Worthing match report
match report by Jamie Cutteridge.
“We’re always rubbish in the wind,” was the general consensus 20 minutes in to Kingstonian’s defeat at Worthing. And while Kingstonian certainly were rubbish in this South Coast wind, similar claims are regularly made about Ks performances in the wet, the heat, the cold, the snow and the cloudy, overcast kind of days, so Saturday’s blustery conditions were no excuse for a poor performance and Worthing’s 2-1 win.
In truth neither side gave particularly good showings, but the hosts did enough to edge themselves in front, and dug in to see out the point. It took just seven minutes for the mackerel men to take that lead. A corner was played short to the edge of the box, and while Ricky Aguiar’s shot looked to be within Rob Tolfrey’s grasp, it was blocked by Callum Kealy, the Worthing frontman, who was able to sidefoot the ball home with Tolfrey stricken, diving for a shot which never reached him. While Ks had shots from distance through Louie Theophanous and Tom Kavanagh, it was the hosts who created the next good opportunity as some neat passing sent the ball to Reece Myles-Meekums who blasted over from inside the area. Minutes later and Aguiar once again had a go from long range, but this time Tolfrey was equal to it, without any pesky opposition strikers getting in his way. As the half came to an end, Ks were given their best chance thus far. Fabio’s powerful free kick was only palmed away by Worthing glovesman Roco Rees, presenting the ball to Dan Bennett at point blank range. And while the opportunity fell at an awkward height, Bennett had to do better than sidefooting the ball over the bar.
The second half started at a ferocious pace. Ks best bit of movement all game found Fabio inside the box, whose shot was wild enough to actually square the ball to Bennett in front of an unguided net, but clearly surprised to end up the chance, the ball squirmed under the winger’s foot. But just as Kingstonian were getting on top, a misplaced pass from Kavanagh gave the ball to Aguair 25 yards out. Never afraid to have a pop, this time the midfielder’s effort got caught in the wind, dipping horribly to beat Tolfrey with a freakish goal and double the host’s advantage. Kavanagh sought to make amends, but his curling effort immediately after shaved the post.
But with the wind at their backs, Ks got back into the game. Fabio’s cross from the left was met by the head of Dan Bennett at the far post whose looping header was bundled in by Louie Theophanous on the line to halve the deficit. There were 40 minutes to go, the wind was at Ks backs, the comeback seem possible, probably even… it didn’t materialise as Worthing ‘game managed’ the 90 minutes out, allowing just one golden opportunity to level matters, but from Bennett’s pull back Reece Hall could only blaze over from 10 yards as Ks, unlike the wind, ran out of puff.
Worthing: Roco Rees, Joel Colbran, Ben Pashley, Ricky Aguiar, Ross Edwards, Danny Barker, Reece Myles-Meekums, Mason Doughty, Callum Kealy, Olllie Pearce, Jesse Starkey.
Subs: Alfie Young (for Ross Edwards, 57m), Jasper Pattenden, Jalen Jones (for Mason Doughty, 77m), Shola Ayoola (for Ollie Pearce, 85m), Fin Stevens.
Kingstonian: Rob Tolfrey, Sean Clohessy, Ben Harrison, Simon Cooper, Ollie Cook, Tom Kavanagh, Dan Bennett, Fabio Saraiva, Louie Theophanous, Reece Hall, Gus Sow.
Subs: Calum Davies (for Dan Bennett, 61m), Jerry Puemo (for Simon Cooper, 68m), Dan Thompson (for Gus Sow, 78m).
Goal scorers: Callum Kealy (7m, 1-0), Ricky Aguiar (47m, 2-0), Louie Theophanous (50m, 2-1)
Attendance: 797
