Wealdstone 1-0 Marine; Isuzu FA Trophy Semi-Final; Saturday 28th March 2026
Tom Murphy reports from Grosvenor Vale…
Marine exited the FA Trophy in heartbreaking fashion as Wealdstone scored a dramatic late winner.
In a tightly contested game, it was the home side who will travel to Wembley for the final of the competition in May.
It was a fast start to the game for Marine who had the first chance of the encounter.
Fin Sinclair Smith found space in the box but was unable to direct his effort on target.
Chances continued to swarm in for the Mariners as Jack Hazlehurst came close with a header in the 18th minute.
The home side began to grow into the game, enjoying lots of the ball but they were unable to create anything in the final third.
Wealdstone’s best chance came in the 36th minute after Sean Adarkwa forced a brilliant save from McIntyre who kept the shot out from point blank range.
Marine came close up the other end after Sinclair Smith escaped the grasps of the Stones defence before placing his shot on the wrong side of the post.
The second half started extremely quickly with both sides coming close shortly after the restart.
Chances at either end fell to Tshikuna and George Newell but both sets of players couldn’t find the back of the net.
Wealdstone began to batter the Marine goal as they searched for the opener.
A corner whipped in by Tshikuna clipped the crossbar as the scoreline somehow remained goalless.
Whilst coming under all sorts of pressure in their own penalty area, Marine almost found a breakthrough down the other end as Matty McDonald forced a vital and first save from Dante Baptiste.
Another chance went begging for the Mariners as substitute Harry Huby did brilliantly to wriggle away from the defenders and unleash an effort on target, again Baptiste was able to deny Marine in front of the 600 plus away fans.
Wealdstone’s pressure paid off and they scored a dramatic late winner thanks to Micah Obiero who clipped it over McIntyre and into the back of the net.
Wealdstone: Baptiste, Cook ©, Woodman, Adu-Poku, Obiero, Tshikuna, McAvoy, Agyemang, Adarkwa, Tiensia (Nathaniel-George 67), Hinchy (Wells-Morrison 67).
Unused subs: Johnson, Georgiou, Barrett, Olomola, Spencer.
Marine: McIntyre; Thomas, Anson, Wardle ©, Ashton; Drysdale (Leuluai 90), Whelan, McDonald (Fielding 75’); Sinclair-Smith, Newell (Potter 86’), Hazlehurst (Huby 65’).
Unused subs: Booth, Bell.
Attendance: 4,000