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Maidstone United put the disappointment
of their exit from the FA Vase behind them with a comprehensive
victory over struggling Erith Town.
Remarkably, this was only the second clean sheet The
Stones had recorded in the league this season and this
was in spite of the fact that Maidstone were not at
full strength due to a number of injuries.
Speaking after the game Alan Walker said: “I’m
delighted after the week we have had, I think the players
have responded fantastically. The most pleasing thing
for me was the professionalism they showed, we kept
a clean sheet, restricted them to very few chances and
we created a lot of chances.”
The first goal arrived after just 4 minutes yet by
this stage Mo Takaloo had already seen Craig Clark pull
off two saves from his near post shots. But Clark was
beaten when Jason Barton’s free-kick into the box
was headed in by Mario Celaire.
In the initial stages it appeared that a rout was on
the cards as The Stones were totally dominant and with
7 minutes gone, a good spell of possession saw Aaron
Lacy feed Nathan Paul who scampered down the wing and
whipped in a good cross only for Lynden Rowland’s
header to strike the far post.
But as the half progressed Erith came back into the
game as Maidstone lost their sense of urgency. First,
Robert Browning’s drive went narrowly over the
bar before Celaire’s mistake allowed Danny Hogarty
to play in the well-placed Adam Hanlon but he drove
his shot wide.
However, just after the break The Stones increased
their lead when Nick Hegley’s low ball into the
box was mis-hit by Jason Barton and Paul managed to
slam the ball into the net from an acute angle.
By now Erith were on the back foot again and with 61
minutes played Rowland finally scored after seeing a
long shot just go over and fluffing a good chance. Clark
dropped Aaron Lacy’s long throw and Rowland, with
his back to goal, controlled the ball on his chest and
brilliantly hit an over-head kick into the net.
And it didn’t take long for The Stones to add
to their tally. Just four minutes later, there was a
mix-up in the Erith defence which Takaloo took advantage
of to win possession before sending a tremendous shot
past Clark from the edge of the box.
Maidstone then rounded off a good afternoon with another
goal just before full-time. Pat Mullin’s long kick
was headed on by Jimmy Strouts and with the Erith defence
static and appealing for handball, Nick Hegley nipped
in to score his fifth goal of the season.
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