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Its now four games since Maidstone United last
won a match after they beaten in the much eagerley awaited
tie against Dartford.
At the moment, The Stones seem to be lacking spark
in most of their play and this probably contributed
to the fact that chances were at a premium in a closely
matched first half. None-the-less, Ray Powell should
have put Maidstone in front with 24 minutes played when
he only had Kevin Hudson to beat but he scuffed his
shot straight at the Dartford keeper.
Then with 35 minutes gone, Pat Mullin made a tremendous
save to deny Dave Martin. Dartford were awarded a free-kick
close to the edge of the Stones' area and when the initial
strike bounced off the wall, Martin reacted quickly
to drive a low shot through a crowd of players which
Mullin stopped on the line.
The subsequent rebound was scrambled away by Jason
Barton only for Darford to take the lead from the resultant
corner thanks to a Richard Avery header.
Mullin was again called into action just after the
break when he leapt to tip Eddie McClements' drive over
the bar.
Meanwhile, The Stones were struggling to carve out
chances of their own but Kane Rice and Nick Barnes both
should have tested Hudson with long range efforts.
However, Hudson was called into action in the 68th
minute. A good move saw Rice play in Nathan Paul on
the right hand side. Paul's cross struck the top of
the bar and when the ball was played back in, Powell
side footed shot was expertly stopped by Hudson.
With The Stones still trailing, Mario McNish began
to push forwards. But this was to prove a mistake as
in the 70th minute a quick Dartford break left three
Darts players bearing down on a stretched Maidstone
defence. The ball was quickly played out to McClements
on the right and he took the ball to the edge of the
area before firing low past Mullin.
With The Darts seemingly coasting towards a comfortable
victory, Maidstone were gifted a way back into the game
just 6 minutes later when the referee, Mr Ian Cooper,
generously awarded the visitors a penalty. Substitute
Leroy Huggins had raced into the box but was going away
from goal when a sliding challenge from Anthony Henry
halted his progress. It appeared that the Dartford defender
had won the ball in the process but Mr Cooper pointed
to the spot and booked Henry.
Barnes was trusted with the penalty and tucked it low
into the bottom corner but then he ended up getting
booked along with Hudson following a scuffle in the
goalmouth after the spot kick.
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