Vale of tears
We don’t like playing Wealdstone. We always lose. Richard Jolly is a football genius, even when he’s only tapping in rebounds from a yard out.
There couldn’t be a worse place to go when you’ve just hit the top of the league. And yet, after 18 minutes, Ks were two-up and nothing would be ever be the same again...
So the previous five matches against the Stones had ended in defeat but no one had told that to Andre McCollin and Wade Small who spent the opening period terrorising the home defence at the Vale and generally acting like winning football matches had nothing to do with voodoo curses and bogey histories.
First, Andre McCollin won a 50-50 in the box and made space for a shot that rifled into the net after just three minutes. Then, after Small had stretched the home defensive, captain Gary MacDonald converted a header straight from a corner to make it two.
‘Easy, easy!’ shouted the away fans, defiance laced with fear. Because that was as good as it got as once again Jolly led a fightback for the Stones – with a little help from Rob Tolfrey, who could only parry Peter Dean’s header into Jolly’s path who finished with ease.
There was nothing Tolfrey could do about Wealdstone’s equaliser on the half-hour, Alex Dyer curling a beautiful free-kick into the top corner.
Kingstonian attacked down the slope in the second-half and Dean Lodge came on. But a Lee Chappell header made it 4-2 before substitute Nathan Webb ended a mazy run with a close-range shot to make it five.
There was still time for Lodge to miss a penalty for Ks, won by Sam Clayton whose strike was handballed on the line.
But it's not all bad: at just 28 years old, Jolly is retiring at the end of this season.
Report: Taimour Lay
