Wingate & Finchley fell short in their Non-League Day clash with Tonbridge Angels in front of a 635 crowd at Longmead Stadium, but Keith Rowland’s men could count themselves unlucky in spells.

The north Londoners carved opened the first chance within five minutes as Ahmet Rifat played Nathan Mavila away, whose first-touch opened up a chance to fire over from a tight angle.

The hosts’ Alex Akrofi struck on target from outside the area, seeing his low shot gathered by Luke Sheldrick with 18 minutes on the clock.

And Sheldrick had to be on hand to produce a great stop five minutes later, palming away Luke Blewden’s strike from the inside right.

At the other end, Reece Beckles-Richards cut in from the right and sent a cross to the back post for Mavila, who acrobatically hit over from six yards in the 32nd minute.

A minute later saw The Blues produce a moment of brilliance as Rifat’s outside-of-the-boot cross from the right arrived towards Sean Cronin, whose first-time volley curled away from Jonathan Henly, but hit the post.

The Angels took the lead on the hour mark as Akrofi picked up the loose ball inside the area, prior to shimmying across and firing into the net.

Daniel Thompson dragged a shot wide from inside the box 10 minutes later and Joe Turner’s attempt towards the top corner saw Sheldrick make the catch.

Sheldrick produced a stunning stop 12 minutes from time, staying big to deny Thompson’s header from finding the top right corner of the net.

But a spirited last 10 minutes followed from the Summers Lane outfit as Ola Williams’ deep cross dropped to Rob Laney, whose header was clawed away by Henly.

Keir Dickson’s cross was then directed towards the top corner by Laney, who was unable to keep his header down on 88 minutes.

And in the third minute of stoppage, Cronin headed Dickson’s corner narrowly wide with the last touch of the game.

Wingate: Sheldrick, Williams, Dickson, Pearce, Cronin, Rifat, Mavila, Ifil (Pattie 75), Laney, Beckles-Richards, Tejan-Sie. Unused subs: Sharpe, Eales, Akinola.