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Maidstone United travelled to Park View Road for the second time this week to play, on this occasion, Conference South side Welling United. In extremely humid conditions both teams appeared to be well matched for the opening quarter of an hour with little in the way of goal scoring opportunities for either side.
However, a mistake by Ben Lewis gifted The Wings the opening goal in the 20th minute. Keeper Andy Walker had rolled the ball to Lewis on the edge of the box but a poor touch by the Maidstone skipper allowed Charlie Sheringham to steal the ball and feed in striker Joe Healy. He took the ball around the challenge of Ian Cox and then Walker before calmly slotting the ball home past Lewis who was on the goal line.
The Stones then forced a corner when James Pinnock had a shot deflected over the bar for a corner but the home side almost immediately counter-attacked with Sheringham’s 25 yard chip being acrobatically tipped over the bar by Walker. Minutes later, the keeper was unable to repeat his heroics as Healy lobbed home a delicate effort from just inside the penalty area.
Shortly before half time Ian Selley saw his 20 yard effort tipped away for a corner by Scott Andrews as The Stones had their best spell of the game. Lloyd Blackman then headed over from a corner kick before he missed a golden opportunity to reduce the arrears in the 42nd minute. Elliot Bradbrook’s cross into the box was directed down and across goal by the head of Pinnock to find Blackman unmarked at the far post and just five yards out. To the amazement of most present in the ground Blackman managed to steer the ball the wrong side of the upright.
The Wings made six half time substitutions and the fresher legs began to show after about an hour when the home side went 3-0 ahead. Following a cross into the box, Charlie Sherringham controlled the ball on his thigh with his back to goal. With a couple of neat flicks he was able to swivel and shoot home into the bottom corner of the net from 10 yards out despite the close attentions of Ian Cox. The goal was roundly applauded by all those watching for its’ skillfulness.
With just over 20 minutes of the game remaining, Sol Pinnock outpaced Lewis in a foot race and elected to take on Walker in a one on one battle rather than to square the ball to an unmarked Sherringham. Pinnock’s first effort was blocked and it looked as if he had squandered his chance but he somehow managed to get the ball out from under his feet to slot the ball home for the final goal of the game.
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