| Maidstone United’s joint manager Lloyd Hume was left feeling disappointed after his side participated in their first goal-less game of the season.
The result means that The Stones have now stretched their unbeaten run to four games during which time they have not let in a goal but Hume felt his side should have taken all three points. He said: “I came into this game confident that we could get a win and afterwards I have no reason to doubt my beliefs that we should have won. I think that we controlled the game and played the better football and whilst they had one good chance it was due to us making a slip because it was a boggy pitch. We also that we had the best two chances but we didn’t put them away so I am upset that we didn’t win the game after the performance we put in.”
Thanks to the heavy rain in recent days the pitch wasn’t in the best of states and so it took a while for both sides to adapt to the difficult conditions. It wasn’t until the 26 th minute that there was an attempt on goal when former Stones favourite Craig Wilkins’ header flashed across the face of goal following a Jimmy Dryden throw.
But as the half wore on, Maidstone slowly began to become the dominant side and on 30 minutes Errison Ahwan’s drive from 35 yards was heading towards the top left hand corner until it was expertly tipped over by Darren Smith in the Dover goal.
Just two minutes later, Aaron Lacy lofted a free-kick towards the far post and Mario McNish side footed his shot just over the bar and then on 44 minutes Sam Tydeman’s corner reached McNish but his low shot found the arms of Smith.
However, Maidstone’s best chance to take the lead fell to the in-form Alex Tiesse with 52 minutes played. The impressive Lee Shearer won the ball in midfield before turning away from his marker and slipping an excellent through ball into the path of Tiesse. Tiesse took the ball into the box but on a sticky pitch his shot never properly got off the ground and Smith did well to smoother the ball.
By now The Stones were enjoying their best spell of the game in terms of their attacking play and on 54 minutes Tydeman steered the ball wide of the right hand post before Nick Hegley’s curling effort just cleared the bar 5 minutes later.
Then moments later, Aaron Lacy threw the ball to Nathan Paul who whipped in an inviting cross and Lynden Rowland saw his header fly across the goalmouth for a goal kick.
The muddy conditions were to play a part on 66 minutes when Lee Shearer attempted the clear the ball but it squirmed under his feet to the unmarked Dryden who really should have at least tested Pat Mullin with his strike but he dragged his shot well wide.
With the game nearing full time, Dover stepped up the pace and put The Stones defence under pressure. However, the closest the visitors came to stealing all three points was when there was a goalmouth scramble following Dryden’s original shot but the Maidstone defence was resolute and the ball was eventually cleared.
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