Kingstonian 3-1 Tooting & Mitcham
K'S PROGRESS TO "PRESTIGIOUS" SEMI-FINAL

Kingstonian were placed in something of an unwinnable situation for this County Cup match, as Tooting and Mitcham were also playing a Ryman League Division Two match on the same evening and had received permission from the Surrey FA to send their reserves to complete the fixture that neither team wanted to play. And so K's responded in kind by leaving out several of their (under-performing) stars meaning debuts for Alan Flanagan, Shane Franklin and Billy Mead. There were also welcome returns for Mark Beard and Phil Wingfield.

In truth the outcome was never really in doubt, although there were some furrowed brows around the half-time mark when Tooting held the lead. Their goal came on fifteen minutes thanks to Roy Jellow who got onto the end of a through ball which Franklin was hopelessly out of position to intercept. That mistake was compounded by the laughable positioning from Flanagan who seemed to be guarding just the one side of his goal as the ball unsurprisingly entered the other.

K's did have chances in the first half, and they really shouldn't have been behind. Sammy Winston had several chances but through a combination of poor finishing and not a couple of decent saves from Chris Bouchez his personal scoresheet remained blank. In fact his best shot of the night saw the ball fly wide of goal, bounce once and then hit a little kid - who had gallantly gone to retrieve the ball - in the face.

It took just five minutes of the second half for the scores to be levelled, and when they were the goal came from a pleasing source: Phil Wingfield's left foot (or should that be knee?). Mark Beard crossed from the right and Wingers made a complete hash of scoring in the almost-empty net, but was relieved when some part of his anatomy made enough contact to knock the ball over the line.

A second goal came just four minutes later and it was a peach. Beard again crossed, this time to Billy Mead, who shot against Dave Eastwood but then rifled the rebound in from some twenty-five yards. It was a fine strike and it might even have gone in had goalkeeper Bouchez attempted to stop it. He didn't though and so K's were two-one up.

From this point on it seemed to become a competition of who could set up a good enough chance for Winston to score. Nobody managed it though, as he headed a Beard cross in the wrong direction, then hit a shot straight at Bouchez when through and then produced a very good save from the stopper after good work from substitute Ronnie Green.

K's should have had at least two penalties but neither was given. But the game was finally wrapped up with some four minutes left. Ronnie Green crossed from the right, Winston missed his header and then Eddie Akuamoah shot home from ten yards out.

And so, as expected, K's progressed to the semi-finals of the second-most-pointless competition of the season (after the Variety Club Trophy). There they will face Whyteleafe in another game which nobody wants to see played. Every single team in Surrey has better things to do in April and May, yet we are assured that the game will be played. But whether anybody will care is another matter entirely.