At the final whistle of this game, the memory of Jon Neal grabbing a late equaliser for Sittingbourne and Simon Austin missing a fantastic chance deep in stoppage time was not a great one for Stones fans as at this time, it seemed as if United’s title challenge was teetering on the brink of falling away.
However, a couple of hours later, the news that Hastings had lost away at Dover and Tooting had only drawn with Dulwich was enough to surely lift even the most despondent and negative of Maidstone United fans.
The Stones now need to win three out of four of their final fixtures to guarantee the league title but this will be far from easy given their recent poor run of form which has seen them claim just ten points out of the last seven games.
It certainly seems as if nerves are affecting the United players at the moment for all too often, players appear to be panicking when they receive the ball and they seem desperate to get rid of it quickly which is leading to disjointed performances from the team.
Although the result was no different, The Stones played with more conviction against Sittingbourne compared with the match against Whyteleafe and on seventeen minutes, United took the lead. Once again, Aaron Lacy’s throw into the box caused panic in the opposition’s defence and with Sittingbourne’s keeper Steve Williams unable to react as the ball dropped in the area, Errison Ahwan stabbed in his ninth goal of the season.
Just a minute later, Lynden Rowland had an opportunity to double the lead when he raced onto a pass over the top of the Sittingbourne defence but he couldn’t bring the ball down quickly enough for a shot and the chance was lost.
At this stage, The Stones looked the more confident of the two sides but Sittingbourne still occasionally provided a threat and on twenty four minutes, Anthony Hogg’s free-kick from the edge of the area only just cleared the bar and nine minutes later, Kieran Marsh’s attempt from a similar distance bounced wide of the far post.
However, on thirty five minutes, United carved open Sittingbourne’s defence once again when Craig Roser picked out Mo Takaloo but although his scuffed shot was spilled by Williams, The Stones could not capitalise.
Just two minutes later, Williams once again failed to hang onto a poor shot from Takaloo and although the ball reached Nick Hegley at the far post, disappointingly The Stones’ winger could only dribble the ball out of play.
Predictably, United were once again made to pay for missing such chances as on forty two minutes they conceded a sloppy goal. A clearance from Williams was nudged onto Kieran Marsh by Lee Browning and with the United defence static, Marsh had an age to finish into the right hand corner of the net.
After the break, Sittingbourne enjoyed a spell of good possession and in the midst of this, Lee Hockey comfortably beat Sam Tydeman and crossed for Paul Ainsworth who saw his header clip the top of the bar.
Then on seventy minutes, The Stones finally scored an well worked goal for the first time in three games that didn’t result from a corner, penalty or Aaron Lacy throw. A good rare spell of United possession ended with Tydeman releasing Takaloo in the box and at first it appeared that the Stones striker was going to take an eternity to shoot before he finally blasted the ball past Williams to end his six game goal drought.
Taking the lead seemed to provide United with much needed belief and for a brief period, they looked as if they would add to their tally as they put Sittingbourne under pressure. First a quick break from The Stones saw Williams turn away an effort from Nathan Paul and from the resultant corner, Lee Shearer had a header scrambled off the line.
But all of a sudden, The Stones started to look jittery once again and they began to struggle to clear the ball as Sittingbourne enjoyed a succession of long throws into the United penalty area.
With just four minutes remaining, Sittingbourne were awarded a free-kick deep in their own half. William’s first attempt to play the ball forward was halted as The Stones sent on Alex Tiesse for Lynden Rowland but his second effort brought more reward as the ball was knocked down by Browning and once again, the United defence stood like statues allowing substitute Jon Neal to fire in the equaliser past the stationary Mullin.
There was still time for The Stones to create one more great opportunity to score in stoppage time when the ball was played into the unmarked Simon Austin but unfortunately for United, Austin smashed the ball wide from close range to leave Alan Walker feeling deflated about his side’s result. He said: “I am very disappointed in the attitude and application of the players because we were very poor. We knew it would be tough game and to me it looked as if Sittingbourne wanted it more than we did. It’s like the side have collectively lost their bottle. Although we are mis-firing badly, we need to remember that the league title is still in our hands provided we win our remaining games.”
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