Kingstonian 1-0 Yeovil Town
K'S SERA SERA

The game that Chapple wanted to see played at Wembley in the final turned out to be a game which will be talked about for some time to come (partly for reasons that we won't go into here). With seconds left on the clock, it looked like another journey to the West-Country would be required, but travel plans were ripped up when Simon Stewart rose to head K's into the quarter finals of the FA Trophy in four weeks time. Farrelly had recovered from his knee injury enough to take his place in goal, although he looked to have trouble kicking all afternoon, while Kofi Nyamah replaced the suspended Colin Luckett at left-back.

The visitors certainly started brightest, in fact K's rarely got a kick in the first ten minutes. Gary Patterson, still being barracked for his September foul at Huish Park, got himself booked as early as the sixth minute by pulling back Steve Thompson. The referee obviously wanted to stamp his authority on the game at an early stage, but must have regretted stamping quite so hard as the game wore on. The pull back itself probably didn't deserve a yellow card, but it seems quite clear that if fans do target Patto, he finds it difficult to concentrate on his game.

The first clear chance fell to Yeovil as a long ball from Hannigan was collected by Owen Pickard. Simon Stewart screamed for offside, but play was waved on, and it was only the interception of Matt Crossley which prevented the lead being taken. But K's seemed to have weathered the storm. A good move ended with a Tarkan Mustafa cross being dummied by Eddie, leaving Dave Leworthy to hit a shot which was deflected inches wide for a corner. Having said that, Yeovil then created some more good chances. Murray Fishlock hit a free-kick just over and Pickard had a good shot saved well by Farrelly.

Then came one of the two incidents of the game. A 50/50 ball was up for grabs in the centre circle, and Gary Patterson went in against Kevan Brown (also booked earlier) with his studs showing. The foul was given, the ref called Patto over , and Chapple must have started planning to play the rest of the game with ten men. But remarkably nothing happened. A lecture was deemed to be punishment enough by Mr.A.P.Durso, but the message was clear to all - do it again and you're off.

There was just time for Eddie to have a chance in the area, only to lose his footing, before the whistle went for half-time. With Patterson so obviously close to dismissal, everybody expected a change to be made - although Scott Corbett isn't quite up to the number 7's standards, eleven men will always be better than ten. But 4 o'clock came, and Patterson ran out to face another forty-five (if he was lucky).

But something had happened - K's now looked by far the best team. The back-three were performing superbly, and the midfield were stamping on any Yeovil creativity. Having said that, there were still few chances being made. Leworthy shot wide after a long throw, but then the second incident occurred. Patterson (who's now set a record for mentions in a K's Web report) jumped with Yeovil skipper Steve Stott. Sadly no defence of the K's man is possible - he lead with his elbow, caught Stott in the head who was then lead from the field, and was once more called over to the referee. The fact that no red card was produced was a travesty. The foul alone was worth a sending off, but when added to his previous caution and lecture, it has to be said that the referee was plainly in the wrong.

But K's still had eleven men, and after Fishlock had struck the bar with a free-kick, it was once more all K's pressure. From this moment on it was merely a question of whether K's would score before the end or not. Patterson shot just wide, Rattray connected with a Crossley ball in but didn't manage to hit the target, Pitcher also missed after a fine run, Leworthy scraped the bar with a shot from the edge of the box and Eddie shot weakly from about three yards out seeing Pennock save his effort.

Eight-nine minutes were on the clock when the breakthrough finally came. Kofi Nyamah, who up until now hadn't performed as well as he (hopefully) can, took a free-kick from the right wing. The three centre halves were all up and it was (uh-uh) Simon Stewart's head which connected to send the ball into the top left-hand corner of the net. Half of the 1,783 crowd (counting never was Chris Kelly's strong point) celebrated as they knew that there was little chance that Yeovil would come back.

The visitors won three corners on the trot but K's stood firm, and from the third, Pitcher lead a charge downfield. A pass to Eddie saw him in a one-on-one with Fishlock with the chance to make sure of a place in the last eight. The goalkeeper's feet denied him, but it wasn't important. The whistle blew and K's could celebrate. The players' faces were proof, if it were needed, that they had heeded Chapple's message that they had to want it. Leworthy in particular seemed to be overjoyed as the chance of a Wembley swan-song was still possible. K's fans may well have been both outnumbered and outsung, but the eleven on the pitch showed that it is going to take a very good team to prevent Matt Crossley climbing the Wembley steps on May 15th.