Wealdstone 0-1 Margate - The commitment was just fantastic tonight, says proud boss Iain O'Connell

A first half injury time screamer from left wing-back Dan Stubbs; a heroic goalkeeping display from Jamie Turner and a battling display from everyone else in difficult wet conditions, ensured O’Connell’s under-fire side moved up three places into thirteenth in the Ryman Premier League table, ten points adrift of the relegation zone with twenty games remaining.

“It’s fantastic!” smiled O’Connell, as he emerged from the dressing room at the Ruislip based ground, only his third league win in ten games.

“It’s just a shame we can’t do that at home at the moment!

“We’ve defended so, so, well tonight.  They’ve had balls cleared off the line, but then if you have a look at the good chances we’ve definitely had more than them and we should’ve put the game to bed.  They were very, very good chances and we should’ve scored from them.

“We were hanging on to a one-nil win in the end, but all I will say is we defended from JT (goalkeeper Jamie Turner) to Shaun Welford, there’s Shaun Welford clearing one off the line and people chucking bodies in front of the ball.

“I questioned people’s commitment on Saturday, but tonight I can tell you I’m very proud of my boys!”

A flu bug has hit several members of the Margate squad; the transfer-listed Jay Saunders was admitted into hospital yesterday; and Craig Cloke and Aaron Lacy were too unwell to play a Wealdstone side that have slumped into 17th place in the table and have now gone five games without scoring a goal.

The home side created the game’s first chance inside the opening two minutes when winger Danny Spendlove cut inside Curtis Robinson and sent a left-footed shot sailing over the top of the far post from distance.

Margate’s first chance was on target, when skipper Wayne Wilson picked the ball up from Dean Grant’s throw and unleashed a low right-footed angled drive towards goal, which was comfortably saved by red-shirted Wealdstone keeper Jonathan North.

A better chance fell Margate’s way in the 18th minute when Robinson played the ball up field and Welford did well to outmuscle Wealdstone right-back James Hammond and the ball ran loose for James Pinnock, who cut in from the left and bent a low left-footed shot, which was dealt with by the home keeper.

With the rain making life difficult for both sets of players, too many balls were over-hit for a time and the quality of football during the first half was poor.

Wealdstone’s first of ten corners arrived after 26 minutes when the Margate defence failed to pick up Alex Dyer on the edge of the box and the central midfielder lashed Spendlove’s corner from the right just over the crossbar.

A ball out of Margate’s defence went straight down the middle of the pitch and Pinnock’s knock down was met by Wilson, but he too lashed a right-footed effort over - and at the other end Hammond’s floated cross was won in the air by Wes Parker (who beat Laurence Ball in the air) but he sent his header over.

Margate keeper Turner made his first two saves, just minutes before Stubbs thumped home his second goal of the season.

Sean Cronin’s ball out of defence - which just evaded a sliding Welford - found Hammond, who slipped the ball through to Lee Chappell, who raced forward and cut inside Robinson, before Turner saved at the near post.

The giant keeper then used his legs to deny Spendlove, who was lurking unmarked at the far post.

The snoozing fans were woken up when Stubbs produced the one real piece of quality of a dire first half - with 46:40 on the clock.

Industry down the right by Pinnock saw the striker roll the ball inside for Stubbs, who turned and cracked a stunning right-footed snap-shot from 25-yards, which rocketed past the diving North and into the roof of the net.

O’Connell said: “Dan Stubbs was immense tonight, not only his goal, his running.  I mean at the end, he’s got a cut on his boot, he’s hobbling like anything and he’s still managed to run 60 yards with the ball into the corner to hold it up for us when we’re under pressure.

“His work-rate is always immense but the quality of his goal was absolutely spectacular!”

Stunned by the goal, Wealdstone camped themselves inside the Margate half for at least half-an-hour, but the Kent side were resilient and threw their bodies in the way of shots as many a time Wealdstone forced bodies inside Margate’s penalty area.

O’Connell added, “The first half, it was fairly even.  We still had chances and we should’ve scored.

“Second half, we had a lot more chances than them, they had a lot of goalmouth scrambles, which were the only real chances, they didn’t have anything else other than a long shot that JT made a good save from.

“When you look at how many one-on-one’s we had with the keeper today, compared to their chances, we really should’ve won by a wider margin!”

The impressive Spendlove carved open a chance for Greg Ngoyi, who was denied his thirteenth goal of the season, by a strong left-hand from Turner, within the opening two minutes of the second half.

The Wealdstone striker was denied by Turner once more, as he wriggled his way past Ball from penalty spot range, frustrating the quieter-than-normal home faithful.

Wealdstone, who were kicking down the hill towards the tea-bar, were thwarted again when Chappell’s cross was met by a glancing header by Peter Dean, but Turner caught the ball low down on his goal-line.

But Margate could have doubled their advantage with a good move in the 51st minute.

A slick move involving Grant and Pinnock played in Welford, who cut inside Alan Massey and the hard-working big target man struck a fierce left-footed driven shot, which was beaten out by a strong left-hand at the near post.

Hammond played the pass of the game when the Wealdstone right-back played an excellent diagonal pass to send Chappell on his way, but his low angled drive flashed across Turner and wide.

