Kingstonian were
in the process of rebuilding an ageing team following their Amateur
Cup and Isthmian League successes in the previous two seasons. Frank
Macey finally hung up his boots at the age of 40 on doctor's orders,
playing just two games near the start of the season, his second appearance
only to help out during a mini crisis. George Keene was also semi-retired
and only played a handful of games while George Lee missed the early
part of the season through injury. Short term injuries were a problem
for K's throughout the season with reserve players regularly called
in to deputise and this disrupted the search for a new settled team.
This disruption was
reflected in a total of only 79 goals scored in all competitions which
compared to over 140 in their Amateur Cup winning season, albeit with
less games played. Doug Whitehead remained top scorer, but he
only managed 18 goals from 35 games as compared to his scoring rate
of over a goal a game in the previous 2 campaigns. K's did discover
a new forward in mid-season, recruiting Bernard Marlow from local junior
football. He scored 15 goals in 24 games but as the season progressed
his goal tally dropped off and it was to be his only season at the club.
Before the season started there was an almighty
row with the Surrey Comet who had leaked the "confidential"
annual accounts in advance of the Annual General Meeting. The paper
had also been accused of misrepresenting the finances as well as unfairly
criticising the club for their lack of support for charity games. K's
had withdrawn from the Surrey Charity Shield but mainly in protest at
the Surrey F.A. choosing the venues for these ties to maximise attendances.
This had usually left Kingstonian playing away from home and the club
were less than convinced that a home draw would make much difference
to the funds being raised for charities but would have added credibility
to the tournament.
K's had however definitely had a less successful financial year despite
winning the Isthmian League. This was largely down to a lack of revenue
from cup ties which was compounded by their previous success leading
to exemptions from earlier rounds of various competitions. The result
was a deficit of £289 as compared to the Amateur Cup winning season
where they came in with a profit of £559. The row led to a virtual
blackout of news in the Surrey Comet with articles mostly restricted
to reports on first team matches only.
K's were dismissed from the F.A. Cup in their first tie in the competition.
It was a 4th Round Qualifier against Leyton and although they had drawn
the away game, they lost the replay at home on the following Wednesday.
This was the game that Frank Macey made his final appearance for the
club due to the importance of the game, but his inclusion made little
difference to the result and Kingstonian were comfortably beaten 2-0.
Despite the charity criticisms from the Surrey Comet, K's were still
competing in the London Charity Cup. They had a rather unpleasant encounter
at Nunhead when a pitch invasion
by Nunhead fans targeted one of the Kingstonian backs. This had been
a response to a series of incidents on the field with two Nunhead players
being injured, one of them taking no further part in the game. The match
ended 0-0 and K's lost the replay on their own ground. Nunhead was not
a happy ground for K's that season and, playing there in the Surrey
Senior Cup Semi-Final, the reported attendance was only 1,000 and way
below that expected for a semi-final. Complaints were also made about
a poor pitch with little grass on it but K's did at least beat Redhill
5-1 to reach the final.
Kingstonian briefly led the league in early season and were still in
contention up until early March but a dreadful run saw them win only
one of their final eight games, ending the season in sixth place. They
did have a spirited run in the Amateur Cup but were beaten 1-0 by Dulwich
Hamlet in the 4th Round. It was the third time in four seasons that
these clubs had met in the later rounds of the competition and a crowd
of 20,000 watched the game at
Dulwich, an all-time record outside of the final and semi-finals.
Having beaten Metropolitan Police in an earlier round of the Amateur
Cup, Met Police turned the tables on Kingstonian in the London Senior
Cup a week later and the 2-1 defeat meant this remained the only major
amateur competition that K's had failed to win.
In the end K's did salvage two trophies from a mediocre season and were
to win the Surrey Senior Cup for the 4th time (6 if Old Kingstonians
were included) by beating Woking
2-0 in the final at Dulwich. They had also beaten Woking a week
earlier in the Surrey Combination Cup Final, a competition that consisted
of only a final and semi-final with the final being played at Richmond
Road.
Kingstonian Reserves suffered most from the Surrey Comet blackout with
almost no coverage of their campaign. Having to regularly lend players
to the first team, they ended up finishing 10th out of the 14 teams.
The 3rd team finished 6th of eleven teams in the Kingston & District
Premier Division and reached the semi final of the League Cup.
