Kingstonian 3-1 Cray Wanderers
K'S STROLL PAST WANDERERS

Two late second-half goals saw Kingstonian progress in the Isthmian club at home to a dangerous-looking Cray Wanderers.

Going on the season's start the home side should have won this easily and in the end they did but they were bogged down by the visitors who had equalised just before the halftime break.

NJ Lampton opened the scoring in the 14th minute with a well-worked goal. A cross by Danny Summers on the right found Lampton in the centre and a low shot sufficed as the Crays' goal keeper Jon Selliman was left exposed.

Then with most fans contemplating extra time and possibly penalties Bobby Traynor finally broke the half-long deadlock.

Latching onto a throw-out by Luke Garrard, who had once again been called into action - this time from a corner kick - Saheed Sankoh found Dean Lodge who fed Traynor coming in from the right and shooting low.

Photo: Chris Hatton - Kingstonian FC

And with the game ticking away in injury time Lodge once again instigated a long run up the left side, most of the pitch being covered this time before slicing the defence in half with a square cross. Sankoh then put it past an encroaching keeper.

Photo: Chris Hatton - Kingstonian FC

It could have been more as Traynor had been denied at the start of injury time when his shot had been not saved by Selliman and only Mark Willy was able to get back in time to clear it off the line and back up-field.

The visitors' only goal came in the 40th minute defender George Fenwick shrugged off the attentions of Gavin Cartwright and shot left-footed from 15 yards, which bounced in off the left post.

The game started with Cray the livelier team. Twice Lewis Wood failed to score, in the eighth and ninth minutes. His first shot went over the crossbar while his second was a poor miss after good work up the left from Aaron Day.

This injected life into the home side's sluggishness and Summers was denied well by Selliman after Lampton's pass from the right in the 11th minute.

Three minutes later the roles were reversed. And this time Lampton made no mistake and scored.

In the 18th minute a Lampton corner on the right found Traynor who shot high from 10 yards but Selliman was equal to the task and jumped high enough to stop the ball. A minute later Traynor's snatched shot went wide of the visitors' right post.

Once again the game began to swing the other way but it was past the half-hour mark before Garrard was tested truly. Wood's low free-kick found former K's stalwart Colin Luckett and low shot to the left just rounded past the left upright.

Lampton responded with a pass to Traynor but the keeper was equal to the task again. The game then swung around as Garrard denied Fenwick, before Fenwick finally found his way past minutes later and equalised.

The second half soon became a game played out in the middle and manager Alan Dowson bought on fresh blood after only 59 minutes. Sankoh came on to replace Summers and Lee Rundell made way for Lodge. Both substitutions became highly significant later.

Within a minute Lodge had made an impact as he ran aggressively up the right trailing Cray in his wake before passing to Traynor. Unluckily Traynor was unable to connect properly on the left.

Photo: Chris Hatton - Kingstonian FC

Two minutes later goal-scorer Fenwick took a chance as his 40-yard shot found Garrard off his line. Fortunately it also found the crossbar too low as it went flying over. Then Wood tried a lob from 15 yards but once again it went over the crossbar.

Striker Michael Power then tried his luck in the 69th minute but this too went over the top.

With Crays looking likely to win it took Liam Cockerill's free kick to keep Selliman busy in the opposing penalty area as his shot went just beyond Traynor on the far post and it ended up going wide.

Traynor then set up the next meaningful chance when he latched on to a loose-ish ball on the right. Looking ready to finish the game he went directly to goal but was stopped with Lodge waiting in the wings to poach.

Two more chances then fell to both K's strikers. First Lodge passed to Traynor, whose shot went well over and then Sankoh snatched a shot on his left foot and this went across the goal mouth.

After that both put away their chances with the Sankoh's being the cream of the game. The shame of it was that only 179 people were there to witness the last goal.

Once again Kingstonian showed their class, a point that affords them such a high position in the league and if they can build upon performances it augurs well for the rest of the winter.

The manager also showed his intention with this cup by fielding such a strong side, and once again the fans must look forward to a decent run.