Kingstonian 2-3 Chelmsford City
Hats Off To Ansell

Ninety minutes of entertaining football saw relegation threatened Chelmsford City defeat fellow strugglers Kingstonian by the odd goal in five, thanks to a well-taken hat-trick by Gary Ansell and a superb performance from goalkeeper Paul Nicholls.

Danny Collyer, Ricky Allaway and Kenny Ojukwa returned to the Kingstonian side having missed the Surrey Cup success at Whyteleafe. James Rose was dropped to the bench, while Giles Coke and Bashiru Alimi sat out due to suspension and injury respectively. Club captain Richard Taylor, who has been suffering with back problems in recent weeks, remained on the bench.

It was the visiting side who started the brighter of the two. In the very first minute Gary Cross played a through ball in behind Steve Sanders, the latest man to take on the role of Kingstonian left-back, and Jon Coke was forced to make a splendid challenge denying Ross Parmenter a shooting chance.

Simon Clarke headed wide at the resulting corner, but it was only a minute later that the Clarets took the lead. Young right-back Liam Hopkins crossed for Gary Ansell, who was given too much time and space to slot home from fifteen yards out.

Kingstonian looked to get back in the game with some long range shooting, but neither Collyer nor stand-in captain Martyn Lee managed to test Nicholls. In the eight minute though the Chelmsford stopper was forced to make an excellent save after Phil Ruggles got the better of Hopkins down the left and crossed for Kenny Ojukwa. Ojukwa got in front of his marker and headed forcefully from six yards out, but former Chelsea man Nicholls showed great reflexes to keep his side ahead with a one-handed save.

A minute later he saved again, this time with his legs, charging out to block a Ruggles shot after Mazin Ahmad had split the Chelmsford defence apart with a well-timed through ball. Ansell then fired over from distance for the Essex side before Lee did the same for K's.

On seventeen minutes a Chelmsford corner saw a goalmouth scramble emanate, from which the ball eventually ran loose to Steve Butterworth. His shot was poor though, and Alan Hughes made an easy save. Kingstonian began to look the better side and pushed for an equaliser. Ruggles headed over from a Lee cross, and then Nicholls saved a twenty-yard drive from Ojukwa. A minute later Scott Steele fired another shot wide from outside the penalty area, as K's kept up the pressure but struggled to find their radar from long range.

On thirty-two minutes, against the run of play, Chelmsford should have scored. Ansell got the better of Marien Ifura to find himself in on goal. Hughes came out and denied the former Billericay striker by saving with his foot, but the ball fell behind the young goalkeeper and it required a superb sliding tackle from Jon Coke to stop Ansell having an open goal. Even then the danger was not cleared, but Butterworth rushed his follow-up and fired over with Hughes still out of position.

Three minutes later K's equalised. A Martyn Lee overhead clearance went to Ojukwa, who did brilliantly to control the ball, turn, dribble past Hopkins and on his left foot fire low past Nicholls from the edge of the box to record his first goal for the club.

K's kept up the pressure, and two minutes before the break Lee forced another great save from Nicholls. Latching onto the ball after Collyer miscontrolled it, he fired a fierce first time drive from twenty-five yards. It caught a wicked deflection, but somehow Nicholls stayed on his feet long enough to read the diverted path of the ball and then flung himself to the right and tipped it over the bar.

In stoppage time Chelmsford recaptured the lead. Butterworth, with his foot high in the air, beat Jon Coke to a long ball. It appeared to ricochet off his hand before he played the ball through to the dubiously onside Gary Cross, who squared for Ansell to tap home from six yards out.

Unlike at Eastleigh, where conceding a goal just before the break seemed to deflate K's, they came out fighting. First Ahmad played Ojukwa in and he fired narrowly wide and then Lee came close from distance, but before long K's defending became sloppy and the chances went up the other end.

Ansell was sent clear in the box. Hughes made a good save in a one-on-one situation, and the ball bobbled up to Ifura who appeared to control the ball with his hand before clearing. In the fiftieth minute it became three-one though. Hughes could only push Butterworth's powerful twenty-yarder out to Ansell, who crashed the follow-up home underneath the goalkeeper's body.

Nicholls' one weakness as a goalkeeper was his lack of height, which almost proved costly on fifty-two minutes. Among a gaggle of bigger men he flapped weakly at a Steele corner, which led to a scramble around the penalty spot before Andrew Aransibia cleared.

Taylor came off the bench to replace Allaway as K's looked to strengthen the defence. Thereafter K's had largely the best of the game while Chelmsford sought to defend their lead. Ruggles connected onto a Steele free kick with a diving header, but he could not direct it towards goal. Next Ahmad fired a free kick wide, earned after Hopkins jumped nastily into Steele, an offence for which referee James Linington strangely kept his cards in his pocket.

A mis-hit goal kick from Hughes allowed Aransibia to tee up Ben Crew, who fired wide for Chelmsford, before K's found themselves back in the game on the hour mark. Ruggles' chipped cross was too strong for Ojukwa to get a head to, but Ahmad picked the ball up on the other side of the box. He pulled it back for Collyer, who was tripped from behind by Crew giving K's a penalty.

Ruggles took the spot kick but Nicholls managed to pull off a smart save, only for the ball to rebound back towards the charging Ruggles. Failing to connect properly at the first attempt, the striker's blushes were saved at the expense of Chelmsford's Liam Hopkins who threw himself at the ball and headed it right into the bottom corner to make it three-two. There was a hint of controversy - some of the Chelmsford players had stopped, due to the linesman flagging to signal another spot kick - the referee overruled his assistant though, playing the advantage and allowing the goal to stand.

K's pushed hard for an equaliser. Another cross from Steele found Ahmad, but Adam Holmes blocked his shot and Ian O'Connell cleared. Ahmad came close again on 67 minutes, picking up the second ball from a corner in the Chelmsford D, and hitting a low powerful shot just inches wide.

On 76 minutes Nicholls again came to the rescue of the Clarets. Another long range drive from Lee caught a deflection. Nicholls was already committed to diving left, but kept his eye on the ball and amazingly managed to flick his right foot out and block the ball. He did well again two minutes later, turning a Ruggles header round the post following Ojukwa's cross.

Collyer was replaced by Martyn Williams as K's looked for a goal, but Chelmsford defended well and K's created little in the last fifteen minutes. Cross might have scored a late goal for the visitors, but pulled the ball wide when through on goal. K's last chance was a long-range effort from Ojukwa, but it went wide and it was the team from Essex who took three vital points.

For large parts of the game K's looked the better side. Poor defending once again proved costly though. The line-up at the back is rarely settled - the left-back position in particular rotates almost every game. K's can play good football going forward; Ojukwa was impressive today and Ruggles turned in his usual good performance. Even without Giles Coke in the middle, K's were able to create plentiful chances - but they need wins, and time is already running out if they are to remain in the Ryman Premier next year.