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Robbed was a word that played a significant part in the conversation at the Wallingford side of the clubhouse after this tense match. Wallingford defended hard for much of the second half, soaking up some severe pressure from the home side. Five minutes into injury time, with a well deserved point seemingly in the bag, a dubious penalty decision handed the home side the points.
In what turned out to be the last attack of the game, Johnson burst clear into the Wallingford area. Closing on goal from a narrow angle, the striker had a chance to shoot and keeper Shea went to ground to block the shot. Instead Johnson pushed the ball sideways, away from the keeper but also over the dead ball line, before going to ground over the helpless Shea. Once the protests had died down, Lee Keyes slotted the ball well in the corner to secure three points with the last touch of the match. Early in the first half Shea made a series of good saves to keep Wallingford level. Cook got clean through but the keeper got a foot to his shot. Another fine diving save was needed when Danny Wise turned and fired a shot from 18 yards. With 25 minutes gone, the visitors took a surprise lead. Fellows put in a deep corner from the right. Simon Barlow came with a late run and a powerful header that was half blocked but still made it over the line. Wallingford were lucky a few minutes later when Barlow was caught in possession just outside his own area. Three Witney players were clean through and it was inevitable that one of them would get the ball in the net. The celebrations were cut short when they saw the linesman?s flag in the air. Five minutes from the break the hosts were level. Cruse put a free kick over from deep on the left flank. Cook outjumped everyone at the far post and gave Shea no chance with a header into the top corner. Three minutes later and Tassell made two fine saves to stop Witney going behind again. Taha was brought down by Maskell just outside the box. Tyler?s free kick was tipped over by an acrobatic Tassell. From the resulting corner, Taha had a free header and the keeper somehow got enough on the ball to keep it out. Before the break, Wise broke forward again and Shea once more did well to keep Wallingford level. The first 15 minutes after half time was one way traffic. Wallingford were pinned back in their own half. Some superb tackling from Fenn and Ingram in the area kept the marauding Wyatt and Butler in check and took some of the pressure off Shea. It was the 63rd minute before the visitors mounted any sort of attack. Ingram won the ball deep in his own half, saw he had room to run and headed upfield. A quick one-two with Taha put the youngster clear. Tassell was off his line very quickly and out to block the shot. Witney applied the pressure again, but as the match went on the defence looked more comfortable and the pace of the Taha brothers up front made Wallingford increasingly dangerous on the break. Fellows flashed over a low cross just out of reach of the Taha?s in the area. Tyler shot just wide from 25 yards. The visitors were beginning to look the more likely to score, but it was close to full time before Styles fired in a Wallingford shot that really stretched keeper Tassell. Deep in injury time it seemed the visitors had done enough for a point, but referee Turner?s final dubious decision changed all that. AFC Wallingford: John Shea, Simon Barlow, Fletcher Hoey, Tom Ingram, Ian Fenn, Ross Tyler (Capt.), Mike Fellows, Andy Styles, Zinzee Taha, Foday Touray (Tim Parker 53), Abdouli Taha. Subs not used: Ahmed Alami, Gary Clark. |
