Saturday 26th August 2011 // Ryman League One // Attendance: 215 // Report by Ruth Tunnell.
After failing to score in their last two fixtures, Maidstone made amends in the best possible manner as they ran riot against Crawley Down.
This was a strong second half performance from The Stones and once Shaun Welford had scored the first of his three goals eleven minutes after the break it was clear that Maidstone were going to go on to claim their inaugural win of the season.
Just like against Whitstable on Tuesday night, The Stones dominated the early stages but it was Crawley who came close to opening the scoring on six minutes when Leo Day shot from just inside the box and Charlie Mitten did well to make a low save to his right.
Three minutes later, Sam Bewick let fly from outside of the area only for his drive to strike the bar but Bewick was to have more luck on 18 minutes when he curled a delightful finish with his right foot into the net from just outside the box.
Eleven minutes before half time Bewick had a good chance to put The Stones further in front but he failed to hit the target when well placed and then on 40 minutes, Crawley equalised when Maidstone could not cut out a cross into the box and Claude Seanla headed the ball past the stranded Mitten.
Drawing level gave Crawley confidence and on 44 minutes Brad Curtis got in behind Karl Knight only to drive his shot wide and then Brannon O’Neill picked out Tom Burton with a free-kick but The Anvils player saw his looping header fly over the bar.
Then on 56 minutes, Maidstone took control of the game as they went ahead with a nicely worked goal. Mitten threw the ball to Knight who passed to substitute Jimmy Humphris and he clipped a good pass into the path of Alex Flisher. Flisher put Welford in on goal and the Maidstone striker dinked a fantastic finish over Mark Fox in the Crawley goal.
Shortly afterwards, a corner from Green was met by Welford whose header struck the head of Ash Jones and the ball flew onto the post and then from the resultant corner, there was a goal mouth scramble and Graeme Andrews’ shot was cleared off the line.
Just past the hour, Andrews got the wrong side of Sealna who drove the ball towards the near post only for Mitten to make a good block and then on 68 minutes, Maidstone pulled further ahead. This time, Bewick did well to win the ball in midfield and he played it to Green who beat the defender down the right before delivering the perfect cross to Welford who arrowed his header into the net.
Crawley then had to replace Mark Fox after he suffered an injury and one of the first things that the substitute keeper Michael Hunter had to do was to pick the ball out of the net on 79 minutes. Flisher put a good cross into the box from the left hand side and Welford turned provider for Green as the Maidstone striker flicked the ball across goal and Green arrived to expertly volley the opportunity into the net.
Green then returned the favour two minutes later when he went on another impressive run down the left and once again he crossed for Welford who completed his hat-trick with a powerful header.
After the long delay following the injury to Fox there was still time for The Stones to create another couple of opportunities with Hunter saving well from Flisher and Roy Pook making an impressive tackle to deny Bewick a certain goal but Crawley managed to hang on to prevent Maidstone from embarrassing them further.
Crawley Down: Hassan Nyang 40
Maidstone United: Sam Bewick 18, Shaun Welford 56, 68, 81, Ellis Green 79
Crawley Down: Mark Fox (Michael Hunter 78), Joe Ranson (Sam Crane 51), Brannon O’Neill, Ash Jones, Ben Swetman, Tom Burton, Brad Curtis, Leo Day, Claude Seanla, Hassan Nyang, Roy Pook. Subs not used: Gabrielle Osai, Charlie Dodds.
Maidstone United: Charlie Mitten, Tommy Osbourne, Karl Knight, Nick Reeves, Graeme Andrews, Danny Lye, Ellis Green (Baff Addae 81), Sam Bewick, Shaun Welford (Alex Waugh 90), James Pinnock (Jimmy Humphris 42), Alex Flisher. Subs not used: Sean Johnson, Peter Gill.
