Moss Inspires Trophy Comeback to Give Kingstonian New Hope

The knives have been out at Kingstonian this week as manager Tommy Williams’ side faced up to a four-match losing run.

Ok, not the sharpest of knives. We’re nice at K’s, after all. Just serrated plastic picnic ones and maybe the odd spork and occasional online forum postings with subject lines like “Time’s Up, Tommy”.

So last Saturday’s win over Ryman One South Lewes in the FA Trophy First Qualifying Round genuinely felt season-changing. 1-0 down at half-time to a side in decent form, albeit in the league below, it was hard to see how K’s were going to dig themselves out of the hole. “45 minutes to save his job” was one tweet and, for once, it didn’t read as melodrama.

But Ryan Moss, offering consistent qualify upfront despite the dysfunction behind him, managed to create two goals out of nothing. First, in the 53rd minute, he charged down Lucas Covolan in the Lewes goal, the keeper’s kick bounced off the striker and he calmly sidefooted into an empty net.

Five minutes later, Moss was it again, shoulder-barging a defender in the box before arrowing the ball into the top corner.

2-1 was enough to secure a place in the draw for the next round and, critically, £2700 in prize money.

Williams’ reaction at the end suggested he’s been hurt by results as much as the fans have. The rising tide of frustration, which has been building since a catastrophic 4-1 defeat to VCD Athletic in the FA Cup, had prompted the manager to take to the club website earlier in the week and issue a defence of his record, citing – reasonably enough – money as the source of all evil:

“There has been a lot people asking since the start of the season "why did I let this player go?", "Why didn't I sign that player?", "Why didn't I sign a midfielder?" The reason is that this football club has to "cut its cloth" accordingly like many other non-league clubs so, but the financial gap between some are now so much bigger. As a result we had players who moved on in the summer for better deals and we missed out on signing some players for the same reason. During the summer I had agreed deals with two experienced midfield players, who then told me just before pre-season they had been made bigger offers elsewhere.”

If that was an explanation for spending six weeks of the season with egregious AFC Womble loanee Danny Gallagher pottering gingerly in midfield, then most fans seem willing to accept the club’s current circumstances in which staving off relegation – the euphemism “stay competitive” has been issued – is the new “push for the playoffs in the Spring”.

As so often at K’s, events off the pitch are dominating anyway. The biggest vote this Autumn, folks, is not Trump-Clinton, it’s K’s-as-a-Fan-Owned or K’s-as-Director-owned. An open meeting on 9 November at Kingsmeadow is set to be a lively affair as the Board seek to persuade fans to vote in favour of “Community Club” status.

Even Williams accepted that the atmosphere at the moment is one primarily of uncertainty, with K’s also still awaiting confirmation of where they’ll be groundsharing next season.

“I do get that there’s a bit of doom and gloom about the place because of the uncertainty over the ground,” Williams said after the Lewes game. “I do get that, but I’m working tirelessly so that we have a positive season.”

This week also brought the sad news that Andrew "The Vicar" Wakefield had passed away. A K’s fan for 25 years and a well-known face on the terraces, the minute’s applause before the game was a reminder that, for all the vicissitudes of the football season, and whatever the future holds, the Kingstonian community is real and worth protecting.

K’s next travel to Hendon in the league on Tuesday 1 November.

#Football #Kingstonian #Lewes #21