Marshall, McKay (Gayle), Jones, Bircham, Greene, Garner. Subs: Corbould, Boreham. Outstanding display: Stones veteran Simon Garner

Next games: Saturday February 21 -- Canvey Island (away), Ryman League. Tuesday February 24 -- Witham (away), Ryman League.

Attendance 489

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000.Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.