Harrow Borough 2-2 Kingstonian
BORO SHOUTING FOR MOURI

Kingstonian picked up another Ryman Premier point this weekend by drawing 2-2 at Harrow Borough but, having led 2-0 at half-time, it felt more like two points dropped as the struggling North London side wiped out K's advantage.

New signing from Dorking Jean-Serge Musungu made his debut replacing Kenny Ojukwa, Bashiru Alimi came back into the side for Martyn Lee and goalkeeper Alan Hughes returned to the starting line-up. Giles Coke wore the captain's armband.

Kingstonian's last trip to Earlsmead, in the Conference South Playoffs, saw K's win on penalties after two hours of turgid football had produced a 0-0 draw. Today's game, on the other hand, was very open from the first few minutes and a repeat scoreline was never on the cards.

Musungu announced his arrival in the fourth minute, volleying a Mazin Ahmad corner goalwards. Harrow's Mali international goalkeeper Keita Karamoko parried the ball clear and Perry Norman was forced to hack the ball over his own crossbar to prevent any K's players getting a sniff of the follow-up.

Two minutes later it was Borough who were threatening when Hughes missed a corner and Alimi had to clear Harrow captain Dean Marney's header off the line. Next Marney tried his luck from 30 yards but despite the significant curl he got on the shot Hughes saved easily.

Kingstonian took the lead on 19 minutes. An Ahmad corner was cleared to left-back David Timothy but he pumped the ball straight back into the box. Jamie Palmer did well to control the ball under pressure as it came over his shoulder and then he rolled it across for Musungu who beat Karamoko with a well-placed shot from twelve yards out.

Winger Howard Newton was often dangerous for Harrow and on 27 minutes he cut inside with a superb pacy run to set up veteran striker Ken Charlery but Hughes charged off his line to save with his legs. K's were after a second and after Karamoko could only push away a Phil Ruggles volley, Marvyn Watson only just beat Musungu to the rebound to deny the debutant a golden opportunity.

Six minutes before half time the second goal came. Ahmad made amends for a couple of poor crosses by beating flamboyant full-back Clemente Lopez and then delivering an excellent low cross from which Palmer beat Karamoko to score his first goal for the club.

Shortly after the interval Ahmad almost set up another goal, but Musungu narrowly failed to get a touch to his free kick and it bounced through to Karamoko. Lee replaced the injured Timothy but Harrow began to take control of the game and on 56 minutes Hughes did well to save a Marney header.

Just after the hour mark Ahmad cleared a Marney header off the line following a corner, but the ball ended up at the feet of Norman and substitute Naoki Mouri deflected his drive past Hughes to pull one back for Borough.

A long-range drive from Lopez was ricocheted wide and Harrow's dominance was only briefly curtailed when Musungu broke in behind their defence and forced Karamoko into a save with his legs. A vicious shot from Newton hit Richard Taylor's foot before landing on top of the crossbar and a minute later Mouri had the ball in the net but it was ruled out for offside.

The equaliser came on 73 minutes when Hughes and Taylor left Newton's near post cross for each other while Mouri stole into the gap and was left with an easy finish from six yards out. Ahmad was replaced by Luke Muldowney but this did nothing to stem the tide of Harrow's attacking play as Hughes had to save well from first Newton and then Lopez.

Five minutes from time Muldowney had a glorious chance to put K's back in the lead but he was unable to make contact with Musungu's good cross. In injury time Mouri and Fabio Valenti combined well to set up Victor Asompang - he found the net, but again the goal was ruled out for offside and the two teams took a point apiece from this entertaining match.

Kingstonian were left wondering how having done so well in the first half they were so poor in the second. Eventually K's fans were happy to get a point, so in control were Harrow during the last half an hour. Normally a point away from home is a good result but K's are running out of time to score points and need a run of victories, not draws, if they are to somehow avoid the drop.