Captain Hoar wants more

Kingston men’s second football team ‘ecstatic’ to progress to the cup quarter finals after coming back a goal down at halftime on Wednesday afternoon.

Captain Edward Hoar led the cougars to a 2-1 victory at Tolworth sports ground against Reading’s third team in a tight end-to-end game.

After the game, Hoar said that his side was stronger than ever due to the great team chemistry of the older players and the integration with the first years. He added: “The job is half done. We still have the quarters, the semi-final and the final so three games to go.

“We got lucky in the last game, Canterbury bottled it, didn’t want to came here. Just as well, we spanked Queen Mary 5-0. We just need to keep a level as there are three games to go.”

After conceding a goal in the first five minutes, Kingston played the first half completely tamed by the Reading keeper, making seven critical saves to defend their race for the cup.

However, 10 minutes into the second half from Kingston’s eighth corner of the game, Hoar equalised with a powerful header past the reactionless keeper into the centre of the goal.

Toby Mason gave Kingston the second goal from a low driven free kick 30 yards out on the left side of the goalkeeper, following a reckless shove by Reading player Vinicius Macedo.

There were over 16 set piece chances for Kingston, the majority resulting from one-on-one tackles on the break of a counter.

Kingston were able to continue their winning form with another win under the belt after losing two games in a row, resulting in three wins in the last five games.

“Vinny played great, always. But the sub Hadi Habboushi played exceptional on the right wing. It’s not easy coming into a game 1-0 down but he took the challenge head-on and drove at them. We got about 60/70 minutes out of him,” Hoar said. “For a fresher, who came into the game with the likes of strong core seniors, he played very well.”

Kingston’s second football team will play either London Met’s first team or Medway’s second team for the chance to reach the semi-finals of the South Eastern Conference Plate, on February 17 2016.