Cray Wanderers 1-1 Kingstonian
LUKE'S GOOD FOR THE FUTURE

Luke Garrard came to Kingsmeadow from Croydon Athletic with a reputation for keeping many a clean sheet. Behind a struggling K's defence this season he has had little opportunity to maintain this record but he certainly enhanced his reputation with a fine display to help K's earn a difficult point at Cray Wanderers.

K's had started well, going 1-0 up through Bobby Traynor and having a brace of good chances to make it two, but after Cray equalised, once again from a poorly defended corner, it was the home side who always looked more likely to win. They found Garrard in fine form though and K's showed a new-found resilience to avoid being broken down.

Traynor once again showed his predatory instincts to give K's a seventeenth minute lead. A slightly agricultural high ball into the box found him facing away from goal but he controlled with his chest, turned, and fired a low shot across goalkeeper Steve Northwood into the bottom corner.

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Four minutes later K's might have doubled their advantage. Some excellent counter-attacking football allowed Neil Lampton to cross to Gary Drewett, who side-footed onto the post with Northwood rooted to the spot.

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The equaliser soon came though, a corner being flicked on to an unmarked Andy Martin at the far post who headed pas Garrard from close range. K's almost restored their advantage immediately but failed in bizarre circumstances.

Drewett attacked down the left and got into the box along the by-line. Northwood came out to save at an acute angle and the ball rebounded to Traynor. He threaded the ball through the defenders and past Northwood, only for Drewett, apparently thinking he had been called offside, to block the ball pretty much on the line and knock it back to the goalkeeper.

From that point on, Cray were dominant. Garrard made three fine saves before the break, from Martin, Michael Power and ex-AFC Wimbledon man Gareth Graham, and remained on form after the interval. He raced of his line to deny Jamie Wood and then Power beat three men in carving through the K's defence before powering wide.

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He made another two fine saves from Graham with K's only real attacks being a weak effort from Traynor and a wide shot from Glen Boosey. K's would be happy wit the point hey earned, extending their unbeaten run to four games, but they still need to improve their defending from set pieces if Garrard's work is to start being rewarded by clean sheets.