Maidstone United ended their pre-season campaign in the best possible manner with a confidence boosting 4-0 victory over Lewes. After winning their first match back after the summer break, the Stones suffered three defeats and had one draw before they began to hit form in their final two matches.
The Stones announced the signing of Conor Kelly and Ogo Obi on Friday night and it was Kelly who caught the eye in the first half as he had a hand in the first two goals, as well as hitting the post himself. Maidstone made sure they took advantage of some poor play at the back from Lewes to establish a commanding lead by half time.
It took Maidstone just 11 minutes to open the scoring. Some good play from Kelly saw the ball eventually come to Lamar Reynolds whose shot was blocked but Levi Amantchi beat the trialist goalkeeper.
Kelly was soon involved again. He delivered a decent cross to former Lewes player Razzaq Coleman De-Graft whose touch fell to Reynolds and he reacted quickly to fire the ball into the net.
Sam Corne then slipped a nice ball forwards for Reynolds to chase. Reynolds ran into the box but elected for an early attempt on goal which the trialist easily gathered.
With 27 minutes gone, a poor goalkeeping clearance went straight to Kelly. Kelly kept his composure to set up a shot and it struck the base of the post.
Not long after this though, Lewes were made to pay when another ball out of defence went straight to the Stones. This time, it went to Reynolds and he chipped a delightful finish over the head of the goalkeeper to register his second goal.
Maidstone continued to look the stronger of the two sides after the break and scored again on 49 minutes. Sam Corne was involved in the build up as Amantchi got his second of the game.
Not long after this, Coleman De-Graft did well to set up Reynolds. However, the keeper was swiftly off his line and made the block.
It wasn’t until the 66th minute that Lewes finally threatened. Dion Moore hit a rising curling shot which cannoned off the crossbar and this was to be the last time that either side really looked like scoring as the game petered out to its conclusion.
Maidstone United: Levi Amantchi 11, 49, Lamar Reynolds 18, 31
Lewes: –
Maidstone United starting 11: 12. Harley Earle, 2. Gavin Hoyte, 4. Reiss Greenidge (3. Chi Ezennolim 62), 5. George Fowler (Tyler Hatton 77), 6. Raphe Brown, 7. Razzaq Coleman De-Graft (9. Sol Wanju-Smith), 8. Sam Bone, 10. Lamar Reynolds (19. Perri Iandolo 73), 16. Trialist A (18. Bivesh Gurung 68), 17. Levi Amantchi (14. Ogo Obi 62), 20. Conor Kelly (Riley Court 76). Subs not used: 15. Sam Bone, Trialist Z.
Lewes starting 11: 1. Trialist A, 2. Jake Elliott, 3. Trialist B, 4. Alfie Egan, 5. Ronnie Vint, 6. Arthur Penny, 7. Dion Moore, 8. Bradley Pritchard, 9. Joe Taylor, 10. Kieran Murtagh, 11. Ryan Gondoh. Subs: 12. Archie Tamplin, 14. Deshane Dalling, 15. Trialist C, 16. Trialist D.
