| Stones
manager Lloyd Hume blasted his side’s performance
after a truly dreadful display saw them dumped out of
the FA Cup by a mediocre Ashford Town team.
It was Maidstone’s most inept showing for nearly
two years and it left Hume furious as he said: “My
first thoughts are to apologise to the chairman and
the fans because our performance, attitude and desire
today were absolutely dire. It’s probably the
worst performance I have been involved in as a manager
and perhaps even as a player in terms of the way the
team just fell to bits.”
Its one thing to lose to a side who are in the division
above if your team has given their all and the opposition
are clearly superior but its quite another to be defeated
with it appearing as if your players haven’t made
enough effort and that if they had performed to their
ability, the result could have been very different.
Indeed Hume added: “I didn’t shout and scream
and holler at them after the game, my disappointment
was such that I couldn’t and I don’t think
they even warranted that. It’s like if your child
does something you might shout at them but if they do
something that bad you can’t even talk to them,
you just put them in their room and that’s how
I felt about the team today. It looked as if we were
excepting defeat today and that is something I will
not accept of any player.”
The Stones didn’t force Tony Wells in the Ashford
goal into making a save at any stage in the game but
Pat Mullin was quickly called into action in the 4th
minute when he had to dive to cover Kirk Hudson’s
drive which went wide of the right hand post.
From the resultant goal kick Lew Watts’ header
was flicked on by Lynden Rowland into the path of Leroy
Huggins. As Huggins approached the area it appeared
that he was brought down by Russ Canderson but the referee,
Mr Coggins, didn’t think that any offence had
been committed.
Mullin was busy again in the 18th minute when he made
an excellent save from close range following a Jon Palmer
header before Mr Coggins, who was not enjoying the best
of games, failed to see Lew Watts’ handball with
30 minutes played.
Ashford threatened again when Mullin was forced to
deny Hudson but then disaster struck as The Stones conceded
a sloppy goal in first half injury time. A defensive
mix-up saw Watts play the ball back to Mullin. Just
as Mullin was about to clear the ball, it hit a bobble
in the pitch and the subsequent clearance fell to Jacob
Mingle who advanced a couple of paces and hit the ball
into the bottom left hand corner of the net.
The game continued in a similar vein immediately after
the break when Mr Coggins failed to spot Nathan Paul’s
handball inside the area and Hudson should have put
his side further in front but he dragged his shot wide
of the far post.
This seemed to spur The Stones into action and for
a brief period they looked a much more motivated side.
Sam Tydeman played Paul in on the left hand side who
brilliantly turned past Scott Todd and sent over a deep
cross. There to meet it was Lynden Rowland and his header
went wide but two minutes later, substitute Stuart Lake
cleared the ball off the line following Nick Hegley’s
fierce shot.
However, all too quickly lethargy took over the Maidstone
team and Hudson saw a looping effort bounce off the
top of the bar before Ashford increased their lead with
64 minutes played. Nick Barnes conceded possession in
midfield which allowed Jon Palmer to pick out Mingle
on the right hand corner of the box and his low shot
found the back of the net.
By now it seemed inevitable Ashford would increase
their lead and so it proved in the 81st minute when
Craig Roser couldn’t keep pace with a long ball
over the top and Gavin Smith played a simple square
ball to Todd who rounded Mullin before finishing with
ease.
It seemed as if a miserable day for The Stones was
compounded when Lynden Rowland was forced to leave the
field with a hamstring injury five minutes before the
end but there was still time for Ashford to add a fourth
goal. On 87 minutes Watts inexplicably conceded possession
to Todd who curled a fantastic finish from a tight angle
into the far corner of the net to round off Town’s
trouncing of The Stones.
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