Kingstonian 2-1 AFC Wimbledon
BALLSEYE

AFC Wimbledon's first appearance at their newly adopted - for a season at least - home was most probably the "biggest" match of the season for both participants. The pre-match interest was all focussed on the not-Milton-Keynes-bound Dons, leaving the Kingstonian team to prepare for the match without being bothered by camera crews.

Photo: kingstonian.net

A strong line-up was announced by Steve Sedgley, with Greg Ball and Dave Sadler paired up-front, and with Liam Collins displacing James Pinnock. It should of course be remembered that a "Kingstonian XI" was kicking off at Lewes at exactly the same time* as the first team, presumably explaining the reason for some of the notable absentees from the bench - such as Ronnie Green.
^{* (if the kick-off hadn't been delayed.....)}

The first-half saw all of the action at the thankfully airy Kingston Road End, as Liam Collins showed exactly why he is keeping Pinnock out of the starting line-up. Dave Towse - the AFC Wimbledon left-back - had a torrid time trying to keep up with the K's wing-man, and indeed failed to do so on several occasions.

Wingfield should have opened the scoring after just five minutes when he struck wide with his right foot after Collins had crossed. Sadler - yet to break his pre-season duck - was next to miss the target when he volleyed a Wingfield cross wide just a minute later.

Collins kept up the pressure on Towse with a succession of runs and crosses, but none were converted. Greg Ball spurned one opportunity by shooting into the midriff of Simon Bassey who had conveniently laid down in front of him on the edge of the six yard box. Wingfield was next up to miss with the next three opportunities. Each time Collins beat Towse only to see his cross headed wide by the winger.

Photo: kingstonian.net

The opening goal finally came just after the half-hour mark - and Collins wasn't involved at all. Greg Ball played a ball inside Keith Ward for Wingfield to run onto. This he did, and made up for his terrible first touch by burying the ball into Andy Bell's net with his second.

The goal was totally deserved, but at the break several of the K's contingent were worried that the domination hadn't resulted in more goals.

A whole host of changes at half-time saw a completely different K's team take the field, but for the first ten minutes the match followed the same pattern. Wimbledon did come close when substitute Daniel Jones headed marginally wide from a right-wing corner within the first minute, but the second goal of the evening fell to the hosts.

James Pinnock took up where Collins had left off, ran at Towse and then played in Ball on the edge of the area. The striker turned quickly, looked up to see Bell some three centimetres off of his line and produced a chip of sheer perfection. The ball struck the underside of the bar before it crossed the line (below, apparently), but it really was a very good finish.

Photo: kingstonian.net

This seemed to signal the end of any promising activity from the hooped ones though. The visitors started to take charge of the midfield area, and it was no real surprise when they pulled a goal back. Jones ran at, and beat, Jon Leacock on the left and pulled the ball back from the goal-line. There waiting was David Fry, who bicycle-kicked himself into the history books by scoring AFC's first goal at their new home.

Additional changes from both sides took any real flow out of the match - which was probably a good thing for K's as the Dons were certainly on top for a time after they scored. Matt Elverson was called upon to produce a last-ditch tackle when Leacock played a woefully short back pass. Lance Key was sweating before Elvo stopped Kevin Cooper in his tracks.

The clearest chance of the last few minutes fell to Sadler, who was thwarted by Wimbledon's substitute goalkeeper. After playing a one-two with Ball, Sadler really should have done better with his effort from twelve yards, as he just failed to squeeze the ball under the goalkeeper's body.

Photo: kingstonian.net

The final whistle saw a slightly strange pitch invasion as the Dons' fans celebrated their homecoming. They certainly didn't disgrace themselves, although had K's had their shooting boots/foreheads on in the first-half they may well have done.

As for Kingstonian - it was another encouraging performance. Nobody wants to be Wimbledon's first "victims" and the two-one win means that K's won't be in the history books for that inauspicious reason.

Good performances from Lance Key, Liam Collins, Dave Clarke and Greg Ball in particular will have encouraged those watching who will be back on August 17th - but it was a fairly solid performance from the whole team.