Saturday 14th January 2012 // Ryman League Division One // Attendance 360 // Report by Ruth Tunnell
A solitary strike from Ellis Green gave Maidstone United their first win in three games and ensured that The Stones extended their recent unbeaten run to six matches.
Having been so dominant for long periods of the game Maidstone might be slightly disappointed that they didn’t take the opportunity to improve their goal difference, especially as Burgess Hill Town had to play with ten men from the 36th minute. However, at least Daren Hawkes in The Stones’ goal did not have to make a save as the visitors rarely threatened.
Maidstone had three chances to score inside the opening ten minutes. The first opportunity arose when Alex Flisher and Baff Addae neatly exchanged passes and Flisher whipped the ball into the middle. The Burgess Hill keeper, Tom Betts, came to collect the cross but spilt it and Paul Tuppenney blocked Shaun Welford’s attempt on goal.
Shortly afterwards, Green chipped a delightful ball into the path of Addae who saw his shot fly wide and then on nine minutes, Green’s low ball into the box was met by Danny Lye who was just yards from goal and he put the chance over the bar.
With 16 minutes played, a poor touch from Addae inside the Burgess Hill half led to the visitors breaking with pace and The Stones were fortunate that no one from The Hillians could get on the end of Tyrone Berry’s cross which zipped across the box.
Maidstone continued to press for the opening goal and they should have taken the lead when Daren Hawkes threw the ball out to Flisher who raced all the way to the touchline before pulling the ball back to Welford who could not capitalise on the chance.
Then on 29 minutes a good turn from Addae took him into a position to cross only for Betts to parry the ball away and the Burgess Hill keeper was involved again just seconds later when he had to push Flishers’ fierce drive around his right hand post.
Six minutes later, the visitors were reduced to ten men when Akwasi Edusei appeared to jump in with both feet in an attempt to tackle Sam Bewick and Flisher curled the resultant free-kick from twenty yards just over the bar. Then with one minute left before the break, Tom Mills played the ball to Flisher who fired his shot across the face of goal.
Having put Burgess Hill under pressure for most of the first half, Maidstone finally breached their defence with just 27 seconds played after the break. From the kick off, The Stones patiently worked the ball forward and an excellent cross from Flisher picked out the unmarked Green who chested the ball down and lashed it into the back of the net.
Many in the ground might have thought this would have been The Stones’ cue to run riot and add to their goals scored tally as has been the case on a number of occasions this season but the remainder of the half proved to be frustrating as Maidstone failed to score again despite some poor handling inside the box by Betts in the visitor’s goal.
On 52 minutes a throw from Flisher bounced across the edge of the area to Bewick who hit his shot goalwards and Betts couldn’t hold onto the ball but there was no one around to convert the rebound. The Stones then went even closer when Mills sent over a cross, which was met by substitute Alex Waugh, and the ball was hacked off the line as far as Bewick who drilled the ball towards the goal only for Burgess Hill to make a last minute clearance once again.
Then with 79 minutes played, Flisher crossed to Waugh who had an age to get a shot away but he failed to do so and the final chance of the game came in stoppage time when Waugh headed the ball into space for Welford to chase but Betts did well to come out of his goal and snuff out the danger.
Maidstone United: Ellis Green 46
Burgess Hill Town: -
Maidstone United: Daren Hawkes, Tommy Osborne, Tom Mills, Sam Groombridge, Graeme Andrews, Sam Bewick, Ellis Green, Danny Lye, Shaun Welford, Baff Addae (Alex Waugh 63), Alex Flisher. Subs not used: Jay Saunders, Ash Greenwood, Tom Cackett, Rob Lyall.
Burgess Hill Town: Tom Betts, Joe White, Akwasi Edusei, Marc Munday (Tom Bold 83), Oliver Poole, Paul Tuppenney, Fred Foreman (Jones Awuah 58), Lloyd Cotton (Max Millar 76), Pat Harding, Tyrone Berry, Jonno Melia. Subs not used: Olelekan Bankhole, Seb Saunders.
I thought that Tommy Osborne played a blinder against Burgess Hill, he was in total command of his position all through the game, best I have seen him play all season – well done Tommy “Keep it up”.