Saturday 3rd December 2011 // Ryman League Division One // Attendance: 601 // Report by Ruth Tunnell.
Maidstone United have fallen six points behind Dulwich Hamlet at the top of Ryman One South after they suffered their second defeat in as many games.
Just like against Faversham on Tuesday night, The Stones could not have any complaints about the defeat but their cause was not helped by injuries to a number of key players.
Speaking after the game manager Jay Saunders said: “ Overall and especially in the first half Bognor were the better side and they created the better chances. Our quality of the final ball today was poor which frustrates me and I don’t think that is good enough if you want to be up there as you have to have that extra bit of quality and we didn’t have that today.”
The Stones managed to weather an early storm from Bognor Regis and the home side were aggrieved to have a goal ruled out on 6 minutes when the referee, Mr Parsons, ruled that debutant keeper Daren Hawkes had the ball kicked out of his hands before it was bundled into the net.
As the half progressed, Maidstone began to come more into the game and on 21 minutes Ellis Green tricked his way along the by line and pulled the ball back to James Pinnock who shot whilst on the floor and Bognor managed to scramble it clear for a corner. Green took the resultant kick and he picked out Pinnock on the back post whose effort looked to be heading in until Craig Stoner in the Bognor goal intervened with a good save with his legs.
Bognor then began to increase the pressure and with 27 minutes played, Steve Harper’s corner came out to James Crane on the edge of the box and Danny Lye flung himself in front of his rising drive to make sure it deflected over the bar. Then on 32 minutes Ben Johnson went past Tommy Osborne on the left and gave the ball back to Crane whose side footed effort was comfortably gathered by Hawkes.
The home side’s dominance finally paid off on 35 minutes though when a ball forwards reached Steve Harper who got in behind the Maidstone defence. Hawkes did well to stay on his feet and make a good save but Bognor reacted quickly to pick up the loose ball and it was squared to Jason Prior who fired in his 21st league goal of the season.
Then two minutes after the break Prior latched onto a chipped ball forwards and he shot quickly but Hawkes got down well and made a fine save to turn the ball behind for a corner.
Shortly afterwards Prior was involved again when both Danny Lye and Tom Mills could not stop Bognor from crossing the ball and it came to Prior whose fierce effort flew just wide of the right hand post.
It was then Maidstone’s turn to have a spell of pressure and on 60 minutes Sam Bewick swept the ball out wide to Green on the right and his cross had to be headed over the bar by Stuart Axten as Alex Waugh was waiting to pounce.
Seven minutes later, Waugh prevented Maidstone falling further behind when a corner from Bognor looked to be heading in but Hawkes got a hand to the ball before Waugh cleared it away from the line.
At the other end, on 77 minutes Osborne whipped in a decent cross that was met by Waugh but his header was comfortably claimed saved by Stoner in the Bognor goal.
And then sixty seconds later The Rocks made sure of all three points when they once again broke with pace and Prior was waiting inside the six yard box to knock in his second goal of the game from close range.
After this the home side went close to adding a third goal on two occasions but Maidstone never looked like they would be able to take anything from the match and they now need to put together another unbeaten run of games if they are to get back into the race for the title.
Bognor Regis Town: Jason Prior 35, 78
Maidstone United: -
Bognor Regis Town: Craig Stoner, Jon Marzetti, Darryl Wollers, James Crane, Stuart Axten, Ben Andrews (Chris Breach 9), Dan Beck, Kane Wills, Jason Prior, Steve Harper, Ben Johnson. Subs not used: Tim Bond, Jack Blatchford, Dan Sackman, Tom Boyle.
Maidstone United: Daren Hawkes, Tommy Osborne, Tom Mills, Danny Lye, Graeme Andrews, Michael Phillips, Ellis Green, James Pinnock (Karl Knight 69), Alex Waugh, Baff Addae, Sam Bewick. Subs not used: Jay Saunders, Shaun Welford, Sean Johnson, James Abraham.
