|
Maidstone United grasped defeat
from the jaws of victory at Goffs Lane in this FA Vase
3rd Round Replay.
After twice leading in the original
tie (and missing a penalty to boot), they again passed
up on a glorious opportunity to progress to the national
stages of this competition after frittering away not
only a two goal lead but also an injury time penalty
against the 10 men of Broxbourne Borough.
Any neutral supporters in the crowd of 153, which appeared
entirely made up of fans of the amber and black persuasion,
would have left thoroughly entertained following 120
minutes of football that contained six goals, three
penalty kicks (in normal time), a sending off and an
incredibly tense penalty shoot out.
The fact that The Stones dominated proceedings for
large periods of the game counted for nought, as attack
after attack failed to produce a meaningful effort on
the Broxbourne goal. Within the opening three minutes,
Mo Takaloo had a 20 yard free kick which struck the
defensive wall and Jason Barton (in for the injured
Sam Tydeman) had a one on one chance with goalkeeper
Richard Hayward that came out from goal via the keeper’s
smothering dive at Barton’s feet.
Before ten minutes had elapsed, a trademark Aaron Lacy
throw in was headed on by Ryan Royston. The ball eventually
fell to Nathan Paul on the edge of the penalty area
and his 20 yard drive flashed narrowly wide of the goal.
Following this early onslaught by the visitors, the
home side settled down and stemmed any meaningful efforts
on their goal. However, Borough were reliant on long
ball clearances up to the feet of the pacy Emile Aiken
but with Mario Celaire marking him, Aiken’s threat
was nullified effectively, to the point that Borough
failed to muster a single first half shot on target.
The prospect of a 0-0 half time scoreline looked very
realistic, The Stones went incredibly close to opening
the scoring in the 42nd minute. Lacy’s short throw
in to Takaloo was superbly flicked on over his own shoulder
and his marker Rob Kemble’s head. The striker controlled
the ball with his left foot and then bent a delicate
left footed shot over Hayward and across goal. The ball
agonisingly struck the far post to deny what would have
been an outstanding goal.
Just two minutes later though, Takaloo was not denied
when he scored the game’s opening goal. Nick Hegley’s
corner was only partially cleared from the six yard
area and Takaloo drove the ball home through a crowded
penalty area from ten yards out.
Using this late first half effort as a springboard
to finish the tie off, Maidstone started the second
half in assertive fashion. The second goal soon came
as Lacy’s throw in was met by Royston who flicked
on in ‘eyebrows fashion’ for Lyndon Rowland
to connect with a close range header that flashed past
Hayward. At 2-0 was this game over?
Unfortunately for The Stones’ faithful it was
not. Within a minute Borough had made a foray into the
visitor’s penalty area and Jimmy Strouts was adjudged
to have fouled Opkapo Blessing. Mr McGill pointed to
the spot and after a minor delay, Danny Ward slotted
home the spot kick, sending Pat Mullin the wrong way.
From a comfortable position of being two goals up,
Maidstone now found their youthful opponents invigorated
and the introduction of Lee Newman and Tan Tezel showed
the home side’s intention of going for broke as
Borough switched to playing with three men up front.
As the game progressed, the home side began to get frustrated
with their inability to break down a well organised
Maidstone back four and this led to bookings for Aiken
and Tezel, both for dissent.
With just eight minutes of regular time remaining,
the home side drew level with a swift attacking move.
Ward managed to go past Craig Roser on the right flank
and drove a zippy cross into the penalty area. The ball
flashed across Mullin’s goal and Tezel slid in
at the far post to knock the ball high into the net.
The goal celebrations, as justified as they were,
were marred when the over exuberant Ward ran up to the
large contingent of away supporters and executed an
uncalled for V-sign in their direction. Mr McGill saw
this and showed the young midfielder a straight red
card for his actions.
With time slipping away and almost everybody in the
ground thinking that extra time was a certainty, the
game took another twist. Hegley went on a mazy run into
the penalty area in the 93rd minute and was upended
by a rash challenge. Again, Mr McGill pointed to the
penalty spot and Mo Takaloo took on the responsibility
of putting The Stones into the 4th Round of the Vase.
In the original tie, Strouts had insisted on taking
a spot kick (which he missed) rather than regular spot
kick taker Takaloo and with the utmost irony, Maidstone’s
regular penalty man saw his well struck effort magnificently
saved by Hayward who dived full length to his left to
keep the tie alive for Borough.
Despite having only ten men, Broxbourne surged forward
in extra time and they stunned the travelling supporters
when Tezel scored his second goal of the night in the
97th minute. With an incredible similarity to Broxbourne’s
second equalising goal in the first tie, James Osbourne
saw his low effort from just inside the penalty area
palmed away by Mullin. However, Tezel stole in at the
far post and knocked home from close range to put Borough
ahead for the first time in the tie.
Not for the first time this season, Maidstone threw
the proverbial kitchen sink at the Broxbourne goal for
the remainder of the game and on the basis that if you
throw enough muck at a wall then eventually some of
it will stick, the chance to level matters arose. Takaloo
in trying to turn his defender in the penalty area was
adjudged to have been pulled down by the very busy Mr
McGill and the game had its’ third penalty.
This was The Stones’ third penalty in the two
games against Broxbourne and with this came the third
different penalty taker. Central defender Ryan Royston
stepped up and bit the bullet, his firm shot sending
Hayward the wrong way. He had succeeded where both Strouts
and Takaloo had not.
Three minutes later, Hayward came to his team’s
defence yet again, when following the familiar Lacy
throw/Royston flick routine, Takaloo turned and hammered
a fierce shot goalwards. Hayward threw himself to his
right and pulled off a great save which was met with
applause all around the ground.
The high tension of the last minutes of extra time
was soon replaced by the ultra-high pressure of a penalty
shoot out. Maidstone went first and the first six penalty
kicks were all successful. Royston, Hegley and Barton
all converted for The Stones whilst Tezel, Osbourne
and Aiken netted for the home side. Neither keeper had
got close to any of the efforts.
Mario Celaire then stepped up but as is the inevitable
case in penalty shoot outs, somebody has to err for
there to be a result. Celaire’s low, right footed
effort was palmed away by Hayward. Advantage Broxbourne.
Lee Newman then scored to place pressure on Jimmy Strouts
who was placed in a ‘must score’ position.
The skipper responded by smashing his kick high into
the top left corner of Hayward’s goal.
Unfortunately, with a kick in hand, Uzo Opara, who
had been subjected to the wrath of the visiting fans
for most of the game, had the nerve to settle the tie
when he coolly slotted home low to Mullin’s right.
The young Broxbourne players went into and understandable
orgy of celebration which culminated with the whole
squad in chanting “Easy! Easy” as is the current
vogue for success driven celebrations.
That was the whole squad except for former Stones’
favourite Ross Edwards. He sportingly approached his
former team mates and shook hands with each and every
one, offering his condolences. At 27 years old, Edwards
is Borough’s elder statesman on the field and many
of his (much younger) colleagues would do well to take
a look at this man to find out how to deal with success
when it comes around.
This was a riveting Vase tie then but it was so difficult
to accept defeat if you are of an amber and black hue.
The chance to progress to the last 32 of the competition
was there for the taking (several times) but that, or
more precisely, those chances, weren’t taken. The
pain of Vase elimination was evident after the game.
Chairman, Secretary and Coach were all virtually struck
dumb with disappointment at the end of the night and
the team bus was silent apart from the rumble of the
M25 on the journey home. This defeat hurt. A lot. The
character of this Stones team will be measured in its’
response against Erith Town this weekend. What odds
a major backlash anyone?
<
< < Back to match reports index
|
