Barton give Kempston the blues

Kempston’s only home league fixture in the calendar month of October ended in defeat as Barton Rovers proved too strong for the hosts at Hillgrounds on Tuesday night.

The visitors started brightly and a surging run from Verney needed smothering as early as the fifth minute. Drew Phillips then had a spectacular looking effort on the over head, but he failed to make proper contact with the ball and it drifted harmlessly out of play. Kempston’s first chance was twenty minutes in coming, Nathan Tshikuna curling over the bar after Alex Collard had nodded the ball to him. Moments later, a corner was swung in from the right by Josh Crawley and it required at Barton head to make the clearance to prevent him scoring direct from the corner quadrant. Just on the half hour mark, the visitors took the lead. A ball was played across the area where it was met by Jimmy Hartley, his volley was not the cleanest contact but the ball bounced in off the post with Martin Conway scrambling. The goal seemed to spark Kempston into more pressing action, Ben Acquaye flashed a shot over after being fed by Seb Simpson. Luke Heneghan had two shots from range take deflections, one flying for a corner and the other landing comfortably in the hands of Gould in the Barton goal. Late in the half Conway played a long free kick, which was nodded down by Robbie Goodman, unfortunately for Josh Crawley, Gould was first to the loose ball to end the danger and send Barton into the dressing rooms with the advantage at the break.

The second half saw an early chance for Heneghan sting the palms of Gould. Moments later, a long ball over the top found Ben Acquaye running through beyond the defence. The quick winger broke the offside trap perfectly and squared the ball across to the waiting Josh Crawley, who bundled home his eighth of the season with the Barton defence waiting for an offside call that rightly never came. Acquaye could have got himself on the score sheet shortly after, putting over after being fed by Heneghan. Tshikuna flashed a shot wide after being found by a long Conway free kick, the winger surged past several opponents before unleashing his shot. Midway through the half, an Acquaye cross found sub Jermaine Hall unmarked in the penalty area a handful of yards from the goal. The forward couldn’t direct his header on target and glanced wide. Barton had soaked up all the Kempston pressure and then hit with a sucker punch. Warner-Eley found himself with crossing space on the left, his ball in came back off the crossbar right into the path of the waiting Drew Phillips who gleefully tapped home. As Kempston pressed for a second equaliser the gaps opened up at the back, Phillips fully exploiting this by latching on to a long clearance and surging toward goal. With Kempston caught upfield, Phillips was able to place the ball past Conway before the covering challenge to seal the victory as the clock ticked into stoppage time. Crawley had a late half chance for Kempston but without causing real danger to the score line.

The defeat drops Kempston one place in the table to thirteenth. On Saturday, they travel to Thame United before another midweek away trip, this time to Sutton Coldfield.