| Take two sides vying for promotion to the Ryman Premier League. Add six goals, three penalties, a sending off and a passionate crowd whose size wouldn’t look out of place at a Nationwide Conference fixture and you have all the ingredients for an excellent football match.
On the day that the three groups of Stones supporters finished trekking the forty two miles across Kent from Maidstone to Dover, they were rewarded in the best possible way as United knocked Dover off the top spot of Ryman One with an accomplished performance.
The meeting of these two clubs pits a number of players against their former sides and for ex-Whites player Lee Shearer the day was particularly memorable. He said:
The victory meant a lot to me today. I was here for four years and I try to come up here and watch Dover play when I can. I might get a lot of stick for saying it but I thought that it was a really good performance from Maidstone and the lads really enjoyed it.”
Right from the off, Maidstone seemed to be the more driven and determined side and it was Nick Hegley had the first opportunity of the afternoon when he drove the ball wide on nine minutes.
However, Hegley made amends just two minutes later when he put The Stones in front. An intelligent quickly taken free-kick from Aaron Lacy was played straight into Hegley’s path and he cut inside Liam Quinn before curling a delightful finish past Glen Knight in the Dover goal.
Going behind jolted Dover into life and on fourteen minutes The Stones defence fell asleep allowing Quinn to put James Dryden in on goal but the Dover forward shot straight at Pat Mullin.
Dryden wasn’t to make the same mistake twice though as on twenty one minutes, he took advantage of the linesman failing to spot he was offside to race into the area and slip the ball into the right hand corner of the net.
Having blown the lead once, The Stones quickly looked to regain the initiative and just two minutes after Dover had equalised, the visitors edged in front again. Aaron Lacy’s throw into the box was headed on by Errison Ahwan to Mo Takaloo who managed to turn past Nick Humphrey and shoot. Although Knight got a hand to the ball he only succeeded in pushing it straight to Alex Tiesse who calmly finished from six yards.
Takaloo and Tiesse were proving a handful for the Dover defence and on twenty six minutes Takaloo was brought down close to the edge of the box but his resultant free-kick was tipped over the bar by Knight.
Then on thirty minutes, Maidstone gifted Dover another equaliser. Dryden was involved once again as this time he was felled in the box by Ryan Royston. Tommy Tyne was given the responsibility of taking the spot kick and he rolled the ball into the centre of the goal as Mullin dived to his left hand side.
As the end-to-end action continued, Humphrey had a shot deflected just wide for Dover and then it was Ahwan’s turn to see a trademark drive fly past Knight’s left hand post.
Although The Whites started the second half brightly, it didn’t take long for Maidstone to assume control once more. Takaloo had two opportunities to put the visitors back in front but his first chance went wide of the right hand post and his second opportunity, four minutes later went the same way.
With sixty five minutes gone, it looked as if The Stones would finally make the break through that they had been threatening. Royston played the ball over the top to the impressive Tiesse who whipped a cross into the box. There to meet it was Hegley who made good contact with the ball but with Knight stranded, Dover were fortunate that Tony Browne was in the right place to block Hegley’s volley.
However, within two minutes, referee Ian Regan had awarded another penalty but this time it was in Maidstone’s favour. A long clearance from Lee Shearer was dropping to Tiesse inside the area but before the Stones striker could latch onto the ball, he was clumsily bundled over by Matt Bourne. Bourne was sent off for the foul and Takaloo dispatched his sixth Stones goal of the season from the spot.
With twenty minutes remaining, Ahwan skilfully danced his way through the Dover defence only to place his shot wide of the far post and from Knight’s goal kick, Dryden turned past Nathan Paul but he couldn’t test Mullin from just inside the area.
Despite trailing, the home side could not seem to put The Stones under any concerted pressure and with eight three minutes gone, Maidstone put the game beyond Dover’s reach. The ball was sent out to substitute Simon Austin wide on the right hand side of penalty area. Browne went across to Austin and dived in for the ball but instead, clipped The Stones striker. There appeared to be a brief delay and then Austin went sprawling leaving Mr Ian Regan to award the third penalty of the afternoon. With Tiesse and Takaloo now off the field, Austin himself took the penalty, which he successfully converted.
The Stones were made to endure nine minutes of stoppage time but they never looked in danger in conceding another goal and they held on to knock Dover off top spot. This win means that Maidstone now occupy third position in the league and if they obtain maximum points from their two games in hand they will go four points clear at the summit of the table.
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