Rocks do the double over the K’s
Kingstonian’s three-game winning run in the league came to an end with a routine defeat at Bognor Regis Town last week.
Bognor went top with the win and while the gulf in quality between the two sides was rarely especially apparent, it was the hosts who found the decisive combinations in the final third on a freezing cold night.
Following a minute’s silence for the victims of the Colombian aeroplane crash that morning, K’s started the better and probably should have taken the lead on 15 minutes. Youssef Bamba got past his man on the left with a thrilling turn of pace but his shot was blocked by the Bognor keeper Dan Lincoln.
Tom Derry led the line in the absence of Ryan Moss (presumably honeymooning) and Pico Gomez, and it was the former Billericay attacker who next went closest for K’s, having a close-range shot bundled off the line after good work from Sean Bonnett-Johnson in first-half stoppage time.
By then, K’s trailed to an Ollie Pearce penalty rightly given for handball against Aaron Goode on 32 minutes.
Into the second half and K’s plugged away gamely but missed a focal point up front, so the abundance of crosses swung in from both sides were continually met by the head of a green-and-white-shirted player.
Bognor then doubled their lead midway through the half, as a fine team move was easily finished off at the back post by Darren Budd, K’s seemingly a man short defensively.
A comeback never looked likely and it needed a brilliant Rob Tolfrey save to keep the score at 2-0. Derry came as close as anyone in grey to netting a consolation but he fired wide from a tight angle. It rather summed up as inconspicuous a league defeat as any K’s have suffered this season.
Bognor Regis Town: Dan Lincoln, Calvin Davies, James Crane, Doug Tuck, Ed Sanders, Sami el-Abd, James Fraser, Darren Budd, Lorenzo Dolcetti, Ollie Pearce, Alex Parsons.
Match report by Rupert Cane.
