Sutton United 1-6 Kingstonian
KS BEAT RYMAN RESERVES IN FARCE-ITY SHIELD

When the teams were announced, it was clear that K's were taking this game more seriously than Sutton. The visitors had made two changes from the team listed in the programme, whereas Sutton had not changed two players from their published side. It was a case of Conference versus Ryman second string players, and the result was never in doubt. A crowd of just 403 were there to see the game, which, at times, was played a bit like a friendly. One interested spectator was Paul Harford, the Farnborough midfielder, who may well be on his way to Kingston.

Kingstonian started brightly, and were almost ahead as soon as the eighth minute. A Colin Luckett shot from the edge of the area struck the Sutton post and bounced away. A corner just minutes later was met by Gavin Holligan, starting for just the second time this season, which produced an excellent save. But if K's thought that Sutton were going to let them walk all over them, they were wrong. As we have seen a few times recently, there was a problem with communication in the K's defence, allowing a ball to get through to Danny Tanner, who was left with just Simon Brown to beat. The goalkeeper did his job by closing the angle and saved Tanner's first shot. But his follow up gave Brown no chance, and Sutton took the lead.

However, this was the only time that the K's defence was worried until very late in the game. Geoff Pitcher almost drew the scores level with a free-kick from the edge of the penalty area which flicked off the wall, while a Gavin Holligan run ended with his shot striking a defender while seemingly on its way in. It took until just before the half hour mark for the equaliser to come and, once it had, there was no looking back.

1-1 : A good move between Holligan and Joe Francis allowing Eddie Akuamoah to tuck the ball under the goalkeeper.

2-1 : A Gary Patterson cross was touched home by Colin Luckett at the far post.

3-1 : A throw reached Patterson in acres of space in the Sutton area, and he was able to score his first goal of the season.

4-1 : A Francis cross from the left was headed out by a Sutton defender, but it only reached Eddie, who scored K's fourth just before the break.

The second half saw a debut for Russ Watkinson who came on for Tarkan Mustafa. He showed his speed during the rest of the game, but couldn't quite find anyone with his crosses. But at one point, he ran at the defence, who forced him across the area. A quick pass to Scott Corbett allowed him to cross for Geoff Pitcher to head home the fifth of the night.

By now, most people just wanted the game to finish with no injuries - but unfortunately, their prayers weren't answered. A foul by Luckett somehow ended with the K's defender lying in pain on the ground and, when play finally stopped, he left the field on a stretcher. It was reported that he has a suspected broken foot, although this is not definite. If this is true, there will be an immediate problem, as the only player who seems capable of filling that position is Eddie, who would be badly missed up front.

The final goal came just before the end, with Kingstonian by now down to ten men. Gavin Holligan, who again had a superb match, crossed from the left to allow Corbett to score. He seemed about as excited as the K's-ites behind the goal as he made a feeble attempt at a smile. So the game ended and Matt Crossley lifted his fourth trophy in six months. Although they were only playing the Sutton reserves, we can only hope that this has helped to restore some confidence in K's as they did look impressive at times. The partnership between Eddie and Holligan worked well - perhaps we'll be more likely to see this as a starting pair from now on. Only time will tell.