Sporting Bengal 1 ? 5 Maidstone United: Mile End Stadium, London

 Kentish Observer Kent League Saturday 22^nd October 2005
Its not often that you come away from a 5-1 thrashing thinking that 10-1 might have been a more accurate reflection of the game but such was Maidstone?s dominance against a poor Sporting Bengal side that they really should have boosted their goal difference even further.
And this was reflected in Alan Walker?s comments after the game. He said: ? I thought it was a good performance. The only thing that was lacking was a little bit of composure in front of goal. We created well into double figures of very good chances, we ended up getting five goals and I?m a bit disappointed as I thought we could have rattled up a lot lot more and done our goal difference a world of good.? 

From the outset the Stones looked to push forward at every opportunity but this nearly cost them with just 4 minutes played when a mix-up in midfield left Nizamul Hoque in the clear but he elected to shoot early and his effort missed the target.

Nick Hegley was causing the Bengal defence all sorts of problems and he had two chances in the first 10 minutes alone and also provided a cross which had Mo Takaloo managed to reach at full stretch, would have brought the first goal. Hegley then hit the far post with a low shot and Lyndon Rowland, who earlier had been booked for punching the ball into the net, couldn?t finish off the rebound.

Despite the game being rather disjointed the Stones were creating decent chances every couple of minutes. Simon Austin was performing well out on the wing and on 27 minutes his run ended with Rowland unselfishly setting up Takaloo but he scuffed his shot.

Then finally the break through came 11 minutes before half time. Jason Barton did well to find Hegley in midfield and he ran all the way to the box before firing the ball low into the bottom right hand corner.

Despite the Stones having had over 10 chances in the first half but only scoring one of those, Lloyd Hume and Alan Walker remained optimistic that Maidstone would add to their tally in the second half. Hume said: ? We believed that all we had to do was keep going, keep working at what we were doing and not be complacent. I felt that if we kept getting the chances and the opportunities sooner or later we would get the goals.?

And it didn?t take long for the Stones to score again. Just 7 minutes into the second half Ryan Royston knocked down Aaron Lacy?s throw and Rowland put the ball past the Sporting Bengal keeper Helaluz Zaman..

Yet even before this goal went in the Stones could have scored a couple of times. Hegley had another opportunity from inside the box but he smashed the ball over, Rowland had a goal ruled out for offside and Shahid Ali cleared Takaloo?s shot off the line.

But Bengal came close to pulling a goal back on 53 minutes straight from their kick-off. Foyzul Hoque raced down the right hand side and his shot from a tight angle bounced off the top of the bar.

Any faint hopes that Bengal held of getting back into the match quickly dissipated when Younes Benmessouad was dismissed for elbowing Neil Miller. And shortly after that, substitute Lee Sperring controlled the ball on the edge of the area before lashing in his second goal of the season.

Then at the other end, a bizarre mistake from Pat Mullin gifted Bengal a consolation goal. The ball flew back to him following a Miller challenge but rather than pick it up, Mullin elected to try and control the ball with his chest. Unfortunately for Mullin, it flew off his chest and substitute Jahed Khan had the simple task of putting the ball back past him into the net.

But Mullin redeemed himself with 80 minutes played when he found himself facing Khan who was bearing down on goal but he managed to do enough to allow Royston to head the ball out.

However, two late Stones goals added a gloss to the score line. First, Royston found Sperring out wide with a great ball and his pullback was hammered into the net by Jimmy Strouts who had replaced Rowland. And then with just a minute left, Takaloo received the ball with his back to goal, shuffled into space and struck a drive into the bottom of the net.

Goal Scorers
Maidstone United: Nick Hegley 34, Lyndon Rowland 52, Lee Sperring 70, Jimmy Strouts 84, Mo Takaloo 89

Sporting Bengal: Jahed Khan 72

Line ups

Sporting Bengal: Helaluz Zaman, Shahid Ali, Urfat Hussain, Forhann Uddin, Foyzul Hoque, Shelim Shakir, Nizamul Hoque (Jahed Khan 63), Adidur Rahman, Michael Begg, Younes Benmessouad, Prince Pippin. Subs not used: Michael Ogbuokiri, Nana Adjei, Kevin Hunter.

Maidstone United: Pat Mullin, Aaron Lacy, Jason Barton, Neil Miller, Mario Celaire, Ryan Royston, Simon Austin (Nathan Paul 86), Sam Tydeman, Mo Takaloo Lyndon Rowland (Jimmy Strouts 71), Nick Hegley (Lee Sperring 62). Subs not used: Garry Kimble, Richard Mannerings.