The Stones have progressed into the Quarter Finals of this season’s Kent Senior Cup with a comfortable 2-0 victory over a young Gillingham side to make it a seventh consecutive win in all competitions and making it five clean sheets on the bounce.
The gaffer made four changes from Saturday’s FA Cup win at Torquay including a change of keeper with Harley Earle being given his first start of the season and making his competitive debut at The Gallagher.
It took a while for the game to get going but the Stones enjoyed the vast majority of possession which was a regular theme throughout the evening as George Elokobi looked to try a few new ideas and combinations. However in a manic 30 second spell, the scoreline could have changed for either side.
Gillingham’s Matt MacArthur was played through which required a block from Earle and the following two attempts from the Gills forward players were blocked by the defence. Just after, the Stones went on the counter with Razzaq Coleman De-Graft causing the danger before having his effort tipped over the bar by Taite Holtham.
Liam Sole who was a constant menace down the right hand side earnt the Stones a chance of going ahead as he was brought down in the box by Harry Webster. With penalties being a slight issue for the Stones in recent weeks, the duties were passed to Devonte Aransibia who calmly sent Holtham the wrong way and placed his penalty into the bottom right hand corner.
Returning skipper Gavin Hoyte looked to try and get in on the act just five minutes later but saw his header from Sam Corne’s corner well held by Holtham. No matter as the Stones doubled their lead five minutes before half time when De-Graft flicked the ball onto Perri Iandolo who drove into the bottom before unselfishly setting it up for Sol Wanjau-Smith-Smith who took a touch and slotted into the bottom left hand corner.
The second half saw the introduction of Riley Court who had played 90 minutes the night before in the FA Youth Cup and the 17 year old didn’t put a foot wrong as he made some brilliant tackles and was influential in the midfield.
Wanjau-Smith was looking to double his tally for the night as he turned and curled an effort towards goal which had Holtham beaten but was just an inch away from the post. Just a few minutes later, he was in the mix again as he played a lovely one, two with Aransibia but Holtham stood big and provided a strong hand to preserve parity for the Gills.
Our Kent neighbours found clear cut chances hard to come by throughout the evening but Earle still had to be on his toes to push away Ronald Sithole’s powerful drive after a promising bursting run down the left hand side. Wanjau-Smith then nearly put the icing on the cake as he latched onto a through ball but his attempted dink was well blocked by Holtham.
A professional performance from the Stones as they continue to build momentum with a heavy schedule coming up starting with a visit from Farnborough this Saturday at The Gallagher.
Maidstone United: Devonte Aransibia (pen) 25’, Sol Wanjau-Smith 40’
Gillingham:
Maidstone United: 12. Harley Earle, 2. Gavin Hoyte (C), 5. George Fowler, 6. Raphe Brown, 7. Razzaq Coleman De-Graft (17. Levi Amantchi 70 mins), 8. Sam Corne, 9. Sol Wanjau-Smith, 11. Devonte Aransibia, 15. Sam Bone (20. Riley Court 45 min), 16. Liam Sole, 19. Perri Iandolo (18. Michael Petrasso 81 mins). Subs not used: 1. Lucas Covolan, 3. Sam Smith.
Gillingham. 1. Taite Holtham, 2. Ike Orji, 3. Harry Webster (12. Josh Bayliss 73 mins), 4. Stan Skipper, 5. Sam Gale, 6. Alex Giles (C), 7. Kai Garrett (14. Dami Tawio-Pratt 45 mins), 8. Josh Chambers, 9. Kieron Agbebi, 10. Matt MacArthur, 11. Ronald Sithole. Subs not used: 13. Tobey Smith, 15. Josh Woodliffe, 16. Will De Wilde.
