Rovers tumble to defeat at Kempston

Southern League Division East: Kempston Rovers 4 Barton Rovers 1
Action from Barton's defeat at KempstonAction from Barton's defeat at Kempston
Action from Barton's defeat at Kempston

Barton Rovers fell to a 4-1 defeat at near neighbours Kempston Rovers in their Southern League Division East clash on Saturday.

The visitors brought in David Longe-King at right back, with Drew Phillips playing through the middle, flanked by Robbie Parsons and Dan Jarvis, as the front-line had a youthful look about it.

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Barton made a good start to the opening half and looked solid in all departments, moving the ball well, with some good passing.

With Tony Fontanelle’s side on top, Parsons had a couple of early chances but fired both wide of Martin Conway’s right-hand post.

On the half hour, Kempston’s Sam Johnson who gave Charlie Payne a hard time throughout, wriggled free of the Barton defence and from an acute angle opened the scoring against the run of play it.

Barton didn’t let their heads drop though and, in the 35th minute, after a Hugh Alban-Jones free-kick was initially won in the air by Longe-King, Phillips snaffled up a resulting half-chance with a deft overhead kick to force an equaliser.

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The leveller seemed to galvanise Kempston and they had the better of the remaining 10 minutes especially when some statuesque Barton defending allowed Kempston centre-forward Jake Newman to put the home side ahead just two minutes from half-time.

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This game however was killed off as a contest when, in the 52nd minute, Barton skipper Paul Andrews was shown a second yellow card by the referee leaving the visitors down to 10 men.

Kempston put their foot on the gas and Newman scored his second to extend the Walnut Boys’ advantage on 61 minutes.

This one came from Conway’s long ball through down the middle as Newman reacted quickest to finish with aplomb.

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The scoring was completed in the 81st minute when Kempston sub Josh Crawley fired home to make the final score 4-1, although it was perhaps not a true reflection of the effort and commitment this young Barton side put into this match.

Rovers head to Uxbridge on Saturday.

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