Ryan Gondoh claimed his second Man-of-the-Match Award after his goals clinched Sevenoaks Town’s place in the Emirates FA Cup Second Qualifying Round for the first time since 2016.
The draw has paired them away against former rivals Phoenix Sports on Saturday 17th September.
Gondoh’s goals won him the latest prize, sponsored by Sevenoaks Sport & Wellbeing, but there were several other contenders in the deserved victory over Kingstonian in the first competitive meeting between the clubs. Boss Harry Hudson praised his side for a solid and organised performance in a tie extended to 100 minutes by referee Andy Marchant.
Former Kingstonian striker Gondoh made the breakthrough after 25 minutes, sliding the ball home after bursting through three challenges.
He went close to a second soon afterwards, seeing his effort cleared off the line.
Kyle De Silva missed out on a third from Gondoh’s cross three minutes after the break.
Tyler McCarthy blocked Keiron Cadogan’s follow-up, Kingstonian spurning two more good chances, before Gondoh got his second 11 minutes from time, again breaking quickly from halfway before shooting home.
Louis Collins got one back with a 30-yard free kick on 90 minutes.
Mr Marchant’s decision to add time surprised many, but Sevenoaks were happy to get the job done.
Harry Hudson said after the game: “I’m really proud of the boys, we asked for a reaction after Monday’s match and they gave it today. We deserved to win in my opinion and if any other result had happened then I don’t think it would’ve been fair on our boys.”
“This Kingstonian game is the level of performance we need to find in the league which is the priority.”
Talking about Ryan Gondoh’s first goal he added: “Gondoh is exceptional individual ability and that’s what we know he’s got. And he’s certainly delivered today, not just for the goals, but in terms of work rate and the energy and the defensive side, which he is not known for, he was outstanding.”
See the full interview with Harry at https://twitter.com/SevenoaksTownFC/status/1566520983342796800?s=20&t=wQCjU0fyJR3xIpFYCPSrDg.
Sevenoaks: Tyler McCarthy, Ryan Palmer, Karn-Miller-Neave (Dami Ollorunnisomo 74 mins), Emmanuel Mensah, Matthew Weaire, Corey Holder, Kyle De-Silva, Omarr Lawson (Daniel Hector 66 mins), Freddie Parker, Ryan Gondoh, Yahaya Bamba (Sammy Johnson 78 mins).
The Sevenoaks Town FC Man of the Match, sponsored by Sevenoaks Sport & Wellbeing was Ryan Gondoh, pictured below with Editor Steve Rowley.
