| Maidstone
United pulled off one of the shocks of the FA Trophy
First Qualifying Round as a late dramatic goal from
Lynden Rowland saw them beat ambitious Chelmsford City.
Few would have thought that The Stones would have pulled
off one of their greatest results since reforming against
City for the home side were packed full of players with
Nationwide Conference experience but Maidstone’s
hard work and endeavour saw them deservedly through
to the second qualifying round.
Even Alan Walker hadn’t harboured great hopes
of a famous win prior to the game and he said afterwards:
“We had Scruffy go to Chelmsford and his report
was to get the tin hats on, we are going to get absolutely
hammered! What you have to look at though is the chances
created and to be fair I thought that Chelmsford created
very little. I think we are quite lucky that we got
them on a day where they didn’t perform but having
said that we did and I am delighted with, and very proud
of, every single one of our players.”
Just 5 minutes had gone when the home side took the
lead after The Stones allowed Chris Duffy to thread
the ball into Ricky Holmes who placed his shot past
Pat Mullin into the bottom right hand corner of the
net.
But the expected onslaught from City never materialised
and slowly Maidstone began to enjoy a significant amount
of possession. With 31 minutes gone The Stones had a
glorious chance to equalise when Jason Barton’s
throw was flicked into the middle by Ryan Royston towards
Lynden Rowland and Rowland showed great awareness to
cushion his header back to substitute Nick Barnes who
unfortunately snatched at the volley and sent the ball
over the bar.
However, an equaliser was forthcoming and on 39 minutes
Craig Roser saw his fierce drive deflected for a corner.
Simon Austin’s corner from the left hand side
reached Royston lurking at the back post and he headed
the ball back across the six-yard box for Rowland to
bury his header past Richard McKinney in the City goal.
Most present in the ground at half time probably expected
City to emerge from the break a transformed side but
they couldn’t seem to raise their game and it
wasn’t until the 67th minute that Chelmsford threatened
Mullin’s goal. First of all Sam Tydeman came close
to accidentally converting Jay Conroy’s ball into
the box and then from the corner, Mullin had to be alert
to tip Stuart Ainsley’s cross over the bar. Finally,
just a minute later, substitute Jason Hallett thought
he had scored with a header but his effort was ruled
out for a foul in the box.
Then 12 minutes from time, Maidstone created a great
chance to edge in front. Nick Barnes’ low free-kick
from 35 yards was diverted by Lee Shearer into the path
of Rowland who in space close to the penalty spot but
he could not connect cleanly with the ball and his effort
looped narrowly over the bar.
The longer the game went on, the more the belief that
The Stones could hold on for a replay grew but the result
was about to get even better for the Maidstone fans.
With just a minute of normal time remaining Rowland
magnificently won the ball on the half way line with
a header and out-muscled Steve Ward to break into the
penalty area. Then just as it appeared Ward was about
to make a challenge, Rowland powdered a wonderful rising
shot which sailed past McKinney high into the back of
the net to make The Stones fans delirious.
But the game wasn’t finished yet and the travelling
support were sent crashing back down to earth with two
minutes of stoppage time played when the referee, Mr
Child, awarded City a penalty. The penalty spot had
been repainted prior to kick off when Mullin had discovered
that the area and spot had been incorrectly marked out
a yard or so too close to the goal which apparently
had been the case for quite some time. Perhaps having
the penalty spot moved back away from goal made a difference
for Jeff Minton, who appeared in the FA Trophy final
for Canvey Island in 2004, planted his spot kick into
the advertising hoardings next to Mullin’s goal.
After another agonising minute of so of injury time,
the referee finally brought the game to a close much
to the delight of the vocal Maidstone supporters who
can now look forward to the draw for the next round
on Monday.
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