Kingstonian 3-5 Enfield Town
The good, the bad and the downright ugly as Enfield Town confirm promotion credentials.
Kingstonian started this important Premier Division match so well that hopes were high of a very positive afternoon for the home team. However in the end the away team from Enfield Town emphatically saw to it that those hopes would be dashed, dotted and thoroughly crossed out.
After Kingstonian looked lively in the opening moments of the match, the Towners took the lead in the 18th minute thanks to a Jake Cass goal. It needed an immediate riposte for K's to get back into the game, and thanks to a nice move down the left they equalised in the 22nd minute when Fabio Saraiva finished it off with a successful shot.
The game then turned in the 26th minute when K's players decided almost en bloc that a lonely-looking Muhammadu Faal was offside and stopped. The referee didn't stop, the assistant referee didn't stop, and, most importantly, neither did the former K's striker who calmly put the ball in the back of the net.
K's let themselves be badly affected by this second goal and had barely stirred themselves when Enfield Town scored their third goal in the 31st minute thanks to a second strike from Muhammadu Faal.
Whatever was said at half time by Kingstonian manager Hayden Bird went flying straight out of the window in the 47th minute when the visitors almost effortlessly carved the defence wide open, allowing Jake Cass to double his own tally and contribute Enfield's fourth goal.
The game was done as a contest, but Enfield Town kept going, and in the 65th minute another former K's man, Lyle Della-Verde, blasted his team's fifth goal with a shot from outside the area.
Enfield Town were arguably very worthy of their four goal lead, but at least the K's didn't give up the ghost and managed to get two goals back, one in the 78th minute from the tireless Daniel Ajakaiye and then a second goal of the afternoon for Fabio Saraiva in the 89th minute.
This was a game that would see if either or both of these teams have the right credentials to be at the sharpest of sharp ends come the end of April - Enfield Town confirmed that they do indeed possess those credentials, whilst Kingstonian have some extra work to do.
