K’s Start Still Waiting to Happen
They* say that the true mark of a dispiriting away defeat is when your fans spend a decent chunk of the second half singing Beatles songs with no relevance to game. They* say it’s bleak when the hastily assembled picnic is the most exciting thing to happen that evening. They* say you know it’s bad the second half turns into a game of ‘spot the referee’s assessor and hope he had the same bemusement and befuddlement at Kingstonian’s first half red card that you did’.
(*I don’t know who ‘they’ are.)
It was that kind of night at Enfield Town’s Queen Elizabeth II stadium, as the game petered out after a first half demolition job, with the best action seen off the pitch. On the pitch, Ks main successes were the continued hard work of Ryan Moss up front, and the first ten minutes or so when Ks knocked it around nicely and vaguely looked like controlling the game.
This came to an end however, when Enfield forward Tom Collins curled a magnificent free kick into the top corner from 25 yards.
Ten minutes later, Ks fans thought they’d found a way back into the match. Saidou Khan strode forward with the ball before being brought down by what looked like a two-footed tackle from Enfield’s Tyler Campbell – the red card was shown, game on! At least, so we thought, until Khan began to slump his way off the pitch and Enfield lined up to take the free kick. Ks fans were bemused, home fans overjoyed and the assessor nodded and wrote in his notebook. Reports from those (Enfield fans) closer to the action suggest Khan went in ‘over the top’. Whatever the truth, it was game over.
Quickly, Enfield seized on their advantage; the pleasingly named Nigel Neita was sent through on goal and slid the ball past the advancing Tolfrey, before Harry Ottaway finished the job, heading home from a corner before the game had even reached 30 minutes.
From that point on, nothing happened. Enfield hardly piled on the pressure, instead content to knock the ball around and keep the ever-willing Ks team running. Ks barely got hold of the ball and barely looked like scoring when they did. Picnics were eaten, Beatles songs sung and one fan took the lack of threat to Enfield net as prime opportunity to use said net to dry his speedos. We’re not sure if it was a metaphor, but it was certainly a damning indictment.
Match report by Jamie Cutteridge.
