KINGS AFC 4 - 2 WILSHAMSTEAD RESERVES
Saturday 4th November 2006
Line-up: Sansom, Fordham (Phil Hatton), Loosemore, Crane, Wilson, Tomlin, Milner (Sacbuker), Haywood (c), Morgan, M Whelan (Evans), Clements
Half time score: 2-1
Goalscorers: Clements, Whelan, Haywood, Evans
Booked: None
After losing a close match with Ickwell and Old Warden Reserves last weekend Kings wanted to change their fortune and win this week against Wilshamstead, a team Kings had already beaten 3-2 earlier in the season in a cup tie.
Again Kings had a very strong side out, the father in waiting Sansom, was still available to play and took his place in between the sticks, with a solid looking defensive line up of Loosemore, Wilson, Crane and Fordham. The midfield was occupied by Tomlin on the left Haywood and Milner in the centre and Michael Whelan out on the right. The strike pair of Morgan and Clements are already boasting 15 goals between them this season.
The game started well for Kings who out played their opponents, they passed the ball around with comfort and ease. Whelan on the right made a few devastating runs taking the ball almost from the half way line into the box on three occasions. The third time he managed to slot the ball passed the out-coming keeper right into the bottom left corner to put Kings one nil ahead, a similar goal to the one he’d scored the week before. This boys pace is devastating!
The goal helped Kings as they started to relax and enjoy the game, the Wilshamstead forwards were getting nothing passed the solid Kings defence. After a spell of attacking play from Wilshamstead Whelan put in a brave tackle on a player who apparently was injured enough from the tackle he had to come off, to take his place was a little lad whose instructions were to: ‘run your socks off and make a nuisance of yourself’ which is exactly what he did.
Not long later Kings had won a corner and as the ball came in, Tomlin rose well to meet it and steer it towards the goal, the ball destined to go in but Haywood wanted to make sure and nudged to ball into the open net from a few yards out. The Kings were now two goals ahead and looking hot!
With very little left of the first half, Wilshamstead were given a life-line and scored. The ball came in from a free kick and Kings dealt with it well but as the next ball came in the defence stepped up to make all the Wilshamstead players offside, unfortunately Whelan didn’t realise and left three attackers onside for them to score against a helpless Sansom.
The half ended on a bad note for Kings who up until then had been controlling the game. Manager Wilson gave a determined team talk, demanding concentration, and control and reminded the team that they were playing well and unlucky to have conceded.
The second half started slowly for Kings, as it always seems to, the team looked tired and they allowed their opponents to pile on the pressure as they continued to seek to get a goal back.
With 30 minutes remaining Kings were awarded an indirect free kick inside the Wilstead box after the keeper picked up a pass back. Manager Wilson made his first two subs, Sacbuker came on for Milner and Evans came on for Whelan. The free kick was cleverly taken by Haywood who squared the ball to Evans who put the ball down low and into the left corner for a goal with his first touch of the game.
Kings looked very comfortable now and started to play their style of football again with short sharp passing. Clements, who had been mostly quiet, suddenly made a piercing run into the opposition’s area and was brought down for a penalty. Wilson decided to let the young man have the penalty and he put it away well to give Kings a 4-1 lead.
Clements continued to make more attacking runs and almost scored again but saw his effort go straight across the goal mouth after shooting from a tight angle. Minutes later the young forward that was brought on in the first half for the visitors ploughed into Wilson’s shoulder with a very dangerously high foot, a fantastic achievement as the boy was just half the size of Wilson. The young man continued to be a pain for Kings when he and Sansom had a disagreement after Sansom had fouled him outside the box. This disagreement let to a push and an argument broke out between nearly all players on both sides. Thankfully, it was nothing more then handbags after the young striker’s over enthusiastic efforts to make up for his lack of size by using his foul mouth to great effect.
The referee gave bizarrely awarded Wilshamstead a penalty, despite the fact that the original incident was well outside the box, and was converted to leave the score line at 4-2. The game descended in the final minutes with some nasty challenges coming from the increasingly frustrated Wilstead players – in particular, Tomlin, Wilson and Clements were on the wrong end of nasty fouls.
Man of the match was rightly awarded to Lee Morgan for his excellent hold-up play and distribution.
A tough and physical game that Kings dominated but still managed to give away 2 cheap goals. Something that manager Wilson will be looking to resolve in the coming weeks. Next week’s fixture will see a break from league action as Kings take on Southcott Village Residents AFC in the second round of the cup.
Kings AFC Press Team
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