The Ham&High’s Wingate & Finchley blogger Simon Swingler looks back on Saturday’s 2-1 victory away at basement boys Bury Town in the Ryman League Premier Division, which left the Blues sixth in the table.

Away from home against a side who are rock bottom of the league and cannot buy a goal while leaking like a sieve - what possibly could go wrong?

Actually, as it turned out, very little! Sometimes it is hard for my brain to accept that this current Wingate side are not the same as their predecessors from the last couple of years.

Although many of the components remain the same – particularly defensively - the firepower now boasted by this current incarnation causes almost anyone at this level trouble, and so it transpired, with both our intrepid strikers plundering a goal each in a decent 2-1 away victory.

Our last trip to Bury Town (in Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk) was almost exactly a year ago and we were soundly beaten 2-0 without once threatening the opposition goalkeeper. What a difference a year makes.

The only change Danny Nielsen made from the side that drew 2-2 with Hampton & Richmond Borough at Summers Lane last Saturday was the withdrawal of on-loan winger Iffy Allen, who was replaced by the more physically imposing Ola Sogbanmu.

It was the returning Sogbanmu who provided Rob Laney with the opportunity to give Wingate an early lead with a sumptuous pass that dissected the Bury back four. Laney made no mistake by drawing the keeper towards him before clipping the ball cleverly over the prone custodian and into the net.

Umpteen times this season and last, Wingate have fallen victim of the double whammy of having a man red carded for a professional foul and a penalty awarded against us, so it was with some surprise that The Blue Gods actually benefited from such a decision in the 13th minute.

Once again it was Laney bearing down on the keeper and, when his legs were clipped by the pursuing defender, a penalty was duly awarded and the offender given his marching orders.

David Knight stepped up and stroked home the penalty for his 20th goal in all competitions and W&F were cruising towards another valuable three points.

The second half was a bit of shocker from a Wingate perspective. We allowed our hosts to gain a foothold in the game when some extremely sloppy passing ended with Bury striker John Benjamin stroking the ball home to half the deficit.

We then proceeded to allow Town all the time and the space in the world to attempt to restore parity - at times it was impossible to ascertain which side was supposed to be enjoying a numerical advantage.

Despite our best efforts to throw it away, the referee’s whistle signaled another three points to the boys in blue and another massive step towards safety and securing a fourth consecutive season in the Ryman League Premier Division.

Our next game is at home at Summers Lane on Saturday against East Thurrock United.