Wealdstone’s best chance to level arrived in the 58th minute when Spendlove’s corner from the right was flicked on by Wes Parker and the ball dropped at Ngoyi’s feet, but he blasted the ball straight at the busy Margate keeper.

There was a bit of respite for Margate when Stubbs tried his luck again, this time with a 45-yard left-footed snap shot, which stung North’s fingers.

Wealdstone pressed and they were to be frustrated again when Chappell looped the ball into the box from his hands and Ngoyi headed the ball down towards the far corner, but there was Turner again who clutched the ball whilst under pressure.

However, Margate missed some decent chances to make the game a little bit more comfortably for themselves - but North - who left goal-kicking duties to central defender Cronin - excelled.

Wilson showed strength to win the ball and released Pinnock, who played the ball out to Welford, who cracked a right-footed drive, which flew past the diving keeper but wide.

At the other end, Turner tipped over a looping shot from substitute Ben Long, but he was almost left embarrassed when he let Chappell’s low drive go through his legs, but the ball flashed just past the foot of his near post.

Brave Margate decided enough was enough and broke up field and missed chances to seal the points late on.

Grant released Pinnock through on goal - with only the keeper to beat - but poor control allowed North to gather the ball - the striker was left to hold his head in his hands.

Pinnock made amends when he drilled a low shot across North, who got down low to his right to prevent the shot finding the bottom corner.

And a drive from Wilson was tipped over by North, before Welford proved how much he cares by preventing a certain last-gasp equaliser.

Spendlove drilled a low shot through a crowded penalty area and Turner (who must have seen the ball late) stuck out a strong left hand to parry and Cronin thought he had equalised but his low reaction shot was cleared off the line by Welford, who was denied in the final minute of stoppage time, on a one-on-one with North.

O’Connell wanted to win this game to bury the memory of Saturday’s league defeat to Croydon Athletic.

He said: “We wanted this game on massively.  I spoke to the chairman earlier today and I just wanted the game on to turn that awful defeat on Saturday round.

“To come here and get a result is fantastic!  I’m really proud of them!”

Despite Turner’s heroics, O’Connell thought his side defended all over the pitch.

“Jamie was fantastic!  The whole team were brilliant tonight, but there’s one player who stands out for me, Laurence Ball, he was absolutely fantastic tonight.  He won absolutely everything, chucked himself in front of the ball, but it would be unfair just to mention Laurence.  The whole team gave me 100% and I’m really proud!”

O’Connell was pleased that his side have climbed up the league table with a win tonight.

“I don’t really want to be looking down there but when you have a bad run like we’ve had, you do start looking at the teams below you, but I just believe in these boys!  I really do think they’re good enough.  We’ve just got to be more consistent.”

But Essex based O’Connell was delighted that his players ran themselves into the ground for him.

He said: “If you go and look in there, there’s about six of them with ice on their calf’s, where they’ve got kick and strains but that’s what I want to see!  I want to see players rally dig in deep to get a result.

“The commitment was just fantastic tonight.  We were down to the bare bones but we fully deserved three points tonight.”

Margate were defeated here last April when Chappell scored the only goal of the game, following a second half blunder from Turner, a result that ended Margate’s nine-match unbeaten run and left the club three points clear of the relegation zone.

“We came here last year and left without anything when we deserved something,” recalled O’Connell.

“There was a JT error, but he comes here tonight and he was fantastic.  Their keeper was fantastic too.  He’s made three or four very good saves tonight and it kept the margin down.”

Margate’s seventh league win of the season should keep the fans of O’Connell’s back, especially as the manager has come under cyber pressure in recent weeks.

“I don’t mind at the end of the day,” he said.  “I expect that because we haven’t been getting points. At the end of the day the buck stops with me.

“All they need to know is I give 100% and that’s what I expect from my players and tonight - for the supporters that we’re here - I thank them very much for coming all this way.  They saw that (commitment), they saw a really gritty performance.”

Wealdstone: Jonathan North, James Hammond, Alan Massey (Ben Long 67), Wes Parker, Sean Cronin, Alex Dyer, Danny Spendlove, Chris O’Leary (Ben Gill 36), Greg Ngoyi, Peter Dean, Lee Chappell.

Subs: Max Worsfold, Louis Lavers, Sam Leggett.

Booked: Chris O’Leary 4, Alan Massey 55, Ben Gill 81

Margate: Jamie Turner, Dean Grant, Tommy Osborne, Curtis Robinson, Laurence Ball, John Keister (Sam Groombridge 63), Wayne Wilson, Dan Stubbs, Shaun Welford, James Pinnock, James Rogers.

Subs: Kane Harrington,  Josh Winchcombe, Aaron Lacy, Craig Cloke.

Goal: Dan Stubbs 45

Booked: Wayne Wilson 56, Sam Groombridge 78, James Rogers  81

Attendance: 348

Referee: Mr Carl Brook (St Leonards, East Sussex)

Assistants: Mr Martyn Milligan (Eastbourne, East Sussex) & Mr Baris Erguven (Brighton, East Sussex)