Stoppage time heartache

Rovers arrived in Oxfordshire with the optimism of having won on their three previous visits to the county.

The early stages of the game were dominated by the home side, with Murphy and McNish drawing decent saves from Thomas Wyant in the Kempston goal in the first ten minutes. It was not until the quarter hour mark when Rovers had their first real chance. Sam Johnson was set free and the pacey winger bore down on goal, only to be denied by Bedwell at the last for a corner. A header from Carnell forced Wyant into producing a magnificent tip save to keep the scores level ten minutes before the break. As the game seemed destined to tepidly limp to half time, Aaron King fired a tame shot from the edge of the box straight at Bedwell before the Didcot keeper made another comfy save from Ben Acquaye. It was three minutes into first half stoppage time when Rovers made an unlikely breakthrough. A visionary long pass from skipper Kyal McNulty found Aaron King in behind the Didcot defence, where he was able to delicately lift the ball over the advancing Bedwell and watch it drop into the empty net beyond, allowing Rovers to head into the break with the lead.

The first action of the second half almost saw Kempston double the lead, Johnson bursting down the left wing, roasting his man for pace, whipped in a devious cross, which required a manful block from Carnell to deny King the chance to score again. From that point on, the game mostly belonged to the hosts as they upped the ante. Williams found himself on the end of a right wing cross and managed only to steer wide from barely a yard out from goal. Murphy saw a deflected effort from the edge of the box dip just over the bar, while Hackett slipped through the defence and slid his shot barely millimetres wide of the far post. A rare Kempston attack saw neat work between Seb Simpson and Johnson to lay the ball back to King, who couldn’t control the final shot. With ten minutes to go, Shane Bush slipped when closing down the keeper and ended up colliding with Bedwell. Prone on the turf from the effects of the slip and collision, Bush appeared to receive a kick to the shoulder from Bedwell as play continued at the other end of the field, the referee, keeping his eye on the ball did not see the incident and neither did the assistants, otherwise Bedwell may have been in trouble. Didcot continued to huff and puff at the Rovers door, without gaining any real clear chances until two minutes from time when Cam McNeill’s snap shot as he played a one two on the edge of the box beat Wyant at his near post for a late equaliser. In the fifth and final minute of stoppage time, all of Kempston’s hard work was undone in the cruellest fashion. A right sided attack saw a cross put in that evaded everyone on the line until Brett Gardner at the far post found half a yard on his man to reach the ball first and turn it home with virtually the last kick of the game.

Despite the defeat, Kempston maintain fifteenth place in the table and can put the month of November behind them. December begins with a home game against Welwyn Garden City on the first.