Match Report: Gareth Nicholas

Brighton & Hove Albion Under-18 ‘keeper, Toby Bull came in for his debut, in place of the still-injured Roco Rees, while Danny Barker, Dayshonne Golding and Ollie Pearce were all restored to the starting line-up. Ricky Aguiar, Sam Keefe and Mo Diallo being the ones to make way.

It only took three minutes for K’s to register the game’s first shot of note when Dominic Vose fired narrowly over the crossbar, followed barely sixty seconds later by the visitors doing the same through Leon Moore, once he’d drifted in off the right wing.

Debutant, Bull had to be alert to deny Jerry Puemo from close range as he got on the end of Kenny Beaney’s left-sided free-kick shortly afterwards.

The host’s number one was then called into his maiden action of the afternoon at the end of a move that commenced with a quickly-taken set-piece by Joel Colbran that he played inside to Reece Myles-Meekums who helped it on to Golding. Home hero, Rob Tolfrey tipping the final effort over the top.

Myles-Meekums was involved again approaching the midway point of the opening period; bursting down the right before locating Pearce in the six-yard box. Ollie’s turn and goalbound attempt, though, just missed the near upright and ended up the wrong side of it in the side netting.

Two minutes later however and Worthing went ahead. Jesse Starkey’s corner evaded those in the middle of the penalty area and arrived at the feet of Colbran near the edge of it. He duly dispatched a low effort into the opposite bottom corner.

They came close to a second moments later when a neat team move that got going in their own half resulted in Jasper Pattenden sending a cross in from the left and Pearce angling a header fractionally over the target.

We then had to wait until the hour mark for any further excitement thanks to a pin-point, right flank delivery from the boot of Man Of The Match Moore onto the head of Pearce who buried the ball in the back of the net to double the advantage.

Shortly after that the home team were reduced to ten men as Captain, Gus Sow was penalised for a foul on Barker to earn his second yellow card of the day.

Bedecked in a combination of grey and sky blue hooped shirts, white shorts and black socks, the away team soon had another sight of goal; Skipper, Aarran Racine rising above the rest to nod past the back stick.

A third didn’t take much longer to arrive with the predatory Pearce poking past Tolfrey when Starkey’s flag-kick caused havoc and an initial attempt was blocked in a crowded six-yard box.

Five minutes later and if it wasn’t all over already, it certainly was now !   Starkey at the heart of it again with his delightfully chipped ball into Colbran seeing the right-back kept out by the experienced Tolfrey but the K’s ‘keeper proved to be powerless to deny Pattenden as well. The flame-haired midfielder-cum-winger making the net bulge for a fourth.

A rampant Reds continued to take the match to their, by now, beleaguered hosts who’d let in five at Cray Wanderers last Saturday.

Barker, slightly left of centre, picked out Colbran over on the right byline and he centred to Myles- Meekums who’s low shot fizzed across the penalty area and out the other side for a goal-kick.

The final (half-)chance of a cold and tad windy affair watched by a crowd of just over four hundred also involved our mercurial number eleven.

A burst of pace down the right flank preceded a dinked delivery that forced centre-half Jake Hutchings to help on with his head at the expense of a corner.

Two league wins out of two for Worthing but three straight defeats for Kingstonian. 

Next up, Lewes away.