A brief glance at Molesey’s results before the game perhaps would have suggested that this fixture could have proved to be a difficult trip for The Stones. After all, Molesey had beaten Maidstone back in September and had taken points off all of the top five clubs.
However, this victory turned out to be one Maidstone’s most comfortable of the season as they never allowed Molesey to get into any rhythm and really The Stones should have scored more than three goals.
Maidstone couldn’t have wished for a better start to the game for they found themselves one nil up after just three minutes. Errison Ahwan’s sent a hopeful long ball into the box and Mo Takaloo let the ball bounce before lobbing Chuck Martini with a spectacular shot using the outside of his foot.
The Stones were dictating the tempo of the game and they extended their lead with eighteen minutes gone. Aaron Lacy’s corner was headed on by Mario McNish and Lynden Rowland’s shot was blocked but the rebound came out to Takaloo who lashed the ball in from close range.
For brief periods it looked as if Molesey could cause The Stones problems as they generally passed the ball around well but Maidstone were quick to close the Moles players down, making it difficult for the home side to impose themselves. Clearly, Molesey’s Lee Richardson was finding the game frustrating and he was lucky to remain on the pitch when he reacted badly to being booked and vented his anger at the referee.
With half time approaching, it seemed as if Molesey’s Youseff Metwali had handled Nick Hegley’s cross in the box but no penalty was forthcoming. And Hegley was involved again just after the break when his shot was acrobatically palmed away by Martini following a swift Stones counter-attack.
Generally, Pat Mullin had little to do as his defence were superbly keeping Molesey at bay. With fifty six minutes gone, it looked as if Chris Wales was in on goal but an excellent timely interception from Nathan Paul ensured that Wales was not going to get the opportunity to test Mullin.
Paul was then instrumental in a good Maidstone move on sixty nine minutes as he raced down the right hand side and pulled the ball back to substitute Alex Tiesse who should have scored from just yards out but Martini saved his shot.
However, Tiesse made amends with fourteen minutes remaining with a fine individual effort. Craig Roser’s threw the ball to Tiesse’s feet and the Stones striker wriggled into the box and cut across goal before firing in his twelth goal of the season.
With the three points secured, Maidstone were punished for their first defensive lapse of the afternoon when Phil Ruggles pulled a goal back for Molesey, but there was to be no dramatic comeback from the home side.
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