Erith and Belverdere 0 ? 1 Maidstone United

Park View Road, Welling

Kentish Observer Kent League

Saturday 7^th January 2006

Goal Scorers

Maidstone United: Nick Hegley 90 (+5)

Line Ups

Erith and Belverdere: Ricky Hall, Lewis Gallego, Barry Gibson, Lewis Tozer, Luke Morrish, Chris Hirst, Tom Martin, Tim Bealey (Tom Maycock 67), Carl Bartley, Steve White, Chris Dickson. Subs not used: Lee Bradford, Yami Seitsones, Anton Innocent.

Maidstone United: Pat Mullin, Aaron Lacy, Craig Roser, Nathan Paul, Mario Celaire, Ryan Royston, Jimmy Strouts, Sam Tydeman, Mo Takaloo, Lynden Rowland, Nick Hegley. Subs not used: Jason Barton, Gary Hemens, Simon Austin, Andy Hart, Richard Mannerings.

Another late, late goal for The Stones gave them an important victory against Erith and Belverdere and sent them to the top of the Kent League table with half the season played.

This was a game that Maidstone totally dominated from start to finish as the players responded to the disappointing defeat against Lordswood in the best possible manner with a high tempo performance.

And it was this positive approach from The Stones which left Alan Walker pleased, he said: ? I?m delighted with the three points. It would have been a travesty if we hadn?t of come away with the three points as we totally dominated and created lots of chances.?

Right from the first whistle, The Stones pinned the home side back at every opportunity and with 10 minutes played, Mo Takaloo saw a header fly straight to Ricky Hall after a good Maidstone move involving the excellent Nathan Paul and Aaron Lacy.

Lynden Rowland also had a header held before Hall was forced to make a smart save from Mo Takaloo?s shot and then Mario Celaire?s header was cleared off the line as The Stones tried to make their dominance count.

The second half initially continued in a similar manner and Celaire?s long ball on 49 minutes picked out Nick Hegley who sprinted into the box and struck a fierce drive goalwards that Hall managed to palm clear.

Then just 6 minutes later, The Stones were denied what appeared to be a blatant penalty when Takaloo was hacked down in the box by Chris Hirst when it seemed certain that the Stones striker would at least get the chance to test Hall in The Deres? goal.

With the game approaching the hour mark Erith and Belverdere finally managed to escape their half for long enough to come close to opening the scoring. Ryan Royston and Chris Dickson both jumped for the ball close to the penalty area but Royston lost sight of it and when the ball dropped down, Dickson lashed his shot against the base of the post.

The Deres then blew another good chance when they quickly broke out of defence and Dickson found himself bearing down on Pat Mullin. Dickson breezed past the chasing Paul but fortunately for The Stones he couldn?t finish and put his shot wide.

By now it seemed as if United were going to drop points for the second game in succession but luckily Nick Hegley had other ideas. With the game 5 minutes into stoppage time, Pat Mullin?s long kick located Craig Roser. Roser?s ball into the box originally seemed far from ideal but it looped up into the air off a Deres defender and with a number of Stones players in the box the chance fell to Rowland. His shot agonisingly struck a defender on the line and hit the post but it squirmed out to Hegley who seemed to take an age to smack the ball into the back of the net.

A huge adrenalin fuelled feeling of relief swept Park View Road as the numerous Stones fans celebrated wildly. This could prove to be crucial victory for Maidstone when the title is presented in April.

