Kingstonian 0-1 Carshalton Athletic
Joyous Noel

Kingstonian slipped to a 1-0 defeat at a bitterly cold Kingsmeadow against Carshalton Athletic courtesy of a 72nd minute penalty from Gary Noel.

In a largely forgettable first half both teams struggled to create any decent chances. In the opening exchanges Kingstonian made good progress down both flanks through Bird and Hamlin, although the first chance fell to Chris Henry as he cut inside and fired over in the seventh minute. Tait and Traynor started to link up well with some neat exchanges and just as it looked as Tait had been played in by Traynor, his shot was blocked with a last ditch tackle.

Ledgister now made good use of the space he found down the right wing and produced two dangerous crosses, the second of which Tolfrey did well to tip over at the back post. Interspersed between these two passages of play Legister managed an air short from a short lay off from Williams at a free quick in a dangerous position just outside the area.

In the thirty third minute Gary MacDonald was taken off, presumably injured, and replaced by Reece Jones as Kingstonian moved to a flat back four. Shortly afterwards the Carshalton right back, Boateng, managed to make a run of fully seventy yards before he was forced onto his left foot and skewed his shot well wide. In the thirty ninth minute, centre half David Ray, headed wide when well placed at a corner. As the half drew to a close Traynor miss-kicked from a loose ball in the six yard box and Clayton shot straight at the keeper having cut inside to create space.

The second half continued in similar vein to the first as both sides struggled again to create clear cut openings. Eventually one did come though as in the fifty ninth minute Clayton again created space for a shot by cutting inside but he fired over from a central position just inside the area. A minute later a looping clearance was met with a fierce cross shot from Bird which flashed across the face of the Carshalton goal. Then in the sixty fourth minute Carshalton keeper, Craig Ross, did well to palm away a deep cross from Jones which could have slipped in at the far post.

The turning point in the game came in the seventy second minute as the referee adjudged that Henry had not fouled Hamlin in winning the ball just inside the Kingstonian half. He then surged on into the penalty area where Thompson misjudged his challenge and conceded a penalty. Up stepped Noel who fired his shot too close to Tolfrey but the rebound fell kindly for him as he finished from close range.

The next incident of note came exactly ten minutes later as Tolfrey picked up a Dolan back pass just inside his own area. From the resulting indirect free kick Ledgister crashed his shot into the wall with Thompson managing to react quickly to push the ball past the post. In the dying moments of the game substitute Gonella managed to play in Traynor whose close range shot from an acute angle was well saved by Ross. Moments later Tolfrey did equally well to save from Noel.

This was a low quality game which probably neither side deserved to win and the fact that neither keeper had to make a proper save from open play until the final two minutes and that the only goal came from a rebound from a penalty probably summed it up.