Borough 1, Kingstonian 3.
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Earlsmead's first game since its death sentence was confirmed ended in another familiar defeat for Boro, this time at the hands of serial nomads Kingstonian.
The sparsely populated stand & terraces were almost as depressing as the news of the ground's demise and slightly more disturbing than the state of the parched pitch, which disturbed the path of the ball on a few occasions.
The closure of the District Line from Wimbledon would have deterred some K's fans from travelling and the attendance of 217 was a people-carrier more than for last season's corresponding fixture, 364 days ago. However, such numbers don't bode well for the future... of either club.
The "Where's Wally?" fan club made more noise than the natives. With my minces steadily failing, I failed to win this particular "Where's Wally?" but perhaps Rex wasn't in attendance.
Kingstonian arrived "sort of" unbeaten in their seven games this season, though, like Boro, they did lose a knock-out tie at Herne Bay. This was on penalty kicks in the FA Trophy, after a 3-3 draw. Unlike Harrow, they did not squander a two-nil lead, though Joe Taylor improved on his FA Cup brace v. Boro by bagging a hat-trick against K's. Harrow arrived winless from seven competitive games. No "sort of" required.
Kicking down the slope in their blue change strip, K's showed one change from the XI that started in the FA Cup win at Three Bridges: Jordan Gallagher coming in for Sean O'Brien. They adventurously lined-up in what has to be called a 4-2-4. Alongside the strike pair of Eddie Simon & Rocky Williams, wide men Gallagher & Stan Flaherty didn't always cling to the touchlines as if they were rosary beads, but they were certainly deployed as wingers, so they were, begorrah! Behind them, fullbacks Jamie Hilton & skipper Joe Pratley-Jones ventured well forward in support, meaning K's were an adventurous 2-4-4 in possession. Rob Tolfrey seemed to have shrunk, as people do in old age, but his facelift looked impressive. It was a while before I realised he wasn't in goal for the visitors. He'd have struggled to find anyone to fight on the terraces in a "crowd" this size. Mind you, Frankie Curley would too. Even Kevin Maclaren wouldn't be guaranteed.
It took me less time to work out that Harrow's number #2, listed as Olu Akinode on the teamsheet & social media, was actually Will Bailey. That wasn't difficult, though I'd confidently say it would be beyond the average Met. Police surveillance specialist on stake-out duty. With wide open spaces likely to appear behind K's adventurous fullbacks, Bailey might have been better utilised as a winger, but Adam Kolli's been impressive of late and he justifiably got the right-mid berth. Tade Ibrahim lined-up on the left in a pretty standard 4-4-2. There were four changes from last week's draw with Littlehampton; five from the midweek London Senior Cup loss at Haringey Borough. The changes included two new boys: number #5 William Hall, who's arrived from Hanwell Town, played alongside Jeremy Stewart at the back; striker Lucius Vine, who ought to have arrived from Downton Abbey, Brideshead Revisited or an Oscar Wilde play with a name like that, partnered Gareth Chendlik up front.
In an early, eerie foreshadowing of things to come, Boro goalie Trent Carter-Rogers and K's winger Gallagher indulged in some high-leaping "grand jeté" ballet by the D at a bouncing, hoofed K's free kick. Making contact with the ball didn't seem high on the priority list of either.
Boro's first free kick wasn't much better. 40 yards out, in the inside-left channel, Lewis Cole drove the ball towards the far post. There wasn't much of a sting for George Hill in the visitors' goal, as he caught it by his top left corner, but it might have been going in. The Boro skipper was almost certainly attempting a cross.
Kolli made a lovely turn to give Chendlik a sight of goal, but his shot was tame and wide.
At the bottom end, home keeper TC-R dashed smartly from goal to hoof a dangerous through ball off Eddie Simon's toe.
The game was flowing from end to end - albeit often via hoofing, rather than the tedious tiki-taka universally in vogue these days. Bailey tidied up a K's attack that broke down, brought the ball out and found Kolli, whose run ended with a pass to the promising Vine. The debutant jinked inside and narrowly cleared the bar with a venomous, dipping left-footer from the edge of the box. George Hill probably had it covered... Unlike Sundance covering Butch in the other George Hill's second best film.
