A beautiful Bank Holiday Monday afternoon was the scene for the first league game between The Vale and groundsharing tenants Kingstonian. A preseason friendly had gone the way of The Vale but Ks were off to an excellent league start under new manager Scott Harris with 2 wins from 2….both clean sheets to boot.

A fantastic crowd of over 500 was on hand to see an entertaining and fun encounter.
Vale Manager Josh Gallagher started a back 3 of Harland-Goddard, Cam Black and Nathan Lewis.Dan Moody, Dan Hector and Jake Gallagher in midfield supporting Jermaine Green and Jordy Gallagher wide with Olly Sotoyimbo and Tom Barnes together as a physically imposing front twosome. Billy Bishop between the sticks as per usual.

The Vale set their stall out early: they were going to press, and press hard. Kingstonian started well and was moving the ball around quite smartly, and on 4’ their right winger Flaherty cut in from the wing and from fully 25 yards out hit an absolute bullet off the bar. Another couple of dangerous looking Ks crosses came in and it was clear that Kingstonian posed a real threat.

Then on 9’ The Vale struck. Dan Hector dispossessed a Ks midfielder just inside halfway, Jordy Gallagher slipped the ball back to Hector and The Vale were 3v2. Tom Barnes held his run to stay onside and Hector put him through. Barnes’ first touch took him wide, but that served only to increase the degree of difficulty before he finished beautifully inside the far post. 1-0 to The Vale.

A minute later Kingstonian could have been level, but Wilson dragged a shot wide from a central position.

On 14’ Kingstonian had a goal kick and The Vale’s pressure caused a bit of panic and ended up with a Vale throw in the Ks end. This is notable because that pattern repeated itself throughout the game and would contribute to Ks eventual downfall.

2 minutes later, on 16’, another Kingstonian goal kick. An aggressive Dan Moody disrupted things 30 yards from goal, a hustling Sotoyimbo gathered the loose ball and set up Greene from 22 yards out….from where he blasted an unstoppable drive into the corner of the Kingstonian goal. 2-0 to The Vale.

Ks never backed down and looked dangerous going forward as they would pretty much the whole game. But the Vale defenders and holding players put in an excellent defensive display, tackling with venom and playing excellent positional defence.

And The Vale were starting to threaten again, with Sotoyimbo proving a handful and setting up Barnes on 18’ for a decent look that went begging. On 29’, another chance, set up by the always industrious Hector, saw Barnes drive a left footed volley into the side netting.

On 35’, The Vale struck a hammer blow when, after some good hold up work by Sotoyimbo and Hector, Greene dropped a perfect cross into the Ks six yard box where the aggressive Barnes overpowered his defender and headed it in. 3-0 to The Vale.

3 minutes later, Kingstonian had a goal kick. They had hit the last several goal kicks long after the earlier mishaps but chose to play this one out. Again, The Vale were pressing hard and Greene and Sotoyimbo disrupted things before the ball even left the penalty box. In the ensuing melee Hector was fouled on the edge of the Ks box. Jordy Gallagher then swung in a perfect ball to Nathan Lewis who had gone central whilst everyone else went back post. A simple flick header and The Vale were up 4-0 and threatening to turn this into a rugby score.

Kingstonian stayed with the task, and it may sound strange but leaving out the 4 goals, it was a very even game thus far. And on 44’ Ks got their reward when The Vale only cleared a corner to the edge of the area and Ks defender Duncan smacked it back in for Eddie Simon to deflect past Billy Bishop.

So the first half ended with The Vale up 4-1 but Ks fans with reasonable hope that an early 2nd half goal could get them back in it.

But it didn’t work out that way. Instead of sitting back to defend a substantial lead, The Vale
continued to press forward, biting in midfield with Hector, Gallagher and Moody and looking for a 5th goal to finish the game.

Half chances came and went for The Vale in the first 15 minutes of the 2d half. Several Ks goal kicks which were not hit long resulted in turnovers and Vale pressure or chances. Arguably The Vale had more and better possession than when they were scoring for fun in the first half, with Ks frustrated.

Manager Gallagher replaced brother Jake with Seanen McKillop and cousin Jordy with James Dickson for fresh legs.

On 65’ Kingstonian carved out a chance but it was blocked by the outstanding Cam Black.

On 78’, Kingstonian had their 2nd, against the run of play. An questionable foul resulted in a free kick from near the corner spot and from the resulting excellent delivery, Eddie Simon rose for a well taken header to give the Ks fans some hope. A third for Ks now would be interesting.

But a third never came. A decent chance in the 85th minute hit straight at Bishop was all Ks could muster against a determined and organized Vale defence, with Moody, Harland-Goddard, Lewis and Black all making man of the match cases.

Overall an excellent performance by The Vale to tame a very capable Kingstonian side. Version 2 of this game will be on New Year’s Day and hopefully both teams will be near the top of the table for that encounter.

On to an away match at Isthmian Prem side Chertsey for The Vale this coming Saturday