Reading Clash Sees KU Slip Up In BUCS Title Race

YAW Ofosu’s third league goal of the season was not enough to stop Kingston University’s football first team falling to a narrow away defeat at Reading University.

Kingston started off the sharper of the two title-challenging teams, but lost the game 2 -1 to Reading.

They took the lead after ten minutes when winger Mo Sesay broke down the left and pulled a perfect cross back to Ofosu, who fired the ball into the roof of the net.

Sesay, 20, said:  “We started well, but fell off a bit in the second half.

“We have the return fixture in two weeks on our ground with a much better pitch, so we’ll definitely be looking to grab the three points to keep our title hopes alive.

“It’s frustrating because all the lads put a massive shift in.”

Reading hit back ten minutes later when their captain, Dylan Jones, 20, took advantage of some space in the box to slot past Kingston keeper Tom Gurney.

The weather brought by Storm Georgina did not help the quality of the game and pitch respectively, as the wet surface made it difficult for the teams to retain possession.

Jones said:  “We ground out a result in the end.  We went one-nil down and had good character to get back in the game.

“Normally we play out of the back, but with today’s conditions it wasn’t doable.  Going through the long-ball route worked better for us.”

In the second half, Reading looked the brighter team and took the lead in the 67th minute.

Declan Prior whipped in a corner which Nick Barnett met to bundle over the line, leaving keeper Gurney remonstrating with the referee after feeling he had been fouled.

The Cougar’s pushed for an equaliser but were unable to snatch a draw in the dying moments, as Reading’s defence held firm, with the help of some dubious refereeing decisions.

Kingston captain and centre back, Greg Potts, 21, said: “There’s no doubt we were the better footballing side today. We passed the ball well even when the conditions made it difficult.

“We’ve just got to keep training hard and stay focused for next week’s  game at Tolworth.”

The win puts Reading three points behind South Eastern 4C league leaders London School of Economics (LSE).

“I’m 75 per cent confident that we can go on and win the league now,” said Jones.

“We had a bad result against LSE earlier in the season, but have a game in hand.”

Kingston’s first team host Chichester fourths in the British Universities and Colleges Sports (BUCS) league Wednesday 31 January 2018.