Kingstonian preview

Wingate & Finchley travel to Kingsmeadow on Monday night to face Kingstonian FC in the semi-final of the Ryman League Cup. The Blues turned over rivals, Enfield Town in the previous round and will be looking forward to a similar performance to get past an excellent Kingstonian side. The League Cup campaign began with a tense 1-0 home win over Harlow Town -in which Captain, Marc Weatherstone scored an early goal that the Blues were able to hold on to. The next round was a much more difficult affair, at Waltham Abbey. Weatherstone got the ball rolling again, but it took two goals from Lee Barney and a Karl Oliyide goal to edge past the hosts, 4-3, on a cold October night. If that was tense, the last 16 waseven more so, with then-Simon Lanes side beating Grays Athletic 5-4 at the Abrahams Stadium. Braces for Mark Goodman and Billy Healey, and a Lee Barney goal were just enough to edge past an excellent Grays side. Finally, the quarter-final saw the most impressive victory of the lot, with the Blues putting the game to bed before the half-time whistle in an excellent 3-1 away win in Enfield. The hosts for Mondays semi-final have beaten Harrow Borough, Hendon, on penalties, thrashed Farnborough 5-1 and then won 2-0 at Leiston to get to this stage of the competition. The Ks have had plenty of Cup games this campaign, but this remains their last hope of silverware before the end of the regular season, with a play-off spot looking possible for Tommy Williams men. The sides are drawing 1-1 in terms of games played this year, with 2-1 wins to each home side in the two Ryman Premier League games so far. Billy Healey has scored all three of Wingates goals vs. Kingstonian and the Blues will be looking to their talisman to provide the impetus to take them to the final. Wingate will be without both Alex Addai and Tommy Cummings for this game, both are cup tied, but will be eager to welcome back Rob Laney into the fold after he served a three-match suspension for a bizarre sending off at Grays Athletic. The Wingate fans will be hopeful that their side can replicate the performance from the Queen Elizabeth II Stadium, where both Addai and Cummings were also cup tied for the quarter final. The formers pace down the wings will be missed but manager, Keith Rowland still has plenty of options to come in and do the job the Addai does so effectively. The game promises to be a cracker, with both sides in patchy form, but with supremely talented individuals. The other semi-final will be played between Faversham Town and Sittingbourne, a great incentive for both of Monday nights sides to get the job done. Wingate last won this competition in the treble winning season of 2011, so the fans will be eager to get the Alan TurveyTrophy back to N12. Preview by Nikhil Saglani