Kingstonian 2-0 Lowestoft Town
Win for the Traynorboys

Kingstonian produced one of their best performances of the season as they defeated title chasing Lowestoft Town 2-0 in an eventful game at a very cold Kingsmeadow. The goals came courtesy of a first half strike by Ryan Woods and a sumptuous finish by Bobby Traynor in the ninetieth minute.

The match started in a somewhat unusual manner as Lowestoft keeper, Jake Jessop, produced four terrible kicks within the first five minutes. The worst of these was a goal kick straight into touch halfway within his own half.

The game soon settled into a more conventional pattern as Gayle produced a powerful near post header from a corner that was deflected over the bar by a defender. Shortly after Lowestoft centre half, Scott Mitchell, escaped a big penalty shout as he miss-controlled a ball in his own area that then appeared to strike his arm.

Lowestoft came close to taking the lead in the twenty fifth minute as they worked the ball fluently across the pitch to left winger Joe Francis and his clean strike sailed narrowly past the post. Despite not appearing to have touched a defender the referee awarded a corner and as Kingstonian struggled to clear their lines the ball was volleyed just over the bar.

As the tempo began to increase it was the home side who took the lead. Pattison managed to wriggle free down the right under heavy pressure from left back Smith and his low cross was side footed into the net by Ryan Woods who had timed his run perfectly from midfield. With the game approaching the end of the half Woods shot narrowly over from just outside the area and Jessup saved bravely at the feet of Tom Bird.

Lowestoft made an enforced change at the start of the second half as winger Francis was unable to continue having clattered into the advertising hoardings at the end of the first half. This was to prove a bit of good fortune for Kingstonian as his replacement, Stuart Ainsley, proved to be considerably less productive.

It was Lowestoft though who looked the more threatening in the opening minutes of the second half as they retained the ball well and probed for an opening. Their best chance came from a speculative 35 yard shot from Matt Nolan which appeared to be heading comfortably over before it dipped and hit the top of the cross bar. For some reason the mood of the match seemed to be changing as Lowestoft decided to persistently harangue the referee and indulge in some theatrics, mixed with some crunching challenges. Both Eagle and Fisk found their names in the book for scything tackles.

In a move that was ultimately to change the match Bobby Traynor came on in the seventy second minute as the extremely hard working Duff moved to right midfield and Matt Pattison was taken off. Within a minute of coming on Traynor slipped past Fisk in midfield and as the Lowestoft No4 lost his balance he brought Traynor down in what can only be described as a rugby style tap tackle. He was duly dismissed as he received the second of his two very clear yellow cards.

If anything, going down to ten men seemed to spur Lowestoft on as they enjoyed a considerable amount of possession, which ultimately though only produced a couple of long range shots. With the game entering five minutes of time added on at the end of normal time there was still time for high drama. First off the hitherto excellent Ryan Woods had a rush of blood to the head as he tried to play a long back pass to the keeper. The ever alert Chris Henderson latched onto this and chipped the stranded Tolfrey only to see his goal bound effort cleared off the line by Ian Gayle who had raced back to cover. In virtually the final move of the game Traynor chased a long ball down the left wing and somehow managed to keep it in play. As Mitchell raced back to cover Traynor cleverly slipped the ball past him before placing a delightfully executed curling shot into the bottom corner.

Kingstonian were good value for their win. Gayle and MacDonald were again excellent at the back, ably shielded by Huckle playing just in front of them. With outlets down both flanks in Clayton and Pattison and new boy Ryan Woods providing a creative spark in the middle, they look a much better balanced side. Duff worked manfully in a lone striker role against a very good Lowestoft centre half pairing, but Traynor immediately looked threatening as soon as he came on. If ever there were a cliche to describe Traynors' injury time finish it would 'form is temporary, class is permanent'.