The Stones’ heroic FA Cup Run has finally come to an end after they were comprehensively beaten by Coventry City. Maidstone United were the lowest ranked team since Blyth Spartans in 1978 to reach the last 16 of the competition and the Stones can be exceptionally proud of their run which saw them win seven matches to reach this stage.
Coventry weren’t going to pass up on the opportunity to make the quarter finals for the first time since 2009 and a first half hat-trick from Ellis Simms meant that the Stones’ hopes were quickly dashed. Maidstone enjoyed a decent amount of possession in the second half but two late goals from Fabio Tavares added some gloss to the scoreline for the home side.
Although Maidstone had more of the ball in the opening exchanges than they did against Ipswich, they couldn’t keep Coventry at bay for long. There was an early warning when Lucas Covolan did well to deny Haji Wright from close range but the Stones’ keeper could do nothing to prevent Simms from opening the scoring with just nine minutes gone. Reece Greenidge’s attempted pass was cut out and the eye-catching Kasey Palmer slipped it into Simms who dispatched the ball past Covolan as the Maidstone keeper tried to close him down.
The Stones tried to rally but seemed to be shot-shy when they got the ball in advanced positions and they were given a mountain to climb when Coventry got their second of the evening on 14 minutes. Once again Palmer turned provider for Simms who sent a nice low finish across Covolan and into the far side of the net.
Not long after this, Maidstone were close to conceding a very unfortunate goal. George Fowler’s attempted clearance rocketed into Greenidge and the ball looped up and dropped inches over the bar. Then on 35 minutes, Coventry effectively ended the game as a contest. Palmer’s long range effort was well parried by Covolan and Simms was on hand to slam in the rebound.
Not long after the restart, the Stones went close. A corner eventually came to Lamar Reynolds who knocked the ball slightly too far ahead of himself and his shot went into the side netting.
It wasn’t long before Covolan was called into serious action once again. Sam Corne lost the ball in midfield and Palmer gained possession before picking his spot only for Covolan to fling himself to his left and make a decent save.
As the second half moved into its later stages, Coventry began to pick up the pace again and with two minutes remaining, they added a fourth goal. Matt Godden played a lovely through ball into Tavares who finished past Covolan.
And with the game a minute into stoppage time at the end of the match, the Sky Blues rounded off the scoring. Covolan managed to parry Godden’s effort but only into the path of Tavares who finished from close range.
At the end of the game, the Stones players came to celebrate their monumental achievement in front of nearly 5,000 Maidstone United fans, who had been raucous throughout. This FA Cup run will live long in the memory of every Stones fan and George Elokobi’s team can take huge satisfaction from beating three football league teams along the way. Of these, the victory over Championship side Ipswich Town, who had the time were 98 places above Maidstone in the pyramid, was surely one of the biggest FA Cup shocks of all time.
Coventry City: Ellis Simms 9,14, 35, Fabio Tavares 88, 90.
Maidstone United: –
Coventry City: 13. Ben Wilson, 22. Joel Latibeaudiere, 4. Bobby Thomas, 15. Liam Kitching, 21. Jake Bidwell (3. Jay Dasilva 78), 29. Victor Torp (28. Josh Eccles 67), 6. Liam Kelly, 30. Fabio Tavares, 45. Kasey Palmer (27. Milan van Ewijkat 67), 11. Haji Wright (10. Callum O’Hare 45), 9. Ellis Simms (24. Matty Godden 66). Subs not used: 48. Luke Bell, 2. Luis Binks, 41. Dermi Lusala, 54. Kai Andrews.
Maidstone United: 1. Lucas Covolan, 14. Harry Kyprianou (3. Chi Ezennolim 69), 4. Reece Greenidge, 5. George Fowler, 6. Raphe Brown (2. Gavin Hoyte 69), 7. Jacob Berkeley-Agyepong (19. Perri Iandolo 87), 8. Sam Corne, 15. Sam Bone, 10. Lamar Reynolds, 16. Liam Sole (18. Bivesh Gurung 69), 9. Manny Duku (13. Riley Court 79). Subs not used: 12. Harley Earle, 18. Sam Smith.
