| Maidstone United finally got to play for the first time in three weeks but they will view the draw against Walton Casuals as two points dropped rather than a point gained.
Despite having a mini mid-season break thanks to the recent wet weather, The Stones were clearly the stronger of the two sides and manager Alan Walker thought that his team should have notched up their 7 th win of the season. He said: “To say I am a bit disappointed with the result today is very much an understatement. I thought that we started the game very well and that for 10 minutes we were outstanding. But the minute we got the goal people stopped doing their jobs. There were sporadic performances from people, and I thought that Jason Barton was magnificent, but we fell back into the trap of lack of consistency which ultimately cost us.”
The Stones enjoyed the best of the opening exchanges. With 4 minutes played a towering header from Lee Shearer was moved out to Lynden Rowland on the right by Aaron Lacy. Rowland laid the ball off to Alex Tiesse in the box and his first time shot cleared the angle of the post and bar.
A strong run from Tiesse on 12 minutes ended in the same manner but by this stage The Stones were in front thanks to Lynden Rowland who had drilled his shot in from 12 yards.
However, mid way through the first half, Maidstone began to let Walton Casuals into the game and with 26 minutes gone, the visitors equalised. The Stones couldn’t clear a Casuals corner and the ball was played back to Anthony Gale who was lurking near the penalty area and he picked his spot perfectly, sending his shot into left hand side of the net.
Then a mistake from Pat Mullin straight after the break saw Maidstone fall behind. Walton were awarded a free-kick right on the edge of the area following a foul from Barton. Gale’s shot seemed to be comfortably heading for Mullin’s arms but unfortunately Mullin couldn’t keep control over the ball and Craig Garley bundled it over the line. Maidstone’s Alan Walker had no complaints about the goal afterwards though saying: “Pat is saying he had two hands on the ball but I think their player had a legitimate right to go in there for the ball. But although he made a mistake for the goal Pat is a good keeper who has saved us on many occasions.”
It didn’t take long for The Stones to draw level though. With 53 minutes played, the best move of the game saw Peter Overton, appearing in a Stones shirt for the first time in nearly 2 years, play the ball to Hegley who scampered down the left wing and crossed for Rowland to thump in his second goal of the afternoon.
Maidstone then turned up the pressure on the visitors and with 82 minutes played it seemed as if Lee Shearer had scored for The Stones with a header only for Reed to pull off a fantastic save and tip his header onto the underside of the bar before the ball bounced to safety.
Then with full time just seconds away substitute Simon Austin’s looping header seemed to be destined for the net but once again Maidstone were denied when his effort was cleared off the line.
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