| On the day that work on Maidstone United's eagerly anticipated new ground started in earnest, The Stones celebrated the excellent news in the best possible style with a gritty win at Corinthian Casuals.
A long mid week trip around the M25 to sit outside for an hour and a half in below zero temperatures is not most people's idea of fun, especially if the football on offer wasn't inspiring. But at least those who made the trip were rewarded with a Stones victory, their fourth in a row, which saw them move up to fifth in the table.
Lynden Rowland had the best of Maidstone's early chances. With 5 minutes played, Alex Tiesse's strong run took him to the touchline where he pulled the ball back to Rowland but unfortunately he fell over the ball at the vital moment.
Five minutes later, Rowland came closer still, striking the bar when one on one with Colin Harris before Alex Tiesse's shot at the right hand post was well blocked by Harris.
Maidstone were then made to pay for their wastefulness in front of goal when with 31 minutes played Corinthian-Casuals took the lead. Aaron Lacy's corner was gathered by Harris who quickly punted the ball upfield. It appeared that Nathan Paul would comfortably head the ball back to Pat Mullin but Mullin came rushing from his goal and crashed into Paul leaving Danny Green with the easy task of finishing into an empty net.
The Stones didn't trail for long though for on 40 minutes Lacy's free kick was driven to the far post where it was controlled by Nick Hegley before he stabbed the ball home.
Hegley then came close to adding a second shortly after half time but this time his header crashed against the post.
As Maidstone pushed forwards in search of another goal, they left a gap at the back on 52 minutes and this was nearly punished when the unmarked Danny Wyatt fired wide across goal.
Then on 73 minutes, a rare flowing move from Maidstone saw them nick the winning goal. Ryan Royston brought the ball out of defence and passed to Tiesse who played in Rowland. Rowland's run took him into the box where he unselfishly squared the ball to the unmarked Tiesse who couldn't miss from inside the six yard box.
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