Strange but Satisfying
Ks picked up a first league win on their travels with a strange but nonetheless satisfying win at Earlsmead against previously undefeated Harrow Borough.
We had in fact already beaten the Borough on their home turf this season, but Saturday’s Ryman Premier League win will mean much more to Tommy Williams than last month’s success in the Alan Turvey Trophy.
Kingstonian’s impressive levels of inconsistency reached new territory in north-west London. Outplayed, often out-fought, and largely out-thought, we still walked away with all three points thanks to two goals the beleaguered Borough keeper Ben Goode should have stopped, and one penalty referee A. Aylott shouldn’t have given.
Still, in a season when Ks have played well and not always got their rewards, and created chances and not taken them, perhaps such luck was merited.
The first slice was dealt our way when Ty Smith had a pop from 25 yards with five minutes played. Goode’s feeble left hand took some pace off the ball but not enough to stop it trickling into the net.
Midway through the half we grabbed a second. An errant kick from Goode landed at Pico Gomez’s feet. He set off towards goal but was halted in his tracks. Penalty was the surprising but welcome decision, and the striker dusted himself down to fire a typically clinical spot-kick into the top corner.
From then on in, more or less uninterrupted, the hosts took charge. A deflected cross hit the post, a far-post shot smashed the bar, and then a goal scored in time added on was controversially disallowed for offside.
Ks had ridden their luck to go in at the break with their two-goal lead intact, but the warning signs were not heeded as Harrow instantly halved the deficit once play got back underway. Dylan Cascoe was the unmarked and unchallenged scorer.
As we invited pressure on, Harrow laid siege to Rob Tolfrey’s goal backed by an unexpected wall of noise from three sides of the ground. However, a combination of great keeping, good fortune, stoic defending and poor finishing meant that, unlike at East Thurrock in our last away game, there was to be no equaliser, and no two-goal lead lost.
Instead, completely against the run of play, Ks went up the other end and scored a third. Gomez flicked a long Tolfrey kick into the path of Jake Kempton, who overcame a wayward first touch to shoot through Goode’s legs from a very tight angle. It rather summed up an odd day.
Match report by Rupert Cane.
