by Paul Lerman

Waltham Abbey 2
Wingate & Finchley 4
Ryman Division One North

Wingate & Finchley earned their eighth win in a row, with two late goals helping to secure the three points in a tight encounter with Waltham Abbey.

The match was preceded by a walk to the ground for charity by a group of Wingate & Finchley fans, and they arrived in numbers and with high spirits.

Dave Laird had two great chances early on for the visitors. Firstly he forged along the right by-line and sent a curling shot whistling around the far post, and soon afterwards he won a free header in the air but aimed too high from ten yards outs.

Ahmet Rifat had a shot blocked from close range, but in the 26th minute the pressure finally told and Wingate took the lead.

Leon Smith picked up a loose ball on the edge of the area and whilst being felled from behind he passed to Gary Burrell.

The left winger set himself before unleashing a placed curling shot that flew in off the underside of the crossbar.

Ten minutes later Abbey equalised with one of their first clear chances as a chipped pass found Ryan Maxwell in space and he volleyed home accurately into the bottom corner.

The bobbly pitch was getting even worse as the game wore on with the players cutting it up further, but despite the testing conditions Burrell restored the Blues' lead on the stroke of half time with a composed low finish, volleying along the ground from outside the box.

Waltham Abbey looked to break quickly though with swift flowing moves, and Tyler Campbell shot sweetly, though debutant Wingate keeper Sam Bailey tipped the ball over the bar.

It was from a fast counter down the right wing that Emmanuel Osei scored to equalise again for Abbey midway through the second half, lashing the ball through Bailey in a one-on-one.

However, just as Wingate feared the game was slipping away from them, they scored thanks to debut striker Murat Karabul.

He latched on to a poor defensive header that lofted over the stranded keeper and won the race to the ball tapping home from a yard out.

He scored again just moments later with another tap-in from a curled Josh Cooper free kick, to seal a wonderful debut and the vital three points.

Lineup; Bailey, Williams, Wright, Fowler (Christian 76), Nielsen, Rifat, Cooper, Henry, Smith (Karabul 80), Laird (Jones 65), Burrell. Subs: Shehu, Sloma