WE’LL NEVER FORGET GLORY DAYS!
TWENTY YEARS IS A LONG TIME AT KINGSTONIAN
On May 15, 1999, Kingstonian clinched the first of two consecutive FA Trophy triumphs, the last Trophy finals at the ‘old’ Wembley.
However, by October 2001, ‘Ks’ were in administration. They lost the lease to their Kingsmeadow Stadium home. And, 15 years of financially-struggling sub-tenancy later, they left Kingsmeadow in 2017, undertaking a nomadic existence while seeking a new, permanent base. They are therefore ‘hosting’ Isthmian League neighbours Corinthian-Casuals in the Trophy on Saturday, at King George’s Field, the Casuals’ ground the two clubs currently share.
The suburban Surrey outfit’s Trophy record prior to their twin triumphs was as appalling as their subsequent record. Celebrations of their first successful journey beyond the qualifying rounds, in 1988/89, were, let’s say, ‘inordinate.’
They reached the 1990 quarter-finals, after overcoming Graham Poll’s refereeing and Andy Gray’s on-field arrogance (“we can beat this **** ing shower”) to secure, then win, a replay at Cheltenham Town. Gray flooded the Whaddon Road dressing-room with tears afterwards, his cliched ‘Wembley dream’ crushed.
But there were eight more years of Kingstonian hurt until the true ‘Wembley Wizard,’ manager Geoff Chapple, transformed their Trophy fortunes. Chapple led Woking to three Trophy triumphs. And while even he couldn’t keep Ks in the competition beyond British Summer Time in 1997/98, his first Kingstonian season, the wizardry soon returned.
Chapple led Ks into the Conferprodded ence in that first season, excusing them all the qualifying rounds malarkey in 1998/99. A 2-1 win at Gloucester City avenged Trophy defeat there in 1996, when Gloucester won 3-1 despite having their then player/manager Leroy Rosenior (yes) in goal throughout.
Weeble
Kettering were then despatched 5-2, after the Poppies’ Lee Hudson received two petty bookings inside 22 minutes. This simultaneously dashed their Trophy hopes and referee Paul Alcock’s hopes of a lowkey return to senior football after his impression of a malfunctioning weeble when Sheffield Wednesday’s Paolo di Canio shoved him over during a match in September 1998.
Three unanswered second-half goals, at Isthmian League second-tier Whyteleafe, took Ks into the last 16, though only after a fraught first half during which Ks centre-half Wayne Brown must have avoided an early red card for one ‘robust’ challenge through the power of prayer.
The refereeing leniency gods also smiled on Gary Patterson at home to Yeovil in the next round. The already-booked Ks midfielder clashed, elbow-first, with Glovers glovesman Steve Stott. The referee only had to decide which colour card to flash. But he chose liberal snowflake tolerance instead.
Thus reprieved, Ks turned a terrific 0-0 draw into a dramatic victory with centre-back Simon Stewart’s flying 89th-minute header from Kofi Nyamah’s right-flank free-kick.
The tension wasn’t quite over, though. And not just because of Yeovil’s stoppage-time pressure. One Ks official was uncertain at best about the registration of one of Ks’ substitutes. And we all know how dimly the authorities view such indiscretions, however minor and/or non-impactful. Fortunately, said sub remained unused. The official didn’t have to smoke his last roll-up. And Northwich Victoria away beckoned in the quarter-finals. Just as at Whyteleafe, Ks weathered a firsthalf storm and powered to victory after the break. Right-back Tarkan Mustafa threaded a shot through penalty-box rush hour into the net. Eddie Akuamoah stooped to head home Ks’ second, a very rare header among his just-completed 100 Ks goals. And the big finish could not have been cho- reographed better by Busby Berkeley (one for the kids, there), K s ’ nine-foot Scouse goalkeeper Steve Farrelly imperiously swatting away a spot-kick with the very last touch of the game.
The celebrations of Ks’ first-ever Trophy semi-final only stopped two days later when they were paired with Conference leaders, Trophy holders and familiar foes, Cheltenham. Yet it was possibly the best draw, given that the Robins’ priority was probably promotion.
In 1990, Ks won 3-0 away after a thrilling 2-2 home draw. In 1999, Ks had a similar Gloucestershire mountain to climb after a thrilling 2-2 draw in the first leg. Simon Stewart’s third goal of the run gave Ks the lead when Robins keeper Steve Book dropped the ball on the centre-back’s foot. Cheltenham’s star striker Neil Grayson equalised. Patterson’s mercurial midfield partner Geoff Pitcher fired Ks ahead again and John Brough expertly rolled home the second equaliser. Farrelly was the better keeper. But memories of 1990 kept Ks hopes alive.
Mountainous
A fixture-list quirk took Ks to Cheltenham for a league game in-between the semi-final legs. But the 1-0 loss was less a dress rehearsal than a matinee performance with understudies in the lead roles.
And one of the returning stars, centre-back and captain Matt Crossley, gave Ks a fourth-minute lead when Wembley was at stake again, heading home from closer to goal than Book got to Pitcher’s leftwing cross.
On 55 minutes, Dave Leworthy
home another Pitcher cross. And the scecould” nario shifted from “we could to “we SHOULD get to Wembley.”
The combative Grayson made
it 2-1 on 78 minutes. But Patterson bundled home yet another Pitcher cross, giving Ks three minutes plus stoppages to hold on and savour the moment.”
In truth, the final was as dull as the weather, against a Forest Green Rovers side searching for a Wembving ley trophy double, having won 1982’s FA Vase. “Clear cut chances” were “few
and-far-between.” And Marc McGregor had the best of the few-and-far-betweeners in the first half, when he was one-on-one with Farrelly, who looked nine-foot wide when making the save.
The almost-inevitable only goal came on 49 minutes. Patterson challenged Rovers keeper Justin Shuttlewood for a high ball near the penalty spot, which dropped to Mustafa, who side-footed it home with admirable composure. Farrelly was the busier keeper thereafter, while Ks rarely threatened another goal. But the result is everything in cup football. It’s fair to say Ks had their luck with refereeing decisions throughout the run. But, at the same time, they did beat Kettering and Cheltenham when they both led the Conference table.
And they were often magnificent, especially their mountainous centre-back trio, the bedrock of Ks terrific away record in their three-year Conference sojourn.
For Chapple, Wembley wins were becoming workaday – this was his fourth in six seasons. For Ks, it was new territory, having lost the 1960 Amateur Cup final 2-1 to Hendon in their one previous visit, despite leading with three minutes left. So it was remarkable that Ks made it two-in-two by beating 11-man Kettering 3-2 in a final as sunny as the weather. And more remarkable that Ks fell so far so soon afterwards.
Nonetheless, those twin triumphs still give Trophy ties a special meaning for Kingstonian, as Saturday’s most local of derbies will surely show.