Arrested development
Just as Kingstonian's season appeared to be over, the inherent release of pressure seems to have reinvigorated them into some semblance of form.
A second consecutive win, at home to Met Police, means Ks at least maintain an outside chance of scraping the final playoff place.
The first half saw little quality from either side. The visitors had the best of it, but Rob Tolfrey tipped Howard Newton's free kick over and ex-Ks man Allan Tait fired over after a goalmouth scramble. Ks' best chance came just before the interval after a run from Luke Wanadio, but the wideman was unable to hit the target from a tight angle.
Debutant Reece Hall looked lively after the break, first teeing up Andre McCollin who was denied one-on-one by Jamie Butler, before seeing the Blues' goalkeeper stop a shot of his own.
Ks broke the deadlock on 62 minutes though. Top scorer McCollin, who along with Tolfrey has been one of the few players to emerge with credit from Ks' barren run of recent form, was the provider on this occasion. He played a perfect ball in behind the defence and Matt Pattison clipped the ball over the outrushing goalkeeper to give Ks the lead.
The last 20 minutes saw the Police continually threaten Ks but an excellent performance from Tolfrey kept them at bay. He made a great save from Tait on 70 minutes and then on 79 the striker saw another effort deflected over.
Tolfrey did well two minutes from time to block a Clayton longshot and although David Knight turned the rebound in he did so from an offside position. Knight turned provider a minute later but Charlie Collins fired wide.
There was no let up for Ks in injury time but Tom Bird managed to deflect a Collins free kick wide and after Tolfrey punched the resulting corner clear, Jon Dollery could only volley over giving Ks all three points.
Report: Simon Grier
