More than 2,000 see Wealdstone suffer semi-final defeat

Wealdstone’s hopes of reaching Wembley were ended as they went down 2-0 at home to Brackley Town in their FA Trophy semi-final second leg.

Bobby Wilkinson’s side were unable to overturn their single-goal deficit from the first leg, despite attracting a season’s best crowd of more than 2,000 to Grosvenor Vale.

Second-half strikes from Shane Byrne and Aaron Williams were enough to seal Brackley’s place in May’s final – leaving the Stones to focus on their outside chance of reaching the National League South play-offs.

Wealdstone were indebted to goalkeeper Jonathan North, who ensured the contest remained scoreless at the break with two smart saves to foil Williams as the visitors dominated.

But Brackley made the breakthrough 10 minutes after the restart when Jake Sheppard felled Glenn Walker on the edge of the box and Byrne curled the resulting free-kick into the bottom corner.

Stones responded with a triple substitution and they finally began to apply pressure to the Brackley defence, but it was not enough to bring them back into the contest.

Danny Green’s low drive forced a save from Brackley keeper Danny Lewis, while unmarked Stones skipper Jerome Okimo stabbed wide from Sheppard’s free-kick.

But Williams put the outcome beyond doubt with eight minutes remaining, slotting a left-foot finish past North to clinch a 3-0 aggregate victory.