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For only the fourth time this season, Maidstone United were held to a draw but they had to earn the point the hard way after they fought back from being two goals down.
For the majority of the game, this was a disappointing performance from The Stones and Maidstone were particularly poor in the first half as all too often they hit long balls forwards in the hope that the Wealdstone defence would make a mistake.
It wasn’t as if the visitors were an especially strong side either but thanks to two penalties, Wealdstone looked to be cruising to victory.
But then, as so often in recent games, Lloyd Hume and Alan Walker made a substitution which was to have an impact on the match as they sent on Mo Takaloo who scored within twelve minutes of his introduction to bring The Stones back into the game.
This goal changed the course of the game and Mark Saunders then grabbed a late equaliser to give The Stones what could turn out to be a valuable point.
“I was very disappointed with the first half as we didn’t threaten them at all” said Alan Walker afterwards. “We spoke at half time about the fact that we should not have to raise our game in the last fifteen minutes because we shouldn’t have anything left to raise as our performance should be like that from the start. All credit to the lads though as they fought back but although we should be happy with a point we are not.”
The Stones had only one shot on target in the first half and this was in the 12th minute when Nathan Paul cut inside from the right hand side but his weak shot went straight into the hands of Keita Karamoko.
Then with 23 minutes of the game played, Peter Dean got in front of Marc Clarey in the penalty area and the young defender dived in to try and nick the ball away. Unfortunately though, Clarey fouled Dean in the process and Stephen Hughes confidently dispatched the resultant penalty.
The goal seemed to shake Maidstone’s confidence and Wealdstone began to totally dominate in midfield. On 32 minutes, Dean was left in space on the left hand side and his curling cross only just dropped wide of the left hand post.
However, despite struggling at the back at times, The Stones should have found themselves level by half time. First of all, on 37 minutes, Ian Selley’s free kick came to Jacob Erskine who was only about eight yards out but from a tight angle he failed to hit the target with a wild shot.
Four minutes later, it was Lee Shearer’s turn to miss when he met Selley’s corner from the right but he planted his header wide.
The Stones did improve after the break and Alex Tiesse’s pace was causing problems for the Wealdstone defence. On 49 minutes, Tiesse got to the by-line and chipped the ball up to Mark Saunders but he could not generate any power with his header and Karamoko saved.
There was a scare for Maidstone shortly afterwards when Steve Northwood came out of his goal to try and clear the ball. Northwood’s initial kick was weak and as he tried to make amends he got drawn further out of his goal before losing possession to Hughes whose long range effort cleared the bar.
With 57 minutes played, a header from Saunders went agonisingly wide before The Stones once again conceded a penalty. This time, Lee Shearer’s rustiness after not playing for over a month was exposed as Lee Chappell easily went past him. Chappell then cut in from the left and pulled the ball back to Ryan Ashe who was felled as Saunders and Aaron Lacy rushed in to try and prevent the shot and once again, Hughes converted the penalty.
Two minutes later, Ben Clarke went past Craig Roser and his cross had to be tipped over the bar by Northwood.
Then on 75 minutes, Maidstone suddenly found themselves back in the game when a long ball forwards from Nathan Paul was headed downwards by Saunders and substitute Mo Takaloo pounced to lob Karamoko and score his 14th goal of the season.
There after, The Stones piled the pressure on Wealdstone and on 78 minutes Saunders won the ball in midfield and released Tiesse who raced into the box but his shot was smartly turned away by the diving Karamoko.
Maidstone were not to be denied however, and with just three minutes remaining they finally equalised. A long throw from Lacy came back to The Stones midfielder and he sent over a good cross which picked out Takaloo. With just Karamoko to beat, it seemed certain that Takaloo would score again but the Wealdstone keeper made a good save to parry his effort. Unfortunately for Karamoko though, the ball came out to Saunders who dived to head in his second goal for The Stones inside four appearances.
Having got themselves level, The Stones then nearly conceded again when Ashe had a chance for the visitors and then with the game in stoppage time, Clarey had to be alert to deny substitute Dean Papali.
However, the opportunity to win the game fell to Maidstone when Selley’s corner from the right reached Tiesse but The Stones striker lifted the ball over the cross bar when well placed.
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