After fourteen consecutive pre-season and League away matches, Kings finally returned to their home turf following extensive pitch renovation works during the summer. A bright but chilly afternoon, signalling the portent of Autumn, was the backcloth for a potentially intriguing F A Cup tie against Barking from the tier below and the visitors showed signs of nerves as Kings fashioned chances for Roddy Collins and Max Hercules in the opening five minutes. However, they served warning that they were not to be taken lightly when Sammy Dadson was on the end of a flowing move, but shot wide, before the tide resumed with the visiting defence blocking three consecutive shots from Hercules, Weiss and Ruff. The impressive Barking custodian Mitchell Ware pulled off a flying save from a Charlie Ruff shot and topped that by tipping over a close range header from Eoin McKeown, but his side almost took the lead when Melvin Minter was beaten to a 50/50 through ball and Roddy Collins chased back to clear off the line. The home breakthrough finally came though when a pacy Mitchell Weiss caused consternation with a driving run, was felled by Dan Flemming and a confident Charlie Ruff blasted the ensuing penalty high into the roof of the net. The half closed with Barking’s Jack Roult and Johnny Ashman testing Minter, but it was a rare error by Ware on resumption that saw a Charlie Ruff shot deflected and the resultant corner kick headed onto the bar by Callum Adebiyi. The pressure was building and the result looked to be determined when an unauthordox Charlie Ruff cross from the left received a glancing header from Eoin McKeown to double the lead. That proved to be false, as five minutes later, a diagonal pass found Johnny Ashman on the left and while he had the run of the ball in a tackle with Gary Connelly, his rounding of Melvin Minter and placed shot past defenders on the line sealed a fine individual goal to bring Barking back into the game. A cagy twenty minutes followed as both sides reassessed their options, broken only by another flying save by Ware from the ubiquitous McKeown, but the keeper was powerless when Max Hercules picked up a contested ball, exchanged a one two with McKeown and finished with poise for a scoreline that was possibly a little harsh on Barking, but a justified one that was to send Kings into the hat for the next round draw.