Kingstonian 3-1 Hastings United

Kingstonian emerged as comfortable 3-1 winners in an encouraging display against Hastings, courtesy of three first half goals in the space of fourteen minutes from Lodge, Huckle and Traynor.

In a subdued start, in which the low autumn sun caused the most problems, it was Hastings that started slightly the brighter, although they only managed to produce a couple of half chance headers from Poghue and Adams.

Kingstonian finally fashioned their first offensive effort in the seventeenth minute as Bird fired over from distance following a short free kick. Shortly after Huckle flicked on allowing Lodge to bear down on goal before tumbling under pressure from two defenders, with the referee waving away any claims for a penalty.

In the 25th minute Kingstonian took the lead following a defensive error as Hastings centre half Russell mis-controlled, which allowed Lodge a clear run on goal and he duly finished with some aplomb with his firmly hit shot finding the back of the net. It only took a further four minutes for the K's to double their lead. Russell fouled Lodge just outside the left hand edge of the area and from the resulting free kick Gray fired in a dipping shot from 22 yards, which Chalmers-Stevens spilled, allowing Huckle to finish off the rebound from close range.

Just as much as the confidence now started to flow through Kingstonian, it seemed to start leaking from Hastings as the K's midfield dominated with Matt Gray to the fore, time and again distributing dangerous balls to his front men.

If the first two goals had an element of luck in them by virtue of contributory defensive errors, the third came from a glorious free flowing end to end move in the 39th minute. A Gray clearance from a corner found Lodge just inside his own half, who controlled and cut inside before finding Huckle bursting through from midfield. His return ball to Lodge in the area was then expertly back heeled into the path of Traynor who slotted home calmly over the advancing keeper.

The K's started the second half with a virtual carbon copy of their second goal as a Gray free kick on the left was again spilled by Chalmers-Stevens but this time Huckle's follow up was blocked.

With an eye on Tuesday night's local derby with Sutton the influential Matt Gray was replaced in the 54th minute by Lee Hall and 9 minutes later Huckle, after an effective performance in an advanced midfield role, was replaced by Dossou.

As the K's earlier dominance started to wane, Hastings pulled a goal back in the 69th minute. A free kick from just outside the right hand side of the area found an unmarked John Beales at the back post and his firm header hit the target via a post. It only proved to be a consolation goal as Hastings created few further chances.

Lodge was then substituted in the 71st minute with Tom Bolarinwa coming on to play upfront with Traynor. Having appeared to settle for three points, Kingstonian saw out the rest of the game quite comfortably.