A solitary penalty from Simon Austin was enough to see The Stones edge past Burgess Hill as United recorded their first victory in three games.
After Wednesday night’s disappointing defeat against Chatham Town, it was vital that Maidstone got back to winning ways in order to keep their promotion hopes on track but despite putting Burgess Hill under significant pressure, once again The Stones failed to capitalise on their chances in front of goal.
However, the most important aspect about the game was the fact that United recorded their twenty first victory of the campaign as Alan Walker remarked afterwards. He said: “All we have got to do now is keep our nerve and win games. To be fair, we didn’t really care about the performance today, we only cared about getting the three points. Yet again, we have totally dominated the game and we can’t believe that we have only won one nil again.”
A strong swirling wind meant that the game was never going to be a spectacle but Maidstone were dominant from the outset. On six minutes, Aaron Lacy’s throw was flicked into the path of Simon Austin by the excellent Ryan Royston but Austin could only get a feint touch on the ball and his effort was gathered by Andre Foster in the Burgess Hill goal.
Then with fifteen minutes gone, The Stones were presented with an great chance to take the lead. Austin played the ball over the top of The Hillians’ defence into the path of Nick Hegley and he drilled a low cross into Lynden Rowland. Rowland’s shot travelled across the face of goal and arriving at the back post was Aaron Lacy. Lacy won’t have a better opportunity this season to get his first goal of the campaign as all he had to do was to control the ball and tap it into an empty net but he elected to shoot first time and he found the side netting.
Five minutes later, Royston’s long ball forwards should have been comfortably dealt with by Matt Piper but the Burgess Hill defender misjudged his header, presenting Austin with the chance on goal but the ball ended up sailing over the bar.
Austin did make amends though on forty minutes when he registered his fourteenth goal of the season in just twenty one starts from the penalty spot after Lloyd Cotton had handled inside the area.
It took until the fifty six minute for The Hillians to have their first attempt on goal as Maidstone’s defence stood off allowing Piper to roam forwards but his shot from distance never troubled Pat Mullin.
Two minutes later, it looked as if The Stones had added a second goal when Austin’s corner picked out Errison Ahwan but Ahwan’s glancing header was saved by Foster.
Austin was then unfortunate to find himself replaced by Mo Takaloo on sixty eight minutes but within five minutes Takaloo came close to doubling Maidstone’s lead. An excellent ball from Lacy was headed on by Hegley and The Stones winger allowed Takaloo to take possession inside the Hillians’ penalty area only for Takaloo’s low drive to hit the advertising hoarding to the left of the goal.
The Hillians hadn’t looked like claiming any points from the game but they were nearly gifted an equaliser on eighty seven minutes when a poor goal kick from Mullin went straight to substitute Kevin Joyce but Joyce wasted the opportunity by shooting early and blasting his effort high and wide.
So with just six league games remaining, The Stones now travel to Whyteleafe on Good Friday looking for revenge after ending up on end of a three – two defeat at Bourne Park in only the third game of the season back in August. Looking forward to the fixture Alan Walker said: “To be honest they are the one team I am desperate to get one over on as they were abusive to us when they beat us. We have had them watched so we know what they are like and what they are about. But as I say every week, it is all about us. If we do what we are capable of doing then we will murder any team in this league.”
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