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After such a long unbeaten run
in the league, it had to happen some time. But for Maidstone
United to lose for the first time in 14 games to a side
that they had thrashed just six days earlier makes it
all the more disappointing.
 It
wasn’t as if Lordswood had become a good side in
the interim period between the two matches. For long
periods of this game, they struggled to keep the ball
in play when they had possession let alone trouble Pat
Mullin in goal.
But a combination of a dreadful first half performance,
coupled with individual mistakes and wastefulness in
front of goal, ensured The Stones blew the chance to
take the top spot of the Kent League table.
“We shot ourselves in the foot again” said
Alan Walker afterwards, “We put ourselves in a
great position to be league leaders tonight and against
what I consider to be a vastly inferior team we have
come away with nothing. All credit to them, I thought
they defended quite well but it was down to our attitude
and our quality wasn’t there today. I am very,
very disappointed in the lads.”
For long periods of the game, Lordswood struggled to
get out of their own half yet typically they scored
with  their
first shot on target. With The Stones desperately chasing
the win, Lynden Rowland was withdrawn and Mario Celaire
was put up front with Gary Hemens coming on at the back.
It was to prove an unfortunate substitution as with
72 minutes gone, Pat Mullin blasted a terrible goal
kick into the back of Hemens who was lurking close to
the penalty area and Andy Doerr had the simple task
of finding substitute Mike Cunningham who tapped the
ball into the unguarded net.
However, The Stones should have put the game well beyond
the visitors by this point. Despite a sluggish opening
in which too many players looked like they had enjoyed
the New Years celebrations a tad too much, Maidstone
put Lordswood under heavy pressure from the start of
the second half.
 With
47 minutes played, Lynden Rowland turned sharply in
the box and surged into space but instead of shooting
he bizarrely chose to knock the ball back out to Aaron
Lacy.
However, just moments later The Stones had an even
better chance to take the lead when Nathan Paul went
down in the box in an off the ball incident as Nick
Hegley floated in the cross. To the surprise of everyone,
Ryan Royston insisted on taking the penalty kick and
he scuffed the opportunity, putting the ball high and
wide.
Then with 56 minutes gone some individual brilliance
from Mario Celaire – perhaps the games outstanding
player – saw him start and finish a move involving
Nathan Paul but his shot went just wide.
At times, Lordswood were forced to defend desperately
as Maidstone kept pushing them backwards. Royston nearly
redeemed himself with a header from Aaron Lacy’s
deep corner but Sam Colyer cleared the ball off the
line and then when Sam Tydeman whipped a cross back
into the box, Rowland’s header just cleared the
bar.
A good move with a little over 20 minutes remaining
saw Tydeman, Lacy and Paul combine well to set up  Celaire
in the box but his initial shot was saved by Gavin Hopper
and Maidstone couldn’t force in the rebound.
Then came the killer blow as Lordswood took the lead
very much against the run of play but United kept on
attacking. Nick Hegley saw his shot held when he might
have scored after Celaire’s pull back and then
Mo Takaloo wasted a good chance after he had latched
onto Royston’s clever flicked pass. And with just
4 minutes left, Hopper was forced to acrobatically tip
over Celaire’s drive from 25 yards.
However, unlike in the games against Tunbridge Wells
and Thamesmead, there was to be no last minute goal
for The Stones and for the first time this season, they
find themselves defeated in the league. One defeat in
15 games doesn’t exactly equate to disastrous form
but it is important that United get back to winning
ways quickly, starting with a victory away at Erith
and Belverdere on Saturday.
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