Kingstonian 4-0 Walton Casuals
CASUALS BRUSHED A-SIDE

After dropping yet more points to relegation contenders two weeks ago and a disappointing performance at Tonbridge seven days ago, the play-offs were looking all but out of reach on Monday morning. K's needed not only a comprehensive win, but for other results to go their way as well. Remarkably, all those things happened, and the hoops finished the day with a greatly improved goal difference and just one point away from that all important 6th place.

Photo: Neil Harvey

Kim Harris made his first trip into Kingsmeadow's away dressing room since departing as K's manager, and it was definitely not the return he was looking for. No sooner had he settled himself in to the opposition bench than his side fell behind, with the hoops going ahead with just 49 seconds of play passed. A long ball over the top from Danny Ward found an onside Charley Side who calmly lobbed the keeper to take the lead.

K's dominated early proceedings with route 1 football repeatedly beating what could generously be described as an attempted off side trap. Rose and Side repeatedly broke through the lines to cause the Walton defence all kinds of trouble.

After just 8 minutes one such long ball found Rose, whose head to Side was cleared, but only as far as Martyn Lee. The shot from the edge of the box was low into the corner and Casuals Keeper Chris Nelson was unlucky not to tip it for a corner. Instead, it bounced back into the path of Side who side-footed home his second of the match.

Two was not enough for Side, whose persistence and strength helped him on his way to be the first player to score a Hat-trick for K's since Tim Sills bagged four against Chesham in November 2002. A mis-header from Steve Sutherland let the ball fall easy for Side, but he still had to round the keeper to slot away the third, and put the match firmly out of Walton's reach.

Photo: Neil Harvey

Walton went into the break not only 3 goals to the bad, but also lucky to have all eleven men still on the pitch, with captain James Pearson booked only for the second of a brace of decidedly dodgy challenges on Martyn Lee.

Having had quite literally all of the first half, Ian McDonald decided to let his other strikers have a bit of a play, with Tony Reid and Kenny Ojukwa brought on at the break. The two linked up well early on and after a quarter of an hour they added a fourth to K's tally.

Ojukwa broke down the right side, beating two defenders before sending a looping cross over the keeper. Reid looked like he would struggle with the height but climbed well to place an excellent header past Nelson.

The last half an hour slowed down, with the result pretty much a foregone conclusion. Walton did come close to reclaiming some sense of respectability from the performance when ten minutes from time Hughes was beaten in a goalmouth scramble, only for Richard Taylor to clear off the line.

When full time came around, the delighted home fans were greeted with a string of good news. Defeats for Dover and Tooting, and a draw for Croydon left K's fans with little more they could have asked for. Play-offs once again look like a viable possibility.