The Stones’ first league trip to London of the season provided a frustrating evening as they were held to a goalless stalemate against struggling Welling United.
Having dominated large parts with the ball, the players couldn’t turn the possession into quality in the final third as a resolute Welling defence stood up to the task having conceded five at Torquay on Saturday and manager Danny Bloor would have been delighted with the reaction he got from his players.
The gaffer made four changes from Saturday’s late draw against Farnborough including a return for skipper Gavin Hoyte, Chi Ezennolim from injury and Reiss Greenidge from International duty.
It was an end to end start to the derby but the Stones were certainly the more dangerous as they provided plenty of width down the flanks including the returning Ezennolim who was out to cause pain on his former club but his crosses were well dealt with by Wings keeper Javarn Pitterson.
Despite the possession, Welling were very dangerous on the counter attack and Lewis White provided the best opportunity of the first half as he raced down the left hand side but could only fire his shot straight at Lucas Covolan and the defence just about managed to deal with the second phase.
Just a few minutes later though, Sam Bone was looking to replicate his goal from Torquay a few weeks ago as Devonte Aransibia set it up for him on the edge of the box but on this occasion, he drilled the shot just wide of the right hand post.
The Stones recovery of losing the ball was excellent in the first half but just couldn’t provide clear cut opportunities for the forwards as Ezennolim delivered the ball towards Levi Amantchi whose downward header was well held onto by Pitterson.
Sol Wanjau-Smith was on a mission at the start of the second half as he did well to beat his man down the right flank before pacing into the 18 yard box but saw his low shot across goal dealt with by Pitterson. Following this, it became a bit of a struggle for the Stones to find pockets they could play the ball into.
With the game approaching the last 10, Welling seemed to find a new lease of energy as they dominated the closing stages and could well have won it. Kain Adom was played through before shooting on the turn which smashed the post and the scramble being held onto by Covolan.
However, despite the rocky finish, Wanjau-Smith looked to try and test the Welling backline in stoppage time as he cut inside and tried to place a low shot into the bottom right hand corner but again, Pitterson was equal to it as he pushed the ball around the post.
60 seconds later, the Stones had Covolan to thank for ensuring they left Park View Road with a point as he had to be big to deny Crossley Lema’s shot from close range when he probably had more time than he thought.
The draw does see the Stones extend their unbeaten run to 9 games in all competitions as they next make the journey down to Weston Super Mare on Saturday looking to get back to winning ways on their travels.
Welling United: 13. Javarn Pitterson, 2. Crossley Lema, 3. Cameron Green, 10. Dominic Odusanya (C), 11. Lewis White (20. Jephte Tanga 72 mins), 12. Kain Adom, 16. TJ Bramble (14. Antony Papadopoulos 61 mins), 17. Amadou Kassarate, 18. Jack Burchell, 22. Tristan Abrahams, 24. Lachlan Byrd. Subs not used: 1. Emmanuel Idem, 4. Taylor Curran, 23. Enoch Muwonge.
Maidstone United: 1. Lucas Covolan, 2. Gavin Hoyte (C), 3. Chi Ezennolim (6. Raphe Brown 72 mins), 4. Reiss Greenidge, 5. George Fowler, 8. Sam Corne, 9. Sol Wanjau-Smith, 11. Devonte Aransibia, 14. Harry Kyprianou (7. Razzaq Coleman De-Draft 68 mins), 15. Sam Bone, 17. Levi Amantchi (16. Joe Gbode 79 mins). Subs not used: 12. Harley Earle, 18. Michael Petrasso
