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The Stones’ interest in the Westview Cup
is over for another year after Ryman Premier League
side Tonbridge Angels illustrated the gulf between the
two divisions as they took their chances to cruise to
a comfortable win.
There could have been a different outcome to this match
had Maidstone managed to convert one of their numerous
chances but by that point their task was already all
the more difficult as they found themselves two goals
down inside 11 minutes.
However, Stones manager Lloyd Hume felt his side gave
a good account of themselves saying: “I don’t
think the scoreline was a true reflection on the game
itself. What we have learnt tonight is the one level
up from where we are right now is that you get punished
if you make any mistakes at all. Having said that they
made enough mistakes for us to score as well as after
we went 2-0 down we had two very good chances in the
first half to claw back to two all.”
Tonbridge’s first goal came with 7 minutes played.
Drew Watkins found Andrew Martin out wide on the left
hand side and he drilled the ball across the box where
Scott Kinch crashed his shot in off the underside of
the bar.
Worse was to follow for The Stones shortly after when
Watkin’s deep corner reached the unopposed Jon
Beale and he rose to plant his header past Michal Czanner.
However, despite trailing 2-0, Maidstone quickly began
to settle down and arguably enjoyed the best of the
rest of the first half. With 22 minutes played, Czanner’s
long free-kick was knocked down by Leory Huggins and
Simon Austin lashed the opportunity just wide.
Then another free-kick, this time from Sam Tydeman
cleverly picked out Andy Hart on the right hand side
of the box and his low shot whistled past the far post.
Craig Roser then saw an effort just miss the target
for The Stones before Austin perhaps should have pulled
a goal back after Kane Rice had beaten his man and played
a low ball back to the Maidstone striker but his shot
went agonisingly wide.
The Stones continued in the same positive manner early
in the second half but it took a smart block from Czanner
to prevent them falling further behind with 53 minutes
gone. Lew Watts missed a through ball allowing Adam
O’Neill to race through on goal and Czanner responded
quickly to snuff out the threat on the edge of the area.
Three minutes later, a good Stones move saw Rice nutmeg
and turn past Scott Gooding before cutting inside and
neatly releasing Leory Huggins whose shot towards the
near post smothered by Aaron Kerr.
Andrew Martin then had a shot blocked at the other
end for Tonbridge before Czanner raced out of his area
to try and stop O’Neill’s progress down
the left hand side. Czanner brought O’Neill down
with a clumsy challenge but escaped with a yellow card.
The game was finally put beyond The Stones in the 69th
minute though when Michael Power, the former Cray and
Thamesmead player, easily beat Roser to pull the ball
back to Martin who fired his shot inside the post.
Tonbridge came close to scoring again after that as
they struck the bar and Czanner was called into action
on more than one occasion but they couldn’t add
to their tally.
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