Fleet Town 2-1 Kingstonian

Kingstonian travelled down to Fleet looking for a third straight victory, but the weather was the brightest thing on display this afternoon as the home side claimed the three points. Despite going down to ten men after only thirty minutes, Fleet Town dominated large spells of the game, leaving a frustrated and error prone Kingstonian to return home empty handed.

Photo: kingstonian.net

Just five minutes into the game James Field gave Andy Sinton's team the perfect start, leaving Kingstonian to chase the game. Field found the ball at his feet inside the penalty box and was able to squeeze it between Garrard and the post. In fact, the early stages were dominated by Fleet chances, twice Garrard had to hold onto crosses, and on another occasion finding himself too far off his line and being lobbed, only for the ball to drop over the crossbar to safety.

Kingstonian struggled to impose themselves, despite having the supposed advantage of playing downhill. However, David Shin, playing down the left wing, did manage to create a couple of chances for the K's. First, after a neat pass from Bobby Traynor, Shin evaded his marker and sent over a deep cross to the far post which was cleared. Then, after a clever run, Shin found himself in space. With a defender bearing down, he deftly pulled the ball back to Jon Coke, who was able to swing over another deep cross. This time the referee awarded a free-kick to Fleet after a heavy challenge on Paul Smith in the Fleet goal.

As the game approached the half-hour mark, Kingstonian finally began to assert themselves in midfield. After Traynor was felled on the edge of the box, Kingstonian were awarded a free kick. However the chance was wasted, as an attempt to gain maximum advantage by taking it quickly backfired, allowing the home side to clear their lines.

Shortly after this, Simon Huckle brought down Mark Patterson on the half-way line with a clumsy challenge. As Phil John moved over him, Huckle appeared to lash out with his foot, to which the Fleet player responded by stamping his foot down onto Huckle, right in front of the referee. This resulted in a straight red card, and handed Kingstonian the advantage of playing against ten men for a full hour.

Kingstonian continued to attack, and Scott Corbett nearly brought the scores level, only to see his neat header deflected wide for a corner. However the corner was wasted as Bobby Traynor completely missed the ball played out to him on the edge of the box. Nevertheless, the ball found its way back into the box, and a Fleet head launched it into the back of the net after an arial challenge from Simon Huckle, to bring the scores back to one all.

The final chance of the first half fell to Kingstonian, Chris Sharpling driving a shot from the edge of the box. Yet again a Fleet defender was on hand to shin the ball out for a corner kick, which was duly cleared, and so the teams went into the half-time interval with the scores level.

At the start of the second half, Kingston made two changes, replacing Tommy Moorhouse and David Shin with Martyn Lee and Saheed Sankoh. However the game continued much in the same vein as the first half, with a succession of hopeful long balls and free-kicks. Neither side were able to penetrate the opposition's defence, and when Chris Sharpling managed to turn his marker and reach the byline, the resulting cross found a defender with enough time to pick out his pass.

Photo: kingstonian.net

Early in the second half Garrard was forced to pull off a fine save. Fleet worked the ball down the left wing, and a long range shot bounced awkwardly in front of him. At full stretch, Garrard parried the ball, which landed at the feet of an attacker. Fortunately for Kingstonian, he miss-hit his attempted lay off across the goal mouth, and the K's shot stopper was able to scamper over to collect the ball.

With Kingstonian lacking direction, manager Alan Dowson used his final substitution, replacing Chris Sharpling with Wes Goggin. However in the 70th minute Fleet restored their lead, with Adam Wallace getting his name on the score sheet. Having gone behind for the second time, Kingstonian tried desperately to claw their way back into the game. Having won a succession of corners and throw ins around the Fleet box, the K's spurned a number of half-chances, Smith never really being tested.

Fleet town nearly increased their lead late in the game, once again the potent Adam Field caused Kingstonian's defence trouble. His volley from the edge of the box forced a superb reaction save from Garrard, diving high and to his right, tipping the ball out for a corner kick.

As the game wore on, mistakes began to creep into Kingstonian's play. Passes failed to find their intended recipients, tackles were missed, and heads went down, leaving a frustrated Alan Dowson to wonder where the team that had won two games on the trot had disappeared to.

Despite going down to ten men after only half an hour, Fleet town were good value for their victory. Where they managed to test Garrard, his opposite number, Smith, was more gainfully employed in taking goal-kicks. And so a beautifully sunny afternoon in the countryside turned into a miserable and cloudy return home for the large travelling support. In fact, the loudest cheer of the afternoon was reserved for former K's fans favourite, Tony Reid, making a fleeting appearance for... Fleet Town.