For the second game in a row, the Stones conceded after taking the lead, and were held to a draw, as this time they shared the points with newly promoted Taunton Town.

There wasn’t a huge amount of goalmouth action in the first half although Maidstone enjoyed more of the possession. Sam Corne had to be alert to head away a threatening corner from Taunton early on and then on 12 minutes, Lloyd James drove a low shot wide.

Gavin Hoyte was shown a yellow card for a trip on Zac Smith, out on the Taunton left. From the resultant free-kick, James curled the ball wide of the far post.

Then on 37 minutes, Razzaq Coleman De-Graft passed to Sam Corne who worked the ball into Levi Amantchi. Amantchi used his strength to hold off Nick Grimes and make room to drill a fierce finish into the bottom left corner of the net.

The goal gave Maidstone confidence and they might have added to their tally in first half stoppage time. De-Graft crossed from the right and Amantchi’s header was deflected over the bar.

Early in the second half, Sam Corne took a knock and had to be replaced by Conor Kelly. Not long after this, Austen Booth went close to putting the ball into his own net as he made an important last gasp clearance to stop the ball falling to Amantchi in a decent position.

By this point, Taunton were starting to look more dangerous going forward and they had a good chance to equalise on 69 minutes. Marcus Day did well down the left and he put the ball into the middle where Ollie Chamberlain poked it inches wide.

Five minutes from time, Maidstone were reduced to ten men for the second game in succession. De-Graft was shown a straight red card for a challenge on Chamberlain in midfield. From the free-kick, the ball was pumped into the box and it fell to Grimes who scored from close range.

There was nine minutes of stoppage time and early on in this, the Stones broke quickly through Chi Ezzenolim. Ezzenolim did well to get into the box and he found Liam Sole who forced Dan Lavercombe to parry the ball at his near post. Apart from a shot from Aransibia in the last moment, which went straight at Lavercombe, this was to be the closest either side came to a winner.

Maidstone United: Levi Amantchi 37

Taunton Town: Nick Grimes 86

Maidstone United: 1. Lucas Covolan, 2. Gavin Hoyte (6. Raphe Brown 73), 15. Sam Bone, 5. George Fowler, 3. Chi Ezennolim, 8. Sam Corne (20. Conor Kelly 52), 18. Bivesh Gurung, 7. Razzaq Coleman De-Graft, 11. Devonte Aransibia, 17. Levi Amantchi (14. Ogo Obi 67), 16. Liam Sole. Subs not used: 12. Harley Earle, 10. Lamar Reynolds.

Taunton Town: 1. Dan Lavercombe, 4. Nick Grimes, 6. Austen Booth, 7. Ollie Chamberlain, 8. Lloyd James, 9. Nat Jarvis (10. Nick McCootie 73), 16. Zac Smith (13. Ross Stearn 45), 17. Cameron Evans, 18. Marcus Day (20. Dave Sims-Burgess 73), 19. Callum Dolman, 22. Dylan Morgan. Subs not used: 12. Rabby Tabu Minzambu, 31. Lee Lucas.