Ks boss Dowson after Canvey pick-me-up (From Sutton Guardian)

Ks boss Dowson after Canvey pick-me-up

11:55am Friday 22nd February 2013 in Non-League

Kingstonian boss Alan Dowson needs a pick-me-up this weekend after swallowing the bitter pill of defeat at Whitehawk on Tuesday night, writes Stuart Amos and Taimour Lay.
 

Former Carshalton Athletic striker Danny Mills bagged a brace in the final quarter to give his a 2-0 win – the same advantage Ks had when the lights went out on the original fixture in November.
 

“It is a bit of a bitter pill to swallow to be honest,” said Dowson ahead of Saturday’s visit of Canvey Island.

“I’ve got no complaints though. The effort from our lads was fantastic. We are gutted we lost, but you cannot knock our players.
 

“Without Wade Small, whose dad died this week, we lacked a bit of magic to bring on off the bench.
 

“But if we can get one or two players back we will be fine. We’ve just got to kick on and win on Saturday.”
 

Dowson called Saturday’s 1-1 draw at Enfield Town  two points dropped, but Paul Vines’ last-minute equaliser  may prove crucial come the end of the season.
 

Teams that make the Ryman Premier League play-offs rarely lose more than 10 times and Ks would have reached nine by now had it not been for Vines at the weekend.
 

The Kingsmeadow chief, who was also without injured loan defender Ian Gayle on Tuesday night, slammed his  defenders over last week’s 9-3 win over Cray Wanderers.
 

But he turned on his front men at the weekend as they failed to make the most of their opportunities.
 

“I’ve never been so frustrated in all my life,” he said.

“The players were absolutley fantastic, but we’ve had up to 14 chances. Vinesy scored his hardest chance, Andre [McCollin] missed a couple of sitters, so did [Matt] Pattison.
 

“We scored nine last week. I wish we’d scored five and kept some over.”