K's took the lead with a comical goal on 18 minutes. On the left edge of his area, with K's in their 2-4-4 formation, left-sided centre-half Joe Smith wisely eschewed a variety of modern options in favour of an old-fashioned, comparatively elegant and nicely flighted 50-yard hoof. Will Bailey was the the closest red shirt, but K's widely-spread formation created large, vacant spaces across the pitch. Bailey would have been hard pushed to make the header and he allowed the ball to drop over his left shoulder, 30 yards out. TC-R was inexplicably racing out of his area. The ball bounced high, fullback & keeper waved legs at it, missed, and Gallagher, three yards the wrong side of Bailey as the ball came down, "gambled" and ran past the crestfallen duo to tap the ball in from about four yards. Perhaps a little unsporting, as Smith's now 80-yard hoof was almost certainly trundling over the line anyway, but one can't be too careful on a pitch as rutted at this. One-nil.
Simon dropped a little deeper for a while, into a #10 position, but K's more-or-less kept the same bold formation. A K's free kick on the right saw a low left-footer from Arsen Ujkaj well saved by TC-R, low to his left.
With the game fairly well-tempered, in spite of K's players rolling around even more than Boro's generally do, referee Harry Demo was letting a lot of wrestling and borderline shoulder-to-shoulder stuff go. This didn't please either set of fans. The players began to take a few liberties. Mr. Demo handed out a few lectures, but was initially reluctant to wave cards.
Another piece of excellent control & fast break by Kolli put Vine in on the right side of the area, but a couple of attempted crosses to red shirts in the middle pinballed off K's defenders.
Eddie Simon played a dextrous lob over the Boro backline to an onside Flaherty, but his dink over TC-R sailed well wide.
Simon then found Gallagher and a couple of attempted drives across the box were blocked, resulting in the game's first corner, well past the half-hour mark. TC-R pouched it impressively. Mr. Demo finally admitted defeat and produced a card when Boro left-back Luke Brophy felled Simon with a comically agricultural swing of the boot. TC-R again leapt and held the resulting free kick with aplomb. Has he ever considered Aussie Rules?
Shortly after another set-piece was wasted by skipper Cole, Boro were awarded a free kick in a lip smacking position: 25 yards out, maybe 2 yards to the left of the D. Worryingly, the skipper was on the premises, but he jogged towards the D. Bailey caressed a right-footed outswinger over the top of the wall and just inside the flailing Hill's right post. A strike of LeTissieresque calibre.
Parity should have lasted little more than a minute. K's won a throw on the right. Prince Mbengui helpfully flicked it on, into a crowded box. I think the first hit was by Reuben Duncan, I'm even less sure about the second one, but both were blocked. The ball was then put into TC-R's net from close-ish range, but the flag went up for offside. "Close-ish" was about 3 yards, so K's were unfortunate there was no defender closer to the goal than whoever turned the ball home.
At the other end, Kolli dispossessed Hill, as the custodian tried to shepherd the ball out for a goal kick, but no Boro player could get to his dangerous ball across the Surrey penalty area.
K's striker Rocky Williams picked up a booking and Eddie Simon fired wide from the inside-left position to end the half with the game justly level at one apiece.
The second half was very slightly less comedic, had far fewer fouls but more bookings and Kingstonian won it two-nil.
It opened with K's keeper Hill coming an irresponsible distance to a hoofed Boro free kick. He spilled it, a yard inside the box, by the D, but Kolli failed to control the awkwardly bouncing ball and a shot was blocked.
Mbengui then had a shout for a penalty.
O'Brien replaced the booked Williams for the visitors.
TC-R hit two duck hooks from goal kicks that fortunately both went to red shirts.
Tade Ibrahim had a shot blocked but won Boro's first and only corner on 57 minutes. He scuffed his delivery to the first K's defender, well short of the near post.
Bailey's goal was an obvious exception, but Boro's striking of stationary balls was as bad as I've seen anywhere for some time.
Boro were on top and looking promising at this point. Vine did well to round-up a hoof and hold off a challenge. He set up Kolli, but his shot was blocked. TC-R dashed out smartly again to thwart the resulting K's break.
Hill then took out Pratley-Jones, with a punch from a dangerous cross. The skipper was down for a while and looked groggy, but remained on. The wonderfully named Jamie Splatt replaced goalscorer Gallagher.
