Kingstonian 0-2 Ford United
MOTORMEN UP TO SPEED
Just two weeks after the two-two draw at the Oakside Stadium, Ford United and Kingstonian battled out part two of their mini-series with a few bit parts absent. John Buffong - amusingly sent off in the first encounter - was serving the first match of his suspension for his misdemeanour, whilst K's had three of their regulars - Peter Barnsby, Phil Wingfield and Grant Payne - sat on the bench, with a couple of others not included in the sixteen at all.
To be fair - and why be anything else? - the first half an hour of the match was a total non-event. Scott Smith, making his debut at centre-half, looked an accomplished player, and managed to deal with anything that Ford threw forward. The visitors' plans were upset somewhat when Chris Perkins was felled by an innocuous challenge from Tim Sills and subsequently stretchered off.
As the half neared its conclusion things started to hot up somewhat. Mervin Abraham was giving the K's defence some worries, and he stormed down the right on the half hour mark. He cut in behind Bashiru Alimi and fired a good shot goalwards. Lance Key saved, momentarily lost the ball and recovered before Glen Poole could pounce. Not a minute later and it was a defender - in this case Matt Flitter - coming to Key's rescue. A corner from the left was met by Alex Fiddes, but Flitter managed to turn the ball around the post for another corner.
K's best chance fell to Tim Sills, but his header from a James Pinnock corner was disappointingly wide. David Collis was called upon to head out from under his own crossbar just before the break when a Sills cross caused problems, but no hooped shirt was really close enough to make the clearance anything other than routine.
Scott Edgar blasted the first chance of the second half just over after he had turned well past Collis on the edge of the box, but it was Ford who struck first. As the wind and rain edged towards gale-proportions, Collis sent a high looping free-kick into the K's box. Poole got a slight touch forward, and in pounced Abraham to beat Key low to his right for the opening goal.
A succession of changes followed for K's - the first enforced after Max Hustwick was the victim of a very late challenge (so late that nobody could even name the miscreant) and was stretchered off. Grant Payne and Ronnie Green were introduced in a bid to pull back an equaliser, but Ford were happy to sit back and soak up pressure with their lead intact.
Abraham headed marginally wide from another long Collis ball forward in a rare foray into the K's half for Ford, but the majority of chances were now falling to those in hoops. A fine run from Pinnock ended with a shot being deflected out wide to Sills, but his shot served only to amuse as some nutter behind the goal headed the ball back into play.
With ten minutes remaining Pinnock and Sills combined to craft a chance for Green, but his turn some twelve yards out didn't quite create the room that he required. He managed to get his shot in, but a touch from Fiddes saw the ball deflect just wide of Phil Wilson's left-hand post.
As the game trickled towards its unmistakable conclusion, a rare break from the visitors saw more reward. Yet another free-kick was pumped forward by Collis, Poole collected and turned in the box only to be felled by the challenge of <:< insert name here > >. The referee had no doubt that a penalty kick was deserved, so up strode Poole to beat Key to his left.
The second goal was possibly harsh on K's, and they spent the remaining minutes doing all they could to cut the deficit. A couple of scrambles inside the Ford box ensued, with Payne and Sills having half-chances, but the Motormen held out for their three points and clean sheet.
After Saturday's dominant display, albeit against relegation candidates Chesham, K's will be disappointed to have lost this game. For some reason there appears to have been a reversal of fortunes, with away matches now producing the majority of points, leaving the home faithful somewhat lacking.
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Tue 1st Apr 2003 |
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Kingsmeadow Stadium |
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267 |
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Isthmian League Premier |
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Kingstonian | 0 |
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Ford United | 2 |
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1 | Lance Key | | |
2 | Max Hustwick | | 12 |
3 | Matt Flitter | | |
4 | Craig Lewington | | |
5 | Matt Elverson | | 14 |
6 | Scott Smith | | |
7 | Dave Clarke | | |
8 | James Pinnock | | |
9 | Tim Sills | | |
10 | Scott Edgar | | 16 |
11 | Bashiru Alimi | | |
12 | Peter Barnsby | | 2 |
13 | Adrian Jones | | |
14 | Ronnie Green | | 5 |
15 | Phil Wingfield | | |
16 | Grant Payne | | 10 |
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James Pinnock |
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Gary Ekins |
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