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Maidstone United’s
penultimate pre-season friendly saw them make a journey
down to Hampshire’s New Forest to face Bashley.
The club was again able to combine its now annual team
bonding weekend in Bournemouth with a quality fixture
against the current Southern League Division One South
& West Champions.
With wild ponies wandering the roadside less than a
mile from this pleasant and well kept ground, the game
began at a sluggish pace. The temperature was high and
there was no area of the playing surface that had any
shadow cast on it and therefore there were no “hiding
places” from the conditions for any player.
The home side looked well organised, if a little workmanlike
and had the better of an ordinary first half. Bash keeper
David Elm used his imposing physical presence to good
effect, easily collecting any cross flighted into his
goal area. However, it was Maidstone who scored the
opening goal in the very last minute of the first period.
Sam Tydeman’s free kick on the right hand touchline
was played back out by Lee Shearer to Andy Martin. The
midfielder clipped the ball straight back into the area
where Craig Wilkins headed the ball down to Errison
Ahwan. Ahwan then nudged the ball back to Wilkins and
he struck the ball home firmly from 10 yards out.
The second half was, as is the case with pre-season
fixtures, punctuated by a series of substitutions which
disrupted any flow to the game. With The Stones having
shown far more cohesion in the second half, it was an
individual error that let the home side back into the
game. A regulation cross into the penalty area was inexplicably
spilled by Michal Czanner. The ball fell at the feet
of striker Richard Gillespie and the man who notched
41 goals last season did not hesitate to knock the ball
into the empty net.
With time expiring, Gillespie notched his second and
winning goal of the game with just three minutes of
the match remaining. A decent left wing cross found
Gillespie’s head 12 yards from goal and his well
directed looping header left Czanner with no chance
as it nestled into the far corner of his net.
Afterwards, manager Lloyd Hume reflected on the game.
“The game today has allowed me to make some decisions.
I’ve got some tough decisions to make before next
week now that our squad is bit bigger and today’s
performance has allowed me to make those decisions.”
“It showed me in the second half that we can play
4-3-3 and then change to 4-4-2 without too much disruption,
so I was fairly happy with that. The only thing that
I was disappointed with was, (and we talked about this
afterwards) that there were only 3 minutes left and
I was telling them to concentrate from the side line
and we allowed them a free header in our six yard box
which was very, very annoying. Apart from that, I thought
we performed really well and that it was a worthwhile
exercise.”
PHOTOS FROM STEVE TERRELL
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