Flaherty put a K's free kick from 30 yards over the clubhouse, but Boro came close to taking the lead on 70 minutes. Cole rasped a shot from the edge of the box. George Hill did feel the sting this time and could only parry the ball down. "D'ye folla in?" Indeed Lucius Vine does but, following in, his close range shot was also parried by Hill, who grabbed the ball at the third attempt.
K's efforts at dead balls were almost as bad as Boro's and they failed to clear the first man, Brophy, at their second and last corner.
Jayde Crotty replaced Vine and soon had a shout for a foul, right on the 18-yard line, waved away by referee Demo. Twenty seconds later, Ibrahim was felled, just to the left of the D. It was a closer position than the one Bailey had scored from, but he didn't get hold of this one. The K's wall obligingly jumped over the ball, which scuttled past Hill's right post.
Shortly afterwards, K's regained the lead. 30 yards out on the left, Pratley-Jones launched a long throw into the box. It looked destined to drop between players but Arsen Ujkaj, leaving his marker to backpedal furiously, with seemingly little chance of getting to the ball, managed a looping back header that sailed over the stranded TC-R and inside the far post. I had visions of Uwe Seeler and Peter Bonetti, but Seeler meant his remarkable header to go where it went. Ujkaj just stretched desperately and got lucky. A great effort to get his head to the ball, nonetheless. Two-one.
Two minutes later, Flaherty played in Simon. TC-R pulled him down. Red card under the rules until fairly recently, but only a yellow now. Maker taker, as the school playground had it. Simon's penalty kick was more LeTissieresque than Bailey's free kick. I'd guess it was two feet under the bar and no more than three feet inside TC-R's right stick. The goalie went the wrong way, but even Mark Crossley wouldn't have been saving that. Three-one.
KJ Bailey replaced Kolli. TC-R had another walkabout when venturing outside his box to beat one blue shirt and kick the ball into touch as a second approached. He then duck hooked another goal kick.
Yellow cards were flashed, subs came and went for K's, but Wayne Carter only used two, and K's ran down the clock quite comfortably. They've now scored four threes and two fours in their eight matches this term. They go on to play Leatherhead in the FA Cup. I don't fancy K's chances there, but they gave last season's champs more problems last term than three defeats would suggest. I'd imagine K's should be in the playoffs, but they look short of title calibre.
Boro look short of most calibres just now and it's a mite disconcerting that no interview with Wayne Carter has yet appeared, as I type this late on Sunday evening. He's the man for the job. He's more likely to get a tune out of these players and more likely to be competitive on a paltry budget than 80% of managers at this level. He can't do a lot about the type of basic mistakes that keep shooting Boro in the foot. I think things will click into place fairly soon and the campaign won't develop into a relegation struggle. Egham on Tuesday is not the worst place for a team low on confidence to turn things around, but as for next Saturday, away to the league leaders, as George V said when he was in far worse health than Boro...
Harrow Borough 1 (W.Bailey 40')
Kingstonian 3 (Gallagher 18', Ujkaj 78', Simon 81' pen)
Boro: (4-4-2) Trent Carter-Rogers; Will Bailey, Jeremy Stewart, William Hall, Luke Brophy; Adam Kolli, Prince Mbengui, Lewis Cole, Tade Ibrahim; Lucius Vine, Gareth Chendlik.
Subs - Jayde Crotty (for Vine 72'), KJ Bailey (for Kolli 82').
K's: (4-2-4!!) George Hill; Jamie Hilton, Arsen Ujkaj, Joe Smith, Joe Pratley-Jones; Joel Brown, Reuben Duncan; Stan Flaherty, Rocky Williams, Eddie Simon, Jordan Gallagher.
Subs - Sean O'Brien (for Williams 52'), Jamie Splatt (for Gallagher 64'), Dennis Kelmendi (for Duncan 76'), James Dobson (for Simon 85'), Jack Connors (for Brown 88').
Stats:
Shots on target: Boro 3, K's 5.
Shots off target: Boro 3, K's 4.
Shots blocked: Boro 3, K's 4.
Corners: Boro 1, K's 2.
Free kicks: Boro 13, K's 17.
Caught offside: Boro 2, K's 3.
Yellow cards: Boro 3, K's 3.
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Borough 1, Kingstonian 3. by Fastnet Rover13/9 23:50Sun Sep 13 23:50:38 2026view thread