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With just over a week to go until
the Kent League kicks off again, the Stones clearly
have a lot of work to do if they are to avoid a repeat
of last years stuttering start to the season.
Three games inside five days have
obviously taken their toll on the Maidstone squad as
they looked jaded against Terry Cordice's Faversham.
And Town took full advantage of Maidstone’s lack
of spark to highlight the defensive frailties which
are still dogging United.
This was probably United's most inept pre-season performance
and one that Alan Walker described as: "An absolute
shambles. They are under no illusions that that sort
of performance is not acceptable for Maidstone United.
All three of their goals were embarrassing and although
we got three I didn't think we troubled them that much."
It couldn’t have been a worse start for the Stones
as they found themselves a goal down with only a minute
played after they allowed Smith to stride through the
defence and shoot low past Pat Mullin.
However, the Stones responded with a good spell of
pressure which saw Lyndon Rowland, one of only a few
players to emerge with any credit from the game, draw
a smart save from Tony Diment before having an effort
ruled out for a foul.
And Rowland was instrumental in the equaliser when
he took Sam Tydeman’s defence pass to the touchline
and sent over a cross which was headed back across goal
by Adam Hewitson and nodded in by Lee Sperring.
Sperring then increased the Stones’ lead with
a low drive from the edge of the box as United finally
seemed to have recovered from their shaky start.
However, Maidstone emerged sluggishly after the break
and suddenly found themselves trailing thanks to two
quick goals from Smith. Smith's first was a superb effort
although both Matt Nicholl and Sam Tydeman should have
halted his progress earlier. Smith picked up the ball
inside his own half and ran into the box before toying
with Mullin and lofting a delightful finish into the
far side of the net.
Smith then completed his hat-trick on 58 minutes when
the ball evaded the Stones defence and he had an age
to pick his spot and beat Mullin.
United put Faversham under pressure once more and they
had a couple of chances to equalise, the best one being
when Rowland found himself one on one with Anthony Whitehead
but his lob didn't have sufficient height to beat the
substitute keeper.
Mo Takaloo, who had replaced Sperring at half time,
then hooked the ball narrowly wide before the Stones
won a penalty when the ball was handled on the line
by a Faversham defender. Bizarrely, referee Philip Knight
chose not to send the offender off but Takaloo converted
the penalty to ensure the Stones avoided defeat.
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