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After the disappointment of the defeat at Billericay, it was a relief for Maidstone to get back winning ways as they continued their good run of home form with a nerve-wracking victory over the basement side Leyton.
Although this was a narrow win, once again the scoreline was not a true reflection of the game. The Stones were by far the better side as in addition to a number of good chances created, Maidstone had a shot hit the post, two efforts cleared off the line and a goal disallowed.
The first of these goal line clearances occurred with just four minutes played. The influential Andy Martin swung in a corner from the right which was met by the unmarked Errison Ahwan but his header was blocked by John Paul-Collier.
Four minutes later though, Leyton were nearly gifted the opening goal. Mario McNish played the ball back to Pat Mullin who had come out of his box and the Maidstone keeper’s clearance looped up in the air and back into the area. Leyton’s Shaun Lee just had time to bring the ball under control before Mullin redeemed himself with an excellent sliding challenge to concede the corner.
A neat move on ten minutes saw Martin and Luis Cumbers combine well but Martin’s first time shot only just missed the right hand post and then on 33 minutes, Errison Ahwan played a low ball into the area and Nick Hegley saw his shot strike the base of the same post.
With half time approaching, The Stones increased the pressure on the Leyton defence and Maidstone could have gone into the break with a two goal lead. First of all, Cumbers laid the ball back across goal and Nathan Paul saw his fierce drive expertly stopped by Rio Alderton on the line and then Hegley set up Martin who unfortunately was indecisive and his resultant shot was blocked.
Maidstone continued in a similar vein after the break and on 48 minutes they had a goal disallowed. Martin’s corner came to Hegley who put the ball out wide to Lee Shearer and his cross was headed into the net by Ahwan but the linesman ruled that he was offside.
However, the deadlock was finally broken on 57 minutes when The Stones deservedly took the lead. Once again, a Martin corner provided problems for the Leyton defence as Ben Lewis nodded the ball down and Cumbers was on hand to stab in his fifth goal for The Stones.
Martin was involved again on 62 minutes when he should have added to Maidstone’s tally. Nathan Paul played the ball forward and with Jamie Lunan out of his goal, Martin lofted a delicate chip agonisingly wide of the right hand post.
From the resultant goal kick, The Stones worked the ball forwards once more and Martin cut inside from the left hand side only for his shot from an acute angle to be saved by Lunan’s legs.
On 69 minutes, Mo Takaloo replaced Luis Cumbers and ten minutes later he latched onto a header from the excellent Rob Owen but his shot on the turn cleared the bar.
Takaloo was not to be denied a goal though as with just eight minutes remaining, Ben Lewis slipped the ball into the Maidstone substitute and he scored from a tight angle.
Such was United’s dominance that it took until the 84 th minute for Leyton to have their first shot on target. McNish conceded a free-kick close to the edge of the area and Collier curled a perfect shot into the bottom left hand corner of the net.
As a result, the remaining moments were nerve-wracking for Maidstone fans but Craig Roser nearly relieved the tension on 85 minutes when his powerful shot was heading goalwards, but unfortunately straight at Lunan and the Leyton keeper managed to push the ball away.
Then with The Stones fans praying for the whistle, there was to be one last agonising moment as substitute Roderick Osei-Owusu was allowed to roam forwards but fortunately for Maidstone, his drive only just cleared the cross bar.
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