Kingstonian 2-0 Lowestoft Town

Kingstonian made a welcome return to winning ways with a 2-0 victory against Lowestoft courtesy of two goals late in the first half from Paul Vines and Sam Clayton.

The match started in glorious warm spring sunshine which seemed to affect both teams as the early exchanges lacked any energy, but it was Lowestoft who soon took the initiative. In the ninth minute the Lowestoft left winger, Francis, cut inside Hamlin who misjudged his tackle and conceded a clear penalty just inside the area. Michael Frew stepped up and hit a well struck shot at what is commonly described as 'a nice height for the keeper' but Tolfrey still did very well to stretch to his right and push the ball away.

Lowestoft thought they had taken the lead in the seventeenth minute only to see the goal controversially ruled out for off-side. The move started out with a long diagonal ball that was misjudged by Hamlin which allowed Francis to cross the ball low into the six yard area where the move was finished off by Fisk burying his shot past Tolfrey. However the linesman raised his flag for offside which can only have been for someone interfering with play as neither the crosser or scorer was offside.

The turning point of the game came with six minutes of madness from the Lowestoft midfielder Andrew Fisk. First off he was booked in the twenty first minute for a foul on Clayton and very shortly thereafter he dived in recklessly on Traynor to leave the referee with an easy decision to show him the red card.

Despite being down to ten minute Lowestoft continued to look the better side and enjoyed a couple of half chances with Frew trickling a mistimed header just past the post and Mitchell bursting onto a flick on before firing over as Hamlin closed him down.

As the first half entered it's final few minutes Kingstonian finally started to find their feet. A great diagonal ball over the top to Clayton was expertly controlled as he fed in Traynor, who held the ball up well and threaded it through to Ian Pearce whose shot was turned around the near post by Reynolds.

With two minutes left in the half Kingstonian took the lead. A long ball into the area was flicked on by Pearce and found Paul Vines. He did well to hold off a defender before scoring with a cross shot which went in off the post. Then, with only seconds remaining, a loose ball found its way to Clayton on the edge of the area. He hit a sweetly struck shot through a melee of defenders and found the bottom corner of the net.

The second half was largely uneventful as Kingstonian seemed to settle for numerical superiority and a low risk approach. A plethora of bookings and substitutions never really sparked the game into life and whilst the Lowestoft centre forward, Matt Nolan, battled manfully Tolfrey's goal was never threatened.

Gonella came on in the eighty third minute for Traynor and made an immediate impact as he did managed to make space for a deep cross which was met with a well timed Vines header that was well saved by Reynolds. Two minutes later Clayton did equally well to get in a great cross but Pearce rose fractionally too early and headed tamely over in what was to prove to be the last chance of the game.

After seventeen minutes, having conceded a penalty and had a goal controversially disallowed, few in the crowd would have predicted a Kingstonian victory. However they took full advantage of Fisk's ill discipline and ultimately emerged as comfortable winners.