For the fifth time this season, the Maidstone defence shipped four goals as The Stones were outclassed by Staines Town.
With the home side boasting a formidable striking partnership in Mark Nwokeji and Richard Butler this was always going to be a difficult fixture for The Stones and once again Maidstone were made to pay for their poor defending.
There was an early warning for The Stones when Nwokeji’s low drive just went past the right hand post on five minutes and then from the resultant goal-kick, Alex Tiesse found himself latching onto a bouncing ball inside the Staines area but his volley was off target.
However, with just 12 minutes played, Craig Roser’s attempted clearance smacked against Nwokeji who released Butler down the right. With Butler in acres of space he had an age to pick out Nwokeji inside the box and he calmly side footed the ball past Mullin.
Nwokeji could have added a further two goals inside the following four minutes but he wastefully put one effort wide and then on 16 minutes he flicked Leigh Mason’s free-kick goalwards only for Mullin to make an excellent save and tip the ball over the bar.
The Staines striker was not to be denied a third time though as on 22 minutes he turned past Lee Shearer inside the area and fired the ball inside the bottom right hand corner of the net.
Going two behind seemed to finally galvanise The Stones and they began to put Staines under pressure without creating any goal scoring opportunities. However, on 31 minutes, Alex Tiesse was fouled by Francis Duker close to the edge of the area on the left hand side of the pitch. Conor Hagan’s in-swinging free-kick was met by Lee Shearer and his header was parried by James Courtnage but when the ball dropped down, Jacob Erkine was alert to nod the ball in from close range.
Even though Maidstone had pulled a goal back, Staines were comfortably in control of the game and they increased their lead on 44 minutes when the impressive Nwokeji completed his hat-trick with a similar goal to his second strike only this time it was Nathan Paul who he turned past inside the box.
Matters did not improve for The Stones after the break and on 50 minutes, Nwokeji should have scored his fourth goal when he latched onto Butler’s flick and with Mullin rushing off his line, Nwokeji poked his shot wide of the post.
Sixty seconds later though, the home side finally added to their tally when Paul lost possession to Dwain Clarke who put a low ball into the box. Ben Lewis should have cleared the ball but his weak touch set up Howard Newton who could not miss from six yards. This was uncharacteristic mistake from Lewis and his afternoon came to a premature end on 57 minutes when he had to be substituted for Aaron Lacy after feeling unwell.
Mullin then prevented further embarrassment for The Stones when he did well to tip a Butler effort over on 52 minutes and then on 69 minutes, Maidstone pulled another goal back. Aaron Lacy’s long throw was punched by Courtnage and the ball felt to Sam Tydeman who was lurking on the edge of the area. Tydeman showed good technique to strike a low powerful volley which struck Alex Tiesse before entering the net which gave Tiesse his first league goal for The Stones since 10 th March 2007.
The remainder of the game was dominated by the home side and on 89 minutes Nwokeji once again turned into space inside the box but this time his drive cannoned off the right hand post. Then with the game in stoppage time Butler had an opportunity to cap an excellent performance but his wild shot only troubled the ponies in the field behind the goal.
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