Maidstone United 0 -1 Lordswood...Kentish Observer Kent League
Bourne Park, SittingbourneMonday 2^nd January 2006: ?Stones? loose to ?Lords?....After such a long unbeaten run in the league, it had to happen some time. But for Maidstone United to lose for the first time in 14 games to a side that they had thrashed just 6 days earlier makes it all the more disappointing. It wasn?t as if Lordswood had become a good side in the interim period between the two matches. For long periods of this game, they struggled to keep the ball in play when they had possession let alone trouble Pat Mullin in goal.
But a combination of a dreadful first half performance, coupled with individual mistakes and wastefulness in front of goal, ensured The Stones blew the chance to take the top spot of the Kent League table. ?We shot ourselves in the foot again? said Alan Walker afterwards, ?We put ourselves in a great position to be league leaders tonight and against what I consider to be a vastly inferior team we have come away with nothing. All credit to them, I thought they defended quite well but it was down to our attitude and our quality wasn?t there today. I am very, very disappointed in the lads.?

For long periods of the game, Lordswood struggled to get out of their own half yet typically they scored with their first shot on target. With The Stones desperately chasing the win, Lynden Rowland was withdrawn and Mario Celaire was put up front with Gary Hemens coming on at the back. It was to prove an unfortunate substitution as with 72 minutes gone, Pat Mullin blasted a terrible goal kick into the back of Hemens who was lurking close to the penalty area and Andy Doerr had the simple task of finding substitute Mike Cunningham who tapped the ball into the unguarded net.

However, The Stones should have put the game well beyond the visitors by this point. Despite a sluggish opening in which too many players looked like they had enjoyed the New Years celebrations a tad too much, Maidstone put Lordswood under heavy pressure from the start of the second half.

With 47 minutes played, Lynden Rowland turned sharply in the box and surged into space but instead of shooting he bizarrely chose to knock the ball back out to Aaron Lacy.

However, just moments later The Stones had an even better chance to take the lead when Nathan Paul went down in the box in an off the ball incident as Nick Hegley floated in the cross. To the surprise of everyone, Ryan Royston insisted on taking the penalty kick and he scuffed the opportunity, putting the ball high and wide.

Then with 56 minutes gone some individual brilliance from Mario Celaire ? perhaps the games outstanding player ? saw him start and finish a move involving Nathan Paul but his shot went just wide.

At times, Lordswood were forced to defend desperately as Maidstone kept pushing them backwards. Royston nearly redeemed himself with a header from Aaron Lacy?s deep corner but Sam Colyer cleared the ball off the line and then when Sam Tydeman whipped a cross back into the box, Rowland?s header just cleared the bar.

A good move with a little over 20 minutes remaining saw Tydeman, Lacy and Paul combine well to set up Celaire in the box but his initial shot was saved by Gavin Hopper and Maidstone couldn?t force in the rebound.

Then came the killer blow as Lordswood took the lead very much against the run of play but United kept on attacking. Nick Hegley saw his shot held when he might have scored after Celaire?s pull back and then Mo Takaloo wasted a good chance after he had latched onto Royston?s clever flicked pass. And with just 4 minutes left, Hopper was forced to acrobatically tip over Celaire?s drive from 25 yards.

However, unlike in the games against Tunbridge Wells and Thamesmead, there was to be no last minute goal for The Stones and for the first time this season, they find themselves defeated in the league. One defeat in 15 games doesn?t exactly equate to disastrous form but it is important that United get back to winning ways quickly, starting with a victory away at Erith and Belverdere on Saturday.

Goal Scorers

Lordswood: Mike Cunningham 72

Line ups

Maidstone United: Pat Mullin, Aaron Lacy, Craig Roser, Nathan Paul, Mario Celaire, Ryan Royston, Simon Austin (Jimmy Strouts 45), Sam Tydeman, Mo Takaloo, Lyden Rowland (Gary Hemens 67), Nick Hegley. Subs not used: Jason Barton, Andy Hart, Richard Mannerings.

Lordswood: Gavin Hopper, Aaron Burrett, Ashley Russell, Sam Colyer, Sean Hetterley (Martin Difede 79), Andy Forster, Bob Chiverton (Mike Cunningham 64), Steve Sharp, Andy Doerr, Ray Broad, Andy Skinner. Subs not used: Andy Backshell, Warren Phillips, Jay Hayfield.