Your reading a pre 2010-11 archived article
So any other sensible human being would take the opportunity provided by a free Saturday to either see his newly adopted second team or catch a local FA Cup Qualifying game, but no I had to go and get slaughtered in London the night before and thus spend the whole day hungover! As I was already feeling guilty about neglecting the original idea of this blog this was somewhat of a blow, however Mike Underwood rides to the rescue to make his guest writing debut with a write up of what I missed by not attending Kingstonian v Cray Wanderers.
I’ll watch a Kingstonian match from one of two places – behind the goal or in the main stand and at Kingsmeadow this is for me mainly behind the away director’s box, with notebook and pen.
On a sunny day, like that enjoyed for the Crays’ match, this can be pleasant and indeed with a slight breeze and above-average temperatures, it was pleasant. What made it that more pleasant ways the result as Ks pushed past opponents who are finding it tough having got to this level for the first time in 150 years.
The headlines were taken by Dean Lodge, who seems to be continuing his travels to far -off outposts of non-league football as he seeks a team that will take him on at Conference National level.
A plain low shot in the 34th minute opened up his account, after he picked up a cross in from Bobby Traynor. His second however will have done his desire to achieve football elsewhere less of a dream and more of a reality. In the 34th minute he picked up an innocuous pass from Matt Gray and then proceded to skip past the midfield along the left byline before cutting in and dancing beyond the defence. Ignoring the obvious scoring chances presented by Joel Ledgister and Traynor, he then shot beyond the diving keeper into the far corner.
His third just displayed his range of talents even more, as he tapped in a close range shot by the far right post, but the skill lay in being there as the referee allowed play to continue after Carl Wilson-Denis, just on as a substitute for the misfiring Ledgister, was bought down in the area. The ball continued towards Lodge as many on the sidelines waited for the inevitable whistle to blow. It didn’t as Lodge wrapped up his hat trick.
With the damage done Lodge was taken off and a late goal off the head of another substitute Leigh Bremner gave some respectability to the score line, but this turned out to be a mere consolation when Wilson-Denis scored with five minutes to go of normal time. This is only his second goal in the league this season, and his strike ratio seems to have left him. As a provider he is on much more solid ground.
Ledgister, signed amongst great fanfare although not rated well by fans of Woking for whom he spent a season with recently, had two early chances and ought to have converted them. One shot was kicked into the ground and found Jack Smelt in the visitors’ goal easily, when Ledgister was clear on goal and a second very soon after was shot weakly straight towards Smelt.
In goal was Ashlee Jones, as Luke Garrard remained on the bench, following the birth of a daughter two days before. He played well and was not tested too often, and when he was he had the goal covered. He only had to pick the ball out of the net once and whether that is testament to the defence, they cleared up most attacks before they could develop.
Final Score Kingstonian 4 v 1 Cray Wanderers.
So there you have it, can I get my act together enough to get to a K’s game before xmas, watch this space.
