Fog fails to deny K’s three points
2-0 wins can come in different shapes and sizes. There are those that are comfortable and dominant, when a team has full control of the game and could perhaps have scored more if they'd taken a few risks. There are those that are lucky, where two goals are pinched against the run of the play. And then there are those where you really have no idea how they happened, because the pitch is so foggy that it's impossible to see the other half of it.
This 2-0 win fell into the latter category, as the fog over much of Southern England never lifted from Billericay's New Lodge ground. Kingstonian's grey away shirts, a curious choice at the best of times given that the club's famous red and white hoops don't clash with blue, were particularly ill-suited to the occasion.
At the start of the match some stuff happened, but we weren't really sure what, and it seemed moot as the fog was likely to get worse rather than better and was there really any prospect of this game getting finished?
But Yossef Bamba eventually breathed some life into the game on 19 minutes, finding some space in the box and shooting fiercely towards the near post of Jack Giddens. The goalkeeper did well to get down and turn it onto the post.
Then from the resulting corner Ks took the lead, Sam Page finding the net with an unlikely turning volley on his weaker right foot, despite Connor Hubble's efforts to clear it off the line.
The lead nearly didn't last long at all as Billericay went up the other end and powered an effort onto the crossbar. But the lead did last, it lasted all game, and Ks added a second in the last minute. Tom Derry, enjoying probably his best game for Ks against his former club, crossed on the counter-attack and Giddens could only save Joe Turner's effort into the path of Ryan Moss, who was left with a tap-in.
Ks had had other chances in the second half before that - Giddens saved well from both Moss and Bamba, while Derry had an effort ruled out for offside. Billericay had chances as well, the best saved by Tolfrey from (I think) Dipo Akinyemi, but for the most part the
Ks defence was solid and well-organised (I think) with new centre-back Jack Lampe having a good debut (I think).
The fog seemed to get worse as the game continued, but thankfully hypotheses about how deep into injury time a Whitehawk situation could still occur didn't have to be tested. 90 minutes just about completed, Ks had a vital win as their stop-start season continues.
Match report by Simon Grier.
