AFC Hornchurch 1-1 Kingstonian

Kingstonian emerged with a point after drawing 1-1 with Hornchurch in a match played on an unseasonably hot April afternoon. Having conceded a goal in the first minute, Kingstonian fought back to level through a Bobby Traynor penalty in the fourteenth minute.

The match could not have started in worse fashion for Kingstonian as an aimless punt from the Hornchurch kick off was unnecessarily headed out for a corner by Max Hustwick. The resulting corner was swung in to the far post by Hunt where it was met by the unmarked Hornchurch skipper, Elliot Styles, who calmly side-footed home from a yard out. Falling behind within forty three seconds would hardly have been the game plan for the Kingstonian management team.

Taking a few minutes to recover from such a disastrous start, Kingstonian gradually started to assert themselves but had few chances until the fourteenth minute. Then what looked like a relatively innocuous corner was adjudged to have been handled by Hornchurch centre half Ronnie Fletcher. There were few protests from the home side before the uber-reliable Bobby Traynor stepped up and calmly dispatched the penalty low to the keeper's right.

Having gained parity Kingstonian had Rob Tolfrey to thank as he stretched low to his left to turn a well struck Hunt shot around the post for a corner in the nineteenth minute.

Anyone who follows Kingstonian regularly will have learned that Max Hustwick is not always predictable. Having seen the worst of him in the opening seconds of the match we then saw the best of him in the twenty fourth minute. On spotting that midfielder Curley's well timed run had wrong footed both central defenders, Hustwick cut across from his right back position and bravely dived in to prevent a shot. This was at some personal cost though, as he had to be taken off with a badly twisted ankle and replaced by Thompson.

Whilst Kingstonian continued to shade the possession it was Hornchurch who should have taken the lead on the half hour. Striker Lewis Smith was played clean through as the defence hesitated, but he delayed his decision making before finally deciding to lob the keeper, by which time Tolfrey had closed him down and the effort was comfortably blocked.

As the hot weather took its toll the second half was one of little quality and few chances. Both managers made multiple substitutions (Lodge for Clayton and Tait for Huckle for the K's) as each team manfully chased the three points which both required to stay in the playoff race.

With large gaps emerging in midfield there were multiple chances at both ends in the final fifteen minutes. Kingstonian moved to a 4-3-3 formation and created a number of half chances as Vines in particular delivered a succession of dangerous crosses. Hornchurch however were not lying down and created chances of their own on the counter attack. The best of these fell to Lewis Smith in the third minute of added time. He exploited the space that opened up in front of him and as he dribbled into the area and rounded Tolfrey he seemed destined to score. However MacDonald read the play brilliantly and raced back and cleared off the line.

Overall a draw was a fair result, although both teams had ample chances to win the game. For Hornchurch, Lewis Smith proved to be a constant thorn in the side of the Kingstonian defence with his clever movement, albeit this was combined with a tendency to go down too easily. Kingstonian demonstrated a commendable level of determination to bounce back well from such a disastrous start but ultimately didn't play as well as they had in recent games.