McCollin double Burns’em
Kingstonian progressed through to the next round of the FA Trophy with a comfortable 2-1 win courtesy of a double strike from Andre McCollin.
However the visitors remained within touching distance until the end as Kingstonian spurned a number of chances to wrap things up in the second half.
For the second week running Kingstonian took the lead at the start of the match as McCollin finished with a neat first time strike in the fifth minute after a Pattison shot had only been half cleared. Two minutes later McCollin was guilty of a glaring miss as he poked the ball over the bar from three yards.
Burnham, having recovered from the early onslaught, then created two good chances as first Willment headed into the side netting from a free kick and then Tolfrey did well to save with his feet as Spence raced through.
Kingstonian extended their lead in the fortieth minute with McCollin doing well to hook the ball into the net from a Small header following good work from Lambu down the right.
Burnham clawed back a goal in the dying seconds of the first half as Webb’s shot from the edge of a crowded area took a big deflection to leave Tolfrey stranded.
The second half proved to be one of numerous missed chances, mostly from the home side, and good goal keeping. Burnham put up a much more robust display following a double substitution, which gave them more attacking threat, but were still unable to prevent Kingstonian creating chances almost at will.
McCollin and Small were proving to be a constant threat, often combining well to create chances, but proving to be equally profligate in front of goal. Time after time they were guilty of poor finishing, although Burnham’s keeper, Watkins enjoyed a much more convincing half and made a number of good saves.
It was actually Matt Pattison who came closest to scoring, first flashing a shot across the face of goal, next seeing a deflected shot hit the post and then finally, in an audacious attempt, hitting the cross bar from the half way line.
With only one goal in it Burnham remained in the match and in fact provided the miss of the game as Dowdican rounded Tolfrey but his mishit shot dribbled behind Murphy and past the post. Tolfrey also did well to smother a shot from the same player as a sliced clearance fell invitingly to him.
Alan Dowson had made it quite clear before the game how keen he was to progress to the next round, so the result will have undoubtedly pleased him, as will the statistic that his team carved out fifteen clear cut chances. Having converted two the four chances they created in the first half, they missed all eleven in the second. In the end the fact that they only converted two proved to be sufficient.
Report: Peter Allan
