Kingswood 3 Charfield 1

WITH Kingswood not having played for three weeks, and Charfield fresh from two good results, a sizeable crowd gathered for this holiday local derby. Heavy overnight rain had made the pitch soft and leaden skies threatened every more rain before the end. The referee's final duty before he started the game was to ask for the calling card of a visiting fox to be removed from the playing surface.

With a number of ex-Kingswood players involved in the Charfield side and also ex-Charfield youth players in the Kingswood team, the ingredients were present for an interesting encounter. It was the visitors who quickly got into their stride, forcing two early corners.

The second of these caught the home defence sleeping when Nick Ackland played it short, received it back and played a dangerous ball into the goalmouth where the impressive youngster Sean Rigg reacted swiftly to fire it past Andy Rodman after just seven minutes.

Kingswood were visibly shaken by the goal, but the experienced and calming influence Daren Ford made sure this early reverse was quickly forgotten and his players started to make some good runs at the visitors' defence, where Danny Thorpe was also called on to use his experience.

The equaliser ten minutes later was of the highest quality, with Charfield still having the better of things, a swift five-man counter-attack split open the visitors' defence and Adam Harber put a perfect ball into the path of the inrushing Gavin Dibden and without breaking his stride he hammered the ball past Craig Luker. Belief restored, the home team gradually wrested the initiative away from Charfield and they took the lead on 40 minutes when Harber finally beat Luker to score.

Charfield will probably look back on the remainder of the first half as the time when they allowed the game to slip away. First an Ackland shot struck a post and then Terry Cooper blasted the ball over the bar from six yards out with the goal at his mercy.

The second half belonged to Kingswood. The midfield battle was won, with man of the match Ian Mills, the smallest player on the pitch, having a massive game and supported superbly by Paul Bleaken and Kevin Spill in particular, they took the game to their opponents.

Up front the Dibden brothers and Harber were a constant threat, and with Thorpe thrown forward in an effort to save the game, the pressure began to tell. The killer goal came on 75 minutes and it was the hardworking Bleaken who deservedly scored it. Barrie Dibden then hit the bar and Gavin blasted the rebound over, and Harber went tantalisingly close with a powerful shot.

To their credit Charfield kept going with Thorpe and Ackland combining well and Rigg needing to be watched closely by Ford. With keeper Rodman always alert there was no way through a determined home defence and it was Kingswood who emerged worthy winners.

It had been a thoroughly entertaining game for the crowd to watch. The game was played at pace and in the right spirit by two good teams who were a credit to local football.