Kingstonian 2-2 Charlton Athletic
WINGERS TOO ATHLETIC

The first visit of a Premiership team (albeit in the guise of Charlton's reserves) to Kingsmeadow for, ooh, ages, looked for some time as though it would end depressingly for the hosts. But a come-back, inspired by two goals from Phil Wingfield, provided the perfect tonic to the bad news that was to follow the next evening.

The game started worryingly for K's, with Liam Garman limping off to join defensive counterpart Peter Barnsby on the sidelines. This did however give Mark Jones the chance to show Steve Sedgley that he really is good enough to start.

Photo: kingstonian.net

Lance Key was called upon to produce one very good early save when Jamal Campbell-Ryce was played in by Gavin Bulger, and Charlton's Paul Robson had to make a last-ditch tackle on Dave Clarke after Dave Sadler had played him through.

The break-through came for Charlton though, and it came from a depressingly familiar story. Andrew Wells crossed from the right and the unmarked Bulger headed home from twelve yards. The lead was doubled just before the break too, when Campbell-Ryce played a right-wing corner to the edge of the box, from where substitute Chris Cerroni shot home.

Photo: kingstonian.net

The second-half saw a change of formation for K's as 3-5-2 became 4-4-2 with the introduction of Liam Collins for Sean Thurgood. It didn't take long for fortunes to change either. Collins crossed from the right, Andrew Wells missed it, Wingfield snuck in and poked the ball past Ben Roberts to halve the deficit.

Several more changes were made by the K's management team as the search for an equaliser continued. It finally came with 66 minutes on the clock. Collins took a quick free-kick on the right, Greg Ball played it back to him from where he crossed to the far post. Dave Sadler met the ball ahead of Wells and headed square to allow Wingfield to head his second of the game (below).

Photo: kingstonian.net

The remaining excitement of the game surrounded K's substitute Craig Lewington. After kicking two of the Charlton players, his third transgression saw a foul on Neil McCafferty finally convince the referee to take some action. Lewington was "asked to leave the field" as James Pinnock made an unwanted re-appearance.

The new-look K's front-line of Dave Ocquaye and Mark Royal had a couple of chances between them, and Adrian Jones made one very good save at the other end as the game reached its equal conclusion.

This was another fairly good display from K's. Although they weren't up against Charlton's first team (who were "enjoying" a trip to Stevenage), these were all full-time players - some of whom have experience of the Premiership. Liam Collins in particular will have made Sedgley sit up and take note, and the manager probably wasn't too down-hearted about the up-coming season. Until the next day.