Ramsgate 3-3 Kingstonian
THREE GOALS, NOT POINTS

Two divisions separated these clubs when they met just over a year ago in the FA Cup, and fortunes have remained distinctly contrasted since the Rams scored a cup upset that day. Whilst the hosts have enjoyed an excellent start to life in Ryman One, K's have taken their time to settle and travelled to the Kent coast hoping that their run in the FA Trophy would kick-start a stalling league campaign.

Just two of the Kingstonian team took to the field in the last encounter in Richard Taylor and Jon Coke, whilst goalkeeper Mark Torcaso and James Rose returned for their second debuts with the club. New signing Steve Symes also started.

The long throw of Richard Taylor was a key weapon in the opening exchanges, calling for the attention of home goalkeeper Danny Twyman. His defence, meanwhile were tested by a couple of high balls seeking strikers Tony Reid and James Rose. Yet just before the half hour mark the Rams backline were all at sea when another Taylor throw was nodded in for the opening goal by Reid, barely ten yards out and totally unchallenged. Tyman's dive to his left was as hopeful as it was hopeless.

Just a couple of minutes later, and the lead could have been doubled after Bashiru Almi redelivered a Martyn Lee corner into the box for Rose to strike into the ground and comfortably into the welcoming arms of Tywman.

The scores were soon levelled from a set piece after Julian Sills was adjudged to have fouled Shane Suter just outside the box. Steffan Ball struck a fine effort across the despairing dive of Torcaso to level the scores with ten minutes left in the half.

And in the closing stages came an increased drive from the home side. A menacing cross by Ball was dealt with by Jon Coke at the far post, while Ben Laslett was afforded space to shoot coming in from the left channel. His shot was blocked as Ian McDonald's men held on to keep the scores level going into the break.

No sooner had the game restarted, K's retook the lead following their own set piece. Martyn Lee won a free kick out of the right, which he then proceeded to deliver into the box. Twyman made a hash of dealing with it and ended up patting the ball down to the feet of James Rose to ruthlessly tuck away.

Witht the competitive nature of the game coming through, the Rams took advantage of a stricken Paul Wetherall lying on the ground to attack through Ed Vahid and Steffan Ball combining down the right. Substitute Sam Denly headed home the cross coming in from the back post to level once more.

This time the response was immediate as Kingstonian retook the lead for the third time in the game. A midfield surge from Coke down towards the left by-line saw the K's man deliver a low cross across the face of goal for Rose to shrug off the attention of his man and place the ball past Twyman once more.

Debutant Steve Symes was called upon to clear Ollie Schultz's header from a corner off the line whilst Rose threw himself to block a strike. Things were certainly hotting up as the game entered its final stages.

A scuffle of two later and Steffan Ball once again threatened from a dead ball. This time his free kick was dramatically tipped onto the angle of the post as Torcaso flew to his right of his goal. Rewarded in kind, the goalkeeper was given the goal kick.

With just eight minutes remaining, Torcaso was left helpless as the home side switched play from right to the left and then back again before Stuart Vahid fired against the crossbar. Ball followed up with the rebound, but his effort lacked power and the goalkeeper gathered comfortably.

Deep into stoppage time, Twyman's launched a long range free kick which caused havoc in the K's penalty area. And in the melee, Liam Morris managed to poke the ball past the scrambling defence and goalkeeper to ensure a share of the spoils.

The Kingstonian contingent were understandably gutted by the way the game had ended, especially given that they had taken the lead on three occasions. The opponents, however, were certainly plucky and showed why they have enjoyed such a strong start to the season. The showing was something to build on, though with every game comes an increased urgency to improve that little bit quicker.