It was a disappointing afternoon for Maidstone United as they were comfortably beaten by Bath City.
The game was settled in a brief spell not long before half time during which Jordan Thomas scored twice and Sol Wanjau-Smith had a penalty saved and a header pushed onto the bar.
The Stones made three changes from the opening day win against Slough Town. Devonte Aransibia, Levi Amantchi and Chi Ezennolim came into the starting line up although Amantchi only lasted until the 67th minute before coming off injured.
There wasn’t much to note in the first half until the 24th minute. The ball came to Tom Smith who was just outside the area and his shot flew just over the bar.
Bath then scored twice inside two minutes. The first came on 40 minutes when Scott Wilson delivered a decent low cross from the right which Jordan Thomas fired in from close range.
Ewan Clark put a dangerous ball over the top which Maidstone couldn’t defend. Once again, Thomas was in the right place at the right time and he dispatched a confident finish past Lucas Covolan.
The Stones could have got themselves back into the game in first half stoppage time.l Wanjau-Smith went down inside the box and took the resultant penalty only for Ollie Wright to fling himself to his right and make an excellent save.
Moments later, Chi Ezennolim curled a fine cross into the box. Wanju-Smith dived and his glancing header was expertly tipped onto the bar by Wright.
With 66 minutes gone, Maidstone were fortunate not to fall further behind. Reece Greenidge’s back header dropped inches wide of Covolan’s right post.
The Stones didn’t really test Wright in the second half. In stoppage time, substitute Sam Bone’s drive went straight at the Bath keeper.
Play quickly moved to the other end. Substitute Cody Cooke laid the ball off to another substitute Eliott Frear and he found Smith who forced the ball in from close range to round off the scoring for Bath.
Bath City: Jordan Thomas 40, 42, Tom Smith 90.
Maidstone United: –
Bath City: 1. Ollie Wright, 2. Joe Haynes, 3.Dan Greenslade, 6 Kieran Parselle, 8. Dan Hayfield (14. Chris Lines 87), 10. Tom Smith, 12. Ewan Clark (11. Eliott Frear 76), 15. Jordan Thomas, 17. Scott Wilson (9. Cody Cooke,72), 19. Luke Russe, 23. Ben Morgan. Subs not used: 16. Jamie Cook.
Maidstone United: 1. Lucas Covolan, 2. Gavin Hoyte, 4. Reiss Greenidge, 5. George Fowler, 3. Chi Ezennolim, , 16. Liam Sole, 8. Sam Corne, 20. Conor Kelly (15. Sam Bone 62), 11. Devonte Aransibia, 17. Levi Amantchi (14. Ogo Obi 67), 9. Sol Wanju-Smith (7. Razzaq Coleman De-Graft 62). Subs not used: 12. Harley Earle, 10. Lamar Reynolds.
