Kavanagh Sees Red as Kingstonian Held
Kingstonian and Billericay shared four goals and two red cards as K’s poor home form continued. Tommy Williams’ let slip a two goal lead against the Essex side but the Town’s comeback was overshadowed by a bit of play-acting that ruined the afternoon as a spectacle as Ryan Scott almost faked his own death in a successful attempt to get Tommy Kavanagh sent off.
After losing Andre McCollin following a midweek move to Aldershot, it took just 19 minutes for their new front two of Nathaniel Pinney and Elvis Hammond to both get on the scoresheet. Pinney opened the scoring following a mistake from Richard Halle. Steve Laider’s cross seemed innocuous enough but Halle’s airkick presented Pinney with the simplest of opportunities as he nodded home from close range. Despite this, the visitors had the better of the early exchanges. Roman Michael-Percil and Ricky Sappleton both shot narrowly wide while Rob Tolfrey had to be at his athletic best to twice keep out Glenn Poole efforts from distance. Yet it was Elvis Hammond who struck next to extend K’s lead. Billericay’s laughable attempt at an offside trap gave Hammond time and space following a long ball; he made no mistake, smashing the ball past Billy Lumley.
Kingstonian’s two goal lead didn’t last long as Ryan Scott nodded a corner home at the near post two minutes later. Scott became the villain of the piece immediately after. Tommy Kavanagh’s attempt at control left his foot high. Kav pulled his foot back at the last minute, brushing the Essex man’s chest, but Scott’s pained floor gymnastics routine convinced the referee otherwise and Kavanagh was shown red. Miraculously Scott was able to recover and his face remained in good enough working order to wink at the enraged home support.
From then on the visitors dominated. Jacob Cleaver was put through but was denied by Tolfrey before hitting the post on the stroke of half time. The second half saw more of the same. Kingstonian’s tactical reshuffle saw them resort to long ball too often, leaving Pinney and Hammond isolated. As such, Billericay were able to dominate possession and it didn’t take long for it to pay off as Ks were punished in similar fashion to the previous week. Josh Casey’s push up the field left space behind him and when Sam Page couldn’t deal with Michael-Percil he was able to pull the ball back for Dylan Casey to poke home.
The hosts defended ably for the remaining 35 minutes as Billericay were able to create any real openings. Substitute Alex Addai saw his shot saved in Billy Lumley’s only real action of the second half but the visitors came closest to grabbing a winner as Rob Tolfrey tipped Poole’s free kick onto the crossbar. Cyrus Mahler was sent off late on for a second booking following a late challenge on Aaron Goode, but any realistic chance for Ks to win had long gone by then, lost to tired legs and long balls. Ks’ disappointing home run continues and they needed to start turning these draws into wins if they’re going to challenge for the playoff places.
Match report by Jamie Cutteridge.
