KINGS AFC 2 - 4 HENLOW RES.

Saturday 14th October 2006

Line-up: Sansom, Brodier, Loosemore, Wilson, Crane, Tomlin, Haywood (c), Milner Morgan (Ali), B Whelan (McLoughlin), Phil Hatton (Evans)

Half time score: 1-1

Goalscorers: Tomlin (2)

Booked: None

On the back of another well fought win Kings AFC faced Henlow Reserves a new side this season and a side that has only lost one game to date, against Oakley Reserves.

The starting line up had to be juggled slightly just before kick off due to unseen circumstances with players being delayed on their journey to the ground, however, the starting eleven saw Sansom taking a familiar position in goal with full backs made up of Brodier on the right and Loosemore on the left, centre backs Crane and Wilson with Milner and Haywood sat in front of them, the left wing was occupied by Ben Whelan and the right wing marshalled by Phil Hatton, Morgan was joined by nippy Tomlin for his first start in the forward line.

The game started badly with Kings taking the kick off and passing back to Crane who let the ball slip passed him and quickly had to play the ball away from the onrushing Henlow centre forward, from the off Kings were under pressure and it continued for the first 15 minutes. During the early stages of the game Kings invited pressure and gave opportunities to the opposition and it took some time to realise that there was no need to give their counterparts so much respect and time on the ball.

After a brief spell of good play Kings were rewarded with a corner, the ball was whipped in and a collective effort of Wilson and Crane saw them both direct the ball towards the net, unfortunately the ball was cleared off the goal line and out for another corner.

The next corner was dealt with well by the Henlow defence who cleared the ball quickly and started an attack on the break. With such a quick attack starting Kings were stranded and only had Brodier and Loosemore to try and break down the attack. The Henlow centre forward ran with the ball almost half the pitch before aiming up to shoot, Loosemore came in for a last ditch slide tackle to prevent a goal but the ball bounced kindly for the attacker after the tackle and was left with a one on one with Sansom. Despite the keepers best efforts the Henlow forward slotted the ball away well to give the visitors the lead.

A gutting goal to concede as Kings were beginning to dictate the game. Fortunately Kings didn’t put their heads down and still took the game to their opponents. A few clever moves from set plays and some fluent passing football helped Kings come close on a number of occasions with Ben Whelan performing well on the left, giving Tomlin a few glimpses at goal. Kings finally broke through the defence and scored after an overlap on the right hand side saw Brodier switch the play to Tomlin who was away one on one with the keeper and slotted it coolly past the custodian for his sixth of the season.

A well built goal to put the sides back on level terms, despite a few half chances for both sides the score remained one a piece going into the break. No changes were made for either side and the visitors took kick off.

A promising start to the second half for Kings with passes finally reaching there destination and Kings keep possession very well, Milner and Haywood began to run the game as they are very capable of doing. Henlow had now adopted a very ugly style of football by just hitting the ball over the top and expecting the quick centre forward to make something, not pretty to watch but it did as Wilson was forced to concede a corner. The corner kick was taken quickly and a strong Henlow head meet the ball to force it down into the corner, Loosemore kicked the ball off the line but straight to a Henlow player who blasted the ball into the back of the net from point blank range. A goal that went against all the play seen so far in the second half.

Again Kings composed themselves and started their attack again and came close on a few instances with the Henlow keeper being worked hard. Finally a break came for Kings who were trying to salvage something from the game. A corner that was well defended again by Henlow had been cleared but landed at Haywood’s feet who lofted the ball back into the danger area and Tomlin rose well and acrobatically volleyed the ball up and over the Henlow keeper. A fantastic goal and even better for Kings.

Only eighteen minutes remaining and Manager Wilson decided to make his changes hoping to take advantage of fresh legs by snatching a win in the closing stages of the match. Evans replaced Hatton but went upfront pushing Tomlin out to his familiar left wing role replacing the impressive Whelan who was taken off for McLoughlin who came on for his debut at right wing and Ali came on for Morgan to hang between Evans and the midfield.

With the end of the match looming both sides had chances to snatch a win, especially as the game had stretched and allowed huge amounts of space and time in the middle.  Sansom making an impossible save from a well struck shot down low to his right after a Henlow player got loose through the defence. With less than 10 minutes left on the clock Kings were awarded a free kick just outside the penalty area after Evans was blatantly tripped. A well thought of free kick by Milner who played it square to an onrushing Haywood who saw his gap and struck the ball well to see his effort cleared off the line, yet again.

The match was swinging back and forth when Wilson went down injured after a heavy trip defending a long ball under pressure from a Henlow forward. With no substitutes left, but barely being able to walk, Wilson went to the right of midfield and captain Haywood slotted in at the back.

With just 5 minutes remaining Kings let a Henlow player skip past two players in defence and chip the ball over Sansom to give the visitors the lead again, disastrous for Kings who had fought so hard. Heads did drop this time and pain set in as Kings pushed for a last gasp equaliser which left the backline exposed and Henlow again pounced put the game beyond doubt.

An unfortunate loss and horrible to concede two such late goals, but lessons have been learnt and progression has still got a chance to be seen.

Kings AFC Press Team

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