Kingstonian 5-1 Barrow
K'S GAVIN IT LARGE

Kingstonian finally recorded a win, for the first time in five league games, and in some style. Jerome John was back in goal as Simon Brown had injured himself during training the day before and David Leworthy came straight back into the team after being rested on Tuesday. This meant that, once again, Gavin Holligan had to start the game watching from the bench. Colin Luckett had impressively recovered from his "suspected broken foot" in four days to take his place in the line-up.

Second-bottom Barrow, who have only beaten lowly Woking on their travels this year, were behind just minutes into the game. Joe Francis combined well with Tarkan Mustafa, whose deep cross was met by Gary Patterson, who headed strongly past Tony Parks in the Barrow goal. The lead was almost doubled soon after when a superb move, involving Francis and Mustafa again, ended with a Leworthy header being well saved. It seemed that K's had finally regained the confidence that they had exhibited at the start of the season, and were able to move the ball quickly and accurately, and were threatening to overrun Barrow.

The visitors only real shot of note in the first half came from Ged Kielty from some 25 yards. Jerome John, who looked confident in all that he had to do, seemed to have the ball covered as it flew over. An interesting battle was developing between Mark Harris and the Barrow skipper, Gary Bauress. After a foul by Barrow's Marc Coates, for which he was yellow carded, Geoff Pitcher sent a long free-kick into the box. Harris managed to get ahead of Bauress and saw his header saved. Just a minute later, as the pair again awaited a free-kick from Pitcher, some pushing and shoving, and possibly some elbowing, was spotted by the linesman with the result that both Harris and Bauress were cautioned.

An impressive half from Kingston ended with an Eddie Akuamoah run and cross, which fell just short of Leworthy. From the resulting corner, the goalkeeper clearly pushed the K's striker out of the way before collecting the ball, but K's didn't appeal too strongly. Geoff Chapple must have been happy at half-time - his side had performed well and probably deserved to be more than one goal up. The midfield looked strong, with Patterson popping up all over the pitch. His passing and tackling are so important to K's - it's just a shame that he sometimes seems unable to keep his head.

The crowd of 1,281, again the lowest of the season, were treated to a start similar to the first half in the second - Mustafa intercepted a pass from Kielty and set Leworthy free on the right. Eddie managed to get into the box and met Leworthy's near post cross with a sliding finish into the bottom corner. But the two goal lead lasted just three minutes. Andy Mutch picked up a lose ball on the Barrow left and sent a low hard ball across the face of the K's six yard box. It looked as though everybody had missed it, but Mark Seagraves, standing at the far post, just managed to steer the ball home to make the score 2-1.

After twenty minutes of the first half, comedy came to Kingsmeadow. A foul by Geoff Pitcher was rightly punished with a free-kick to Barrow. For some reason, Seagraves threw Simon Stewart to the ground, who was then left lying in pain on the turf. Referee Mr. S.Tomlins from Lewes, perhaps being a medical expert, decided that Stewart had no cause to see the physio, who was not allowed onto the pitch. After a couple of moments, Stewart managed to struggle to his feet. Just after this, Marc Coates was fouled, and he decided to mimic Simon Stewart, by lying on the ground and rolling around, seemingly in agony. The referee obviously had no time for mickey takers, and so produced a yellow card. As Coates had already been cautioned for an earlier foul, the red card followed and Coates, much to his dismay, had to be coaxed down the tunnel by a Barrow substitute.

After this interlude, K's tried to get everybody's mind back onto the football. All three subs were introduced, and they definitely made a difference. Scott Corbett looked very impressive in midfield, and his cross on 30 minutes was met by fellow-substitute Holligan. He met the ball on the half-volley, with the side of his foot from the edge of the box, and the ball flew past Parks. Holligan immediately took off towards the K's bench, perhaps saying "I told you so". His second goal came just five minutes later. Mustafa was again the supplier, and Holligan the grateful recipient. The cross was slightly behind the K's striker, but he managed to twist his neck around to get enough power into his header to direct it into the top corner.

By now, every time that Kingston attacked, it seemed likely that they would score. Kevin Rattray headed a Luckett cross over, another Holligan cross/shot was almost met by Corbett on the far post, and Holligan again almost completed his hat-trick. Luckett played him into space behind the Barrow defence, but his shot went straight at the goalkeeper.

There was still time for Barrow's own attack - a free-kick from Mutch beat both the K's wall and Jerome John, who was relieved to see the ball bounce out from his left-hand post. But there was no stopping Kingstonian now. Corbett was played into space by Patterson. His pass to Mustafa on the right allowed the full-back the time to look up and see Akuamoah in space in the middle. His pass was inch perfect for Eddie to seal victory with K's fifth.

Barrow probably didn't deserve to be beaten by five goals to one, but when K's are in the sort of attacking mood that they were in, it would take a very well organised defence to keep them out. The introduction of the substitutes certainly helped the cause. Scott Corbett was passing and running as well as he ever has before, and Gavin Holligan, the sponsors man of the match, could do no wrong. As against Farnborough a few weeks back, his enthusiasm and energy, coupled with his skill, were there for all to see. Two goals in fifteen minutes isn't a bad return, and the question, once again, must be when he will replace David Leworthy in the starting line-up.