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Maidstone United collected
three valuable league points in today’s home Ryman
League Premier Division fixture against Sutton United.
However, this game was far short of being a decent spectacle
as once again the weather conditions at Bourne Park
conspired to cancel out the footballing abilities of
two evenly matched teams.
Sutton enjoyed the better of the early exchanges as
their big, strong and physical team exerted early pressure
on Andy Walker’s goal. Young striker Billy Dunn
escaped the attention of Elliot Bradbrook and forced
Walker to make a good save at his near post in the sixth
minute and within two minutes of this, Walker had excelled
again as he foiled both Daniel Webb and Dunn just two
yards from goal with a brave save.
The Stones finally got a foothold in the game following
an indifferent start and in the 20th minute Ian Selley’s
flighted free kick was headed on by Ben Lewis and in
turn Jay Saunders. The ball fell to Lloyd Blackman and
he bundled the ball home despite the efforts of keeper
Paul Nicholls. Unfortunately for Maidstone, assistant
referee Ian Fissenden had raised his flag for offside.
The game struggled to flow at all, only partly due to
the windy conditions. Referee Lloyd Wood did not enjoy
a good game and he was all too often the centre of the
action whether it was for a player lecture or for a
trivial offence only seen by him. Sutton United picked
up five yellow cards and The Stones just one and in
all honesty there was maybe only one of these cautions
that was truly justifiable.
The game’s only goal came in the 35th minute. Jay
Saunders had headed on another Ian Selley free kick
and this header was handled by Chris Collins. Selley
stepped up and slotted the spot kick low to Nicholls’
left, leaving the keeper motionless on his goal line.
The visitors had their best chance of the game just
before the break when Dunn turned Ian Cox in the box
and crashed his shot against Walker’s crossbar.
The second half was almost entirely uneventful as both
teams showed plenty of endeavour but failed to create
any meaningful goal attempts. Sadly most of the action
involved Mr Wood as he consistently blew his whistle
much to the annoyance of both teams and the crowd of
435.
Having failed to display the additional time boards
at the end of both halves, an uncomfortable six and
a half minutes of added time finally came to an end.
With the majority of those in attendance relieved at
the final whistle, The Stones climb back to sixth place
in the league table with this win.
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Maidstone
United: Ian Selley 35
Sutton United: -
Maidstone United: Walker, Paul, Schoburgh (Thompson
64), Lewis, Cox, Martin, Selley, Saunders, Pinnock,
Blackman, Bradbrook. Subs not used: Wilfort, Mooney,
Ulph, Northwood
Sutton United: Nicholls, Palmer, Bray Cunningham
80), Heeroo, Collins, El-Salahi, Murray, Smith (Wilde
64), Webb (Hann 66), Dunn, McCallum. Subs not used:
Smith, McKimm
 Alan
Walker Part 1 | Part
2
Man of the Match
Photos
from Steve Terrell
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