Back and forth game ends Kingstonian's way.
match report by Simon Grier.
Four days after coming off second best in a five-goal thriller Ks were involved in another, this time coming out on top to see off Carshalton in the Surrey Senior Cup.
Ks went ahead, fell behind, and then went ahead again to run out 3-2 winners. It was a real topsy-turvy cup tie although not, as one Ks fan quickly pointed out, a topsy-turvy Turvey Cup tie.
Neither side played its strongest XI, although Ks seemed to be closer to one than Carshalton despite Joe Wicks getting injured in the warm-up. Tyler Brown replaced him, requiring a change to a wing-back formation.
The first 40 minutes largely picked up where the previous tie against Knaphill had – it was boring and little happened. Certainly, nothing suggested the game was going to come alive as it eventually did. Carshalton had the better chances though, with Harry Ottaway firing over and Rob Tolfrey having to do well to deny Jerson dos Santos and ex-K Jordan Cheadle.
Shortly before half time though Ks grabbed the lead with a fine move. Louie Theophanous was played in behind the defence down the right hand side of the penalty area and he squared perfectly to present Terrique Hall-Anderson with a tap-in on his first start for the club. Ks might even have doubled their advantage before the break when a corner fell to Theophanous on the edge of the box but he fired narrowly over.
Visiting goalkeeper Billy Bishop saved well from Theophanous early in the second half and Tolfrey saved twice in quick succession from Ottaway. The Robins were soon on target to level the scores though, Taofiq Olomowewe heading home a Cheadle header at the near post.
Ks followed this up with a good spell but failed to capitalise – Bishop saved well from Rhys Murrell-Williamson and Dean Inman, before Theophanous again came close.
And Carshalton almost instantly made Ks rue their wastefulness. After Theophanous’ miss the visitors quickly got the ball forward and dos Santos curled past Tolfrey from the edge of the box.
Before Ks had really registered that they were now losing though, they were back level. It was not without a huge slice of luck – Murrell-Williamson appeared to control with his hand before unleashing a powerful 25-yarder that took a huge deflection off Olomowewe that left Bishop with no chance.
But if that strike was lucky, there was nothing lucky about his winner three minutes later. After Theophanous laid off to him on the edge of the box he found Bishop’s top corner with a first time, curling effort – a fine goal worthy of a bigger stage. The loss of James Daly to injury and Alfie Doughty to his loan ending is undoubtedly a blow to Ks but in Murrell-Williams, Leigh Dynan might already have found half the solution at least.
The game wasn’t safe for Ks until right at the end and in injury time Tolfrey did well to deny Courtney Swaby after the Carshalton man shot powerfully from distance. In a scramble from the resulting corner Ks had to clear one off the line but the defence held firm and Ks now travel to either Merstham or Met Police in the quarter-finals.
Kingstonian: Rob Tolfrey, Sean Clohessy, Jay Gasson, Aaron Lamont, Temi Eweka, Dean Inman, Manolis Gogonas, Tyler Brown, Louie Theophanous, Terrique Hall-Anderson, Rhys Murrell-Williamson.
Subs: Shaun McAuley (for Aaron Lamont, 77m), Joe Wicks, Owen Coleman (for Jay Gasson, 77m), Josh Kyte.
Carshalton Athletic: Billy Bishop, Noe Vendrells-Parcerisa, Jordan Cheadle, Taofiq Olomowewe, Danny Dudley, Michael Aziaya, Peter Adeniyi, Courtney Swaby, Harry Ottoway, Jerson dos Santos, Jesse Sentamu.
Subs: Joel Flavien-Howard (for Jesse Sentamu, 82m), Joe Jarrett (for Jordan Cheadle, 90+2m), Phillippe Edmonds, Patrick Ohman.
Goal scorers: Terrique Hall-Anderson (42m, 1-0), Taofiq Olomowewe (59m, 1-1), Jerson dos Santos (67m, 1-2), Rhys Murrell-Williamson (70m, 2-2), Rhys Murrell-Williamson (73m, 3-2)
Attendance: 103
