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Maidstone United slumped to their second defeat inside a week as they came unstuck against a strong Carshalton side who scored two excellent goals in the process of comfortably maintaining their unbeaten away record in the Ryman League.
This was a disjointed performance from The Stones who clearly missed Ben Lewis and Jay Saunders but despite this, they could have earned at least a point from the game if they had taken the chances that fell their way as the game move towards full time.
There was an early warning for Maidstone when on 11 minutes, their defence pushed up hoping to catch Richard Jolly offside but the trap failed leaving the prolific Carshalton striker one on one with Andy Walker. However, the Maidstone keeper made a superb save to block Jolly’s fierce effort with his body.
It was not until the 30 th minute that Maidstone really threatened the Carshalton goal when a neat move saw Elliot Bradbrook pick out James Pinnock who drove the ball across the six yard box but unfortunately Meshach Nugent who was racing towards the back post, could not make contact.
Then three minutes before the break, the visitors took the lead when some accurate passing on the edge of The Stones box ended with Junior Kadi slotting the ball into the net.
Maidstone looked to quickly draw level and on 44 minutes, Seb Schoburgh exchanged passes with Nathan Paul before chipping the ball across the area only for the arriving Bradbrook to plant his header wide.
Twelve minutes into the second half, The Stones fell further behind when Carshalton once again passed the ball well to create an opening with Jolly picking out Kadi who in turn found Jamie England and England confidently dispatched the ball past Walker.
With an hour gone, Walker made an excellent save to deny Kadi as Maidstone began to lose their shape and confidence. Despite this though, as the half progressed, The Stones managed to create a number of chances which could have seen them pull level.
On 72 minutes, Roland Edge’s curling ball over the top of the Carshalton defence came to Schoburgh on the edge of the area and with Stuart Searle drawn from his goal, Schoburgh’s flick found the side netting.
Then 12 minutes from time, Nugent had an excellent chance to score but from a good position he headed wide and then shortly afterwards, Nugent once again missed an opportunity as he failed to make sufficient contact with a low ball driven across the box by substitute Lloyd Blackman.
As the game entered stoppage time it became apparent that it was not going to be The Stones’ night as first of all, James Pinnock’s header dropped wide from a Blackman cross and then Edge found Blackman in space on the edge of the area but the Maidstone striker rushed his shot and blasted the ball high and wide of the goal.
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