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For just the fourth time in 2008, Maidstone United won at home as a header from Ben Lewis three minutes into stoppage time dumped Fisher Athletic out of the FA Cup.
This was a richly deserved victory for The Stones after they had dominated their Blue Square South opponents for long periods. However, it had appeared that Maidstone were going to be made to pay for not taking advantage of the chances they had created when substitute Michael Kamara curled in a fluke goal with only four minutes remaining.
But the final minutes were an exciting affair as The Stones put Fisher under concerted pressure which finally paid off when Lewis chose a good moment to score his first goal of the season.
The game could have had an entirely different outcome had Fisher built upon their early lead. With just nine minutes played, a cross from the right caught the Maidstone defence cold and the ball dropped to the unmarked Hamid Barr who found Ken Beaney and his curling shot took a slight deflection off James Pinnock before entering the net.
Maidstone quickly equalised though when Lloyd Blackman turned and shot from the edge of the area and the ball cannoned off the post leaving Nathan Paul with the simple task of side footing the ball into the net.
Following this goal, The Stones began to up the tempo and on 23 minutes they should have doubled their lead when a looping throw from Elliot Bradbrook was headed on by Meshach Nugent and the ball dropped to Blackman who was just yards from goal but he shot over the bar.
Five minutes later, Paul was allowed to pull the ball back into the middle from a position close to the right hand post but Nugent could not divert the cross into the net and then Maidstone had an appeal for a penalty turned down when it had appeared that Scott Gooding had handled a corner from Bradbrook.
The Stones continued to dominate after the break and on 49 minutes they put together an fine move which was initiated by Bradbrook and the Maidstone left back continued his run before picking out the unmarked Andy Martin. Martin was in acres of space inside the area but he delayed his shot and when he did get the ball away, it went wide of the left hand post.
With 54 minutes played, Fisher attacked down the right and Damien Batt whipped an early ball into the box which Jones Awuah just failed to make contact with before Maidstone finally took the lead on 65 minutes. Ian Selley picked out Nugent with a long ball and The Stones striker did well to hold the ball up on the edge of the area. The Fisher defence could not clear their lines and the chance fell to James Pinnock who coolly fired in his fifth goal of the season.
Fisher had not troubled Andy Walker in the Maidstone goal during the second half but it looked as though they had grabbed a replay when Michael Kamara’s attempted cross floated into the far side of the net.
However, in the remaining minutes The Stones poured forward in search of a winner. As the game entered stoppage time, there was a goal mouth scramble which ended with Saunders flicking the ball over the bar and then Saunders was involved again two minutes later when his fierce shot from 20 yards looked to be going in until a fine save from Chris Lewington.
From the resultant corner, Selley swung the ball into the box and Martin saw his shot from close range come off the post before being scrambled behind.
This time it was Bradbrook who took the corner and he sent over an excellent cross which was met by Lewis at the far post and he headed Maidstone United into the Third Qualifying Round of the FA Cup.
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