Kingstonian 0-1 Hendon
OFORI IS THE DON

Kingstonian's less than wonderful home form continued apace with a one goal defeat against Dave Anderson's always efficient Hendon team. Seemingly never spectacular, Hendon usually get things done somehow, and this was no different, as an early goal gave the men in white and green the three points.

The game started badly for the Ks when Mark Beard was clumped by Hendon's midfielder Jon-Barrie Bates in the fourth minute. The referee took an age to give Bates a lecture, and didn't even produce a card at the end. This would turn out to be an important moment, as Ks' captain did not recover from this late tackle.

However, when players were not being fouled, the home team looked the more likely to score. After seven minutes Kingstonian won a corner. Beard passed it to Scott Steele, who gave it back. Beard lashed a cross to the far post where Matt Elverson and Stafford Browne got in the way. However, the ball fell nicely to the defender, whose snap shot was on target, but Dave King saved well between the Hendon sticks.

Two minutes after that, Liam Collins released Browne down the right wing. He burned Mark Burgess to a crisp, raced to the byline, but his cross evaded Grant Payne and Scott Steele's shot was too close to the goalkeeper, who made another good save.

In the eleventh minute, the Ks had another good chance. A through ball from Payne to Browne almost saw the Ks forward clear on goal, but Burgess and Eugene Ofori were able to put Browne off his stride, the shot was blocked, went for a corner, which was badly wasted.

The fourteenth minute saw Hendon's first cohesive attack, and the game's only goal. An Andy Cook header looped over Stephen Broad to Ofori, who found himself clear at an acute angle inside the six yard box. Ofori blasted a shot goalwards, it beat Ks' keeper Lance Key at the near post, actually hit the post, and went into the net for what defensively was a disappointing goal to concede.

In the 19th minute, a glorious opportunity to double the lead was wasted by Ofori. Some slack defensive work ended with a Max Hustwick clearance smacking against Ofori. The Hendon forward found himself clear on goal with only Key to beat, but his shot floated harmlessly wide.

The defence found itself in some more uncharacteristic chaos after 23 minutes. A long ball into the penalty area was half punched away by Key, who found himself very close to the edge of the 18 yard area. Ricci Crace's shot was blocked by Key, who was now way out of position. Ofori's shot was blocked by Hustwick, and the young Ks defender, together with Elverson and Steele somehow managed to scramble the ball away in what was an unseemly stramash.

Ks' had a huge blow after 27 minutes when captain Beard had to go off the field injured after that early late hit, and then eight minutes after that Scott Steele had to leave the field hurt. Chris Bangura and Dave Timothy took their places, but the leadership in midfield was destroyed and the Ks would not be as threatening for the rest of the match.

Stephen Broad tried his best and was at the centre of two tremendous chances that deserved better fortune. Just after the Steele substitution, a Collins corner was met by Broad, but his header snicked the cross bar and went over. Then, right on the end of the half, a superb Broad cross found Browne, whose cracking leap and header forced the best out of King, who tipped the ball over the bar. Unfortunately the corner was wasted.

Hendon had an excellent chance at the beginning of the second half. After Hustwick only half cleared the ball out of the area, Lance Key was out of position a second time. He took his time getting back in position, where Crace didn't realise what a golden opportunity he had, he should have gone for goal much quicker than he did, but in the event his shot evaded Key, hit the post and the chance was gone.

Two minutes after that, in the 49th, some incredible fortune nearly doubled Hendon's lead. A wild shot from Andy Cook was viciously sliced to the wing, where Scott Cousins was waiting. His cross was magnificent; as was the Crace header, but the other post this time was introduced to the ball and the score stayed 1-0.

In the 54th minute, some tremendous battling from Browne inside the penalty area could possibly have resulted in a spot kick had Browne gone down, but he stayed on his feet under severe pressure and passed back to an ideally positioned Payne. Unfortunately, the Ks' number nine's shot only threatened the passengers on the top deck of a passing 131 bus.

Hendon nearly punished the Ks three minutes later, when a poor Hustwick clearance found Dave Hunt. His shot was wickedly deflected off Elverson, looped up nastily, and Key managed to scramble back and make an excellent save, tipping the ball over the bar.

Chris Bangura was running his socks off for less than no reward, but he was the catalyst for a good Ks move after 70 minutes, when on the right wing he beat his defender and crossed tantalisingly for Stafford Browne. As the crowd began to prepare their script for the result of the expected Browne header, Dave King came out of nowhere to pluck the ball out of mid-air.

Kingstonian had plenty of the ball as the game neared its ending, but Dave King was rarely threatened. The one time in the closing stages that he was, he was equal to the task. A Collins cross resulted in Dave Timothy beating King to the high ball. The Ks substitute guided it to Browne, but his shot was superbly saved by the recovering goalkeeper. Unfortunately, the resultant corner was hit straight into the side netting, and Ks final chance disappeared.

And so Hendon continued their good run of form against Kingstonian, and Kingstonian continued their poor form at the Kingsmeadow Stadium. With three consecutive home cup games approaching fast, the Ks will have to turn this around and turn it around quick, otherwise the winter will turn out to be a long one.