|
It has not been a good few weeks for Maidstone United. As well as exiting both the FA Trophy and League Cup their league form has also been patchy and they have only won three out of the last ten fixtures that they have played.
This was a particularly disappointing performance from The Stones. Although the side was much changed due to injuries, United never got going and like in so many games recently they failed to put Ollie Morris Sanders in the Aveley goal under any concerted pressure.
Maidstone did not get off to a good start as on eight minutes the home side opened the scoring when the ball dropped to Ryan Doyle on the edge of the box and his side foot volley left Jamie Turner rooted to the spot as it dropped into the left hand side of the net.
It wasn’t until the 29 th minute that The Stones had their first opportunity when Jay Saunders picked out Keelan Mooney with a diagonal ball. Mooney came back into a more central position inside the box but his weak shot was comfortably held by Morris Sanders.
One minute later, Danny Hockton surged towards goal and squared the ball to James Pinnock who just failed to connect with it. Both Morris Sanders and Dean Hernandez-Bradshaw went for the ball but it was the Aveley keeper who came out on top and he managed to clear the danger.
Hockton then twice found Morris Sanders’ hands before the home side had a glorious opportunity to double their lead one minute before the break. The ball was threaded through to Steve Butterworth inside the area and it had appeared that he was in an offside position. Everyone including Butterworth stopped but no flag was forthcoming leaving Butterworth with the task of trying to beat Turner from close range but his shot was weak and Turner gathered the ball.
Turner was called into action again on 55 minutes when he saved Martin Tuohy’s shot which had deflected through a crowd of players and then four minutes later a combination of Turner and Nathan Paul prevented Tuohy scoring at the back post after he had connected with a cross from Junior Dadson.
However, Turner was powerless to prevent the home side extending their lead on 63 minutes when the Maidstone defence was opened up by a long ball forwards that was flicked into the path of Tuohy and he confidently lobbed the ball over Turner’s head from the edge of the area.
The Stones railed briefly late on and Hockton and Rowland both had headers saved but it was Saunders who went the closest to scoring on 77 minutes when his low shot just missed the left hand post.
|
