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Hartley Wintney
Kempston Rovers
(85', 90')
Full time
G Boland (48')
Rovers undone by late goals
By Matthew Wilmot
Kempston fell to their first defeat since the opening day of the season as Hartley Witney grabbed two late goals to turn the game around at the death.
The hosts began well and could’ve been two goals up in the first ten minutes as Sam Argent shot wide when through on goal and then Steve Noakes stretched to hit wide from a corner. Rovers first attempt at goal came in the sixteenth minute when Damon Herbert latched on to a poor pass and fed Jake Newman, but Rovers’ leading marksman’s low drive was saved. Rovers best chance of the half came on the half hour mark when Sam Johnson found Newman through on goal but he couldn’t make enough contact on the ball to beat the on rushing keeper Strudley. The first half ended goalless.
The second half started with a bang as only three minutes in, Grant Fryer required treatment following a clash of heads. Shortly after play resumed, Rovers took the lead; Ash Fuller fed the ball into George Boland and the young midfielder ran at the Hartley Witney back line before unleashing a shot from between twenty and twenty five yards into the far bottom corner for his second goal of the season. Despite returning to the game, Fryer was replaced after the goal by debutant Adam Moussi in a reshuffle that saw Robbie Goodman drop into defence. Ten minutes after the goal, as the hosts were coming back into the game, Ben Shepherd was cautioned for a late challenge, but the free kick came to nothing. A mix up at the back nearly brought about an equaliser as Paul Hodges stole the ball to go through one on one, only to see his tame shot bobble harmlessly wide. The hosts were really starting to press, but couldn’t find the cutting edge that they needed as half chances came and went, Hodges and sub Perkins both had speculative efforts. The game had been played against a back drop of scattered showers but with fifteen minutes to play, the heavens opened leaving the spectators on the far touchline running for the cover of the veranda on the clubhouse. With five minutes left on the clock, Hartley Witney got their equaliser in fortunate circumstance, a free kick was awarded in the right hand channel and while Martin Conway managed to block Steven Duff’s initial effort, Hodges was the liveliest man in the box to force the rebound home from a handful of yards. In the commotion after the goal, Kempston manager Jimmy Stoyles was asked to leave the touch line after protesting the award of the initial free kick. The hosts hard work was nearly undone shortly afterwards as keeper Strudley was adjudged to have handled outside the area, he avoided any card and Hartley stood firm to block the free kick. As the game played out, Hodges was cautioned for the hosts for kicking the ball away after a foul. The late blow for Rovers came in stoppage time. A corner from the left wasn’t cleared properly, falling to sub Perfitt on the angle of the area; his volleyed shot was looking to be heading well wide but defender Adam New leaned out to divert the ball beyond the desperate grasp of Conway and into the top corner of the net.
After the game, manager Jimmy Stoyles was in a sombre reflective mood, commenting “we should’ve seen it out. We had enough chances to win, but we’ve been undone by not concentrating and dealing with set pieces”. Rovers slip to twelfth in the table ahead of next weekend’s cup tie with Hereford.
Star Player
George Boland
Assist
Ash FullerKey moments
48:00
Goal
George Boland scores for Kempston Rovers
85:00
Goal
Goal for Hartley Wintney
90:00
Goal
Goal for Hartley Wintney
Highlights
View 0 new events
90:00
Goal
2 - 1
Goal for Hartley Wintney
90:00
Star Player
George Boland is awarded star player for Kempston Rovers
89:00
Yellow Card
Yellow card for Hartley Wintney
85:00
Goal
1 - 1
Goal for Hartley Wintney
82:00
Sub On
Hateley Mercer is substituted on for Kempston Rovers
82:00
Sub Off
Ben Shepherd is substituted off for Kempston Rovers
71:00
Sub On
Michael Lyon is substituted on for Kempston Rovers
71:00
Sub Off
Sam Johnson is substituted off for Kempston Rovers
58:00
Yellow Card
Ben Shepherd is yellow carded for Kempston Rovers
48:00
Goal
0 - 1
George Boland scores for Kempston Rovers
48:00
Sub Off
Grant Fryer is substituted off for Kempston Rovers
48:00
Sub On
Adam Moussi is substituted on for Kempston Rovers
48:00
Assist
Ash Fuller makes an assist for Kempston Rovers
Start of the game
Replay game
As it happened
- Hartley Wintney
- Kempston Rovers
- 0
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George Boland Goal 48:00'
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Grant Fryer Sub Off 48:00'
-
Adam Moussi Sub On 48:00'
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Ash Fuller Assist 48:00'
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Ben Shepherd Yellow Card 58:00'
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Sam Johnson Sub Off 71:00'
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Michael Lyon Sub On 71:00'
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Ben Shepherd Sub Off 82:00'
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Hateley Mercer Sub On 82:00'
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Goal 85:00'
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Yellow Card 89:00'
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Goal 90:00'
Team selection
Conway, Martin
McNulty, Kyal
Herbert, Damon
Fryer, Grant
Simpson, Seb
Johnson, Sam
Fuller, Ash
Boland, George
Goodman, Robbie
Shepherd, Ben
Newman, Jake
Kempston Rovers
League round up
Other East results
Comments
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Standings
| # | Team | Pl | Pts |
| 1. | Beaconsfield Town | 42 | 92 |
| 2. | AFC Rushden & Diamonds | 42 | 91 |
| 3. | Hayes & Yeading United | 42 | 83 |
| 4. | Hartley Wintney | 42 | 82 |
| 5. | AFC Dunstable | 42 | 79 |
| 6. | Cambridge City | 42 | 77 |
| 7. | Kempston Rovers | 42 | 73 |
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