Report | Wealdstone 1 FC Halifax 0

Wealdstone picked up a hard-fought 1-0 win against Halifax Town to make it three National League wins out of four.

Rhys Browne scored the only goal of the game after 39 minutes and then the Stones closed the game out relatively comfortably to record their first clean sheet of the season and move up to second in the league.

Stuart Maynard named an unchanged line-up from Tuesday night’s memorable victory against Oldham Athletic at Boundary Park – and the Stones continued where they left off from Tuesday, coming straight out of the blocks with some excellent football that saw Browne go close with a curling effort from the edge of the box.

The chances continued to come and Mason Barrett saw his header go agonisingly wide just two minutes later after some brilliant wing-play from Dom Hutchinson, who caused havoc down the right-hand side.

Despite their dominance, two smart saves from Sam Howes kept the score level, the Stones keeper denying a powerful strike from Jordan Slew and again saving Jesse Debrahs’ header from a corner.

Some excellent attacking play from the Stones saw them open the scoring six minutes before the break when Max Kretzschmar played Browne through on goal with an excellent flick, resulting in a cool finish into the bottom corner from the number 10. It was another excellent team move from the Stones that sliced open the opposition.

Neither team managed to take control of the second period, with both sides squandering good opportunities to grab a goal. Browne had the chance to double his and Wealdstone’s tally just after half time but failed to convert his chance, dinking the ball over the bar, having been played in on goal once more.

Lively Halifax midfielder Jordan Keane saw two efforts go agonisingly wide of Howes goal as Chris Millington’s side searched for an equaliser.

With ten minutes to go in the second period, Browne once again found space in the box after some smart dribbling, but was once again denied by Sam Johnson in the Halifax goal.

With five minutes added on, the Stones soaked up pressure from Halifax and were never really in trouble of surrendering their hard-fought lead.

Wealdstone travel to Gateshead on Saturday where they’ll look to carry on their strong start to the season.

WEALDSTONE: Howes, Cook (C), Barrett, Charles, Elerewe, Barrett, Allarakhia (Napa 63), Ferguson, Browne, Hutchinson (Sesay 79), Kretzschmar, Habergham. Not used: Dyer, Mundle-Smith, Mongoy.

• Pictures by Jon Taffel & Mike Renny