Kingston football defeat nine man Brunel

Kingston University men’s football first team thrashed Brunel University men’s first team 5-1 at Tolworth Sports Ground on Wednesday.

Captain Gareth Chendlik beat the offside trap and scored a hat-trick which caused the referee to give two red cards against Brunel for questioning the decision.

Chendlik  hoped the results bode well for a more successful season for the Cougars in 2016. He said: “2015 wasn’t a great year for us; this year I set the team a target, which is to finish strongly and to go into varsity with a lot of confidence.”

Brunel were a player down in the first few minutes of the first half due to a player for not wearing shin pads this gave the Cougars an advantage as he was forced off the pitch for 10 minutes.

Kingston created many more opportunities for goals in the first half, with Sam Pledger making a fantastic run down the line to set Chendlik up at 15 minutes to score the first goal of the game.

Josh Wright was subbed on in the second half and made a wonderful first impression after two minutes on the pitch, with a speedy sprint where he chased the ball like a cougar to chase Brunel’s defence on the right wing.

Lyle Collins – who played his first game this year after returning from injury – had a good game, scoring Kingston’s fourth goal in the second half. “It’s my first game back and I feel fit, not 100 per cent but today was alright,” he said.

A slow run by Pledger up the left wing to score Kingston’s fifth goal looked effortless.

Kingston’s goalkeeper Tom Gurney denied most opportunities for Brunel by ferociously punching the ball outside the penalty box.

The Cougars could have scored more goals against their weak rivals. “The tempo of the game had slowed down and we’re just happy to get the win and to score five goals, which means we’re moving up in the league,” said Chendlik.

Eno Saliu claims it was a “pretty easy game” for the Cougars. “We do have a quality team so it was an easy win for us,” said Saliu.

Kingston will meet face to face with Imperial College after their 8-0 victory last year. The two teams will play next Wednesday at 2:00pm at Tolworth Sports Ground.