Kingstonian advance in the League Cup
“Here cos it’s Huckle” chanted the 15 K’s fans behind the goal and there he stood, impassive on the touchline, arms folded, refusing – resolutely refusing – to come off the bench and give his public what they wanted.
The new management team at Waterside of Liam Collins and Simon Huckle, 400-odd K’s appearances between them, had obviously decided that only one player-manager could take the pitch and so Collins it was who played while Huckle took charge of the team, albeit as one of only two home substitutes.
Quickly calculating the odds, the K’s away support demanded that Casuals keeper West feign injury so that there’d be at least a 50% chance of Hucks coming on. West smiled but did not agree to the conspiracy, claiming he was “only on loan” and probably needed to impress. Huckle had in fact played 90 minutes at Guernsey just 72 hours before, scoring a volley, and may have been in need of a rest.
Huckle-aside, there were other reasons to head to Casuals for this Isthmian League Cup 2nd round game. For a start, it’s the last cup competition K’s are in. And we’re still in it after a 2-0 win which, when all is said and done, was far more entertaining than it had any right to be.
Jessie Darko, a new striker who made a couple of appearances in the league for AFC Wimbledon, spent two years in Greece, was born in Austria and scored a lot for Cardiff reserves (if his Youtube showreel video is to be believed) made it 1-0 in the 35th minute, ambling clear behind the Walton defence and calmly side-footing the ball in.
K’s second came on the hour, Jake Kempton, another new striker, a former youth prospect at Wolves, tapped in from a Josh Casey cross.
Ryman One South Casuals rarely threatened, the rain lashed down and as the second-half wore on, the songs for Huckle grew louder. Still he resisted. A young home fan erratically played a French horn to keep all 46 people in attendance in good spirits. Perhaps it was also a parp in homage. The final whistle went. Huckle waved and walked away.
K’s play at Walton & Hersham in the last 16.
Match report by Taimour Lay.
