Metropolitan Police 4-1 Kingstonian
K'S SUFFER THE BLUES

The reward offered by the Police for beating Hampton & Richmond Borough in the previous round of the Westview Cup was a trip to Imber Court, and though the crowd remained over the two hundred mark, little did anything on the field.

Asher Hudson, moving in to the centre of defence, Luke Garrard and the front pairing of Wes Harrison and Danny Morris all featured against the Beavers, whilst only Hudson and Garrard started Saturday's league game at Dover.

Danny Lavender, Stephen Broad and Stuart Booth made their first starts since returning to the club, nine and a half years, two and a half years and about half a year respectively since last featuring in the starting eleven. Yinka Salaam and Glenn Boosey, meanwhile, made their full debuts.

Former Worthing goalkeeper Will Packham has this season replaced former K's stalwart Stuart McKenzie in the Met Police goal, whilst Ben Abbey, formerly of Oxford City and Southend in the league and Stevenage and Woking in the Conference, led an attacking lineup, itself struck by a number of injuries, for the Blues.

K's got off to a fine start, capped with an early goal in the ninth minute when Wes Harisson stole in to deftly head in Glenn Boosey's corner at the near post.

Packham was kept busy in the exchanges that followed, saving a handful of efforts, most notably diving to his right to stop a Danny Morris strike.

Kingstonian's flowing football countered by the threat posed at the opposite end by the impressive combination of Ben Abbey and Tony Finn. The pair worked out a couple of openings for themselves, but both times the resulting shot strayed wide beyond the post.

With an intriguing contest developing, Met Police's equaliser somewhat came as a surprise, with a short corner whipped over to the back post where Kevin Cooper - rejoining the Blues to add yet another club to his CV - found himself unmarked to poke him a simple goal. A contrast to last season when he was guilty of missing an equally simple strike in the dying minutes of the league encounter.

Danny Morris set up Aliy Kyezu for a strike which sailed over the bar at the other end before a moment of drama right on the stroke of half time in the Kingstonian box. Substitute and regular first teamer Richard Taylor, on for the injured Asher Hudson, felled Craig Brown to concede penalty which Ben Abbey comfortably converted to complete the turnaround.

Dean Lodge was introduced early in the second half to inject more pace into the team and his exploits down the right wing gave the opposing defenders something to worry about.

Having clipped the top of the crossbar with what was presumably a cross, Lodge embarked upon a mazy run on the hour mark, playing through to Morris who saw his shot well blocked by Packham. Glenn Boosey diverted the loose ball across goal only to see it strike the woodwork. More agony followed for the attacking midfielder as he was unable to control the rebound which fizzed over the bar.

With twenty minutes remaining, the game was abruptly killed off when Lee Gledhill's long diagonal ball from the back was picked up by Tony Finn out on the left. Finn cut inside and released a thunderbolt which flashed in off the crossbar, leaving a bewildered Luke Garrard.

A stunned audience were witness to another goal shortly after when the unfortunate Steve Potterill turned a dangerous cross into the back of his own net - with thirteen minutes remaining that was.

Danny Morris had the final significant effort of the game, though Packham got down well to his left to deflect the ball away from his goal.

Whilst disappointing to lose any game, if there was a hierarchy of priorities, the league cup's position is often demonstrated by the strength of the team's many clubs field. This Kingstonian XI put together some good football but lacked some of the edge that might be seen on a Saturday. Not all was lost on the night, however, as Stuart McIntyre wanted to see the rest of the squad in competitive action and will have no doubt come away from the game with further insight into some of his players.