|
The Stones made the long
trek to the south coast to take on The Rocks and although
there was little spark in the game to excite the watching
supporters at least Maidstone avoided defeat and they
have gone seven games unbeaten.
It was evident right from the start that the match
would not be a classic as both sides struggled to create
many chances and the closest the home side came to scoring
in a dull first half was when Michael Birmingham curled
in a free-kick and Tim Bond’s header just missed
the left hand post.
However, Bognor were perhaps unfortunate not to be
awarded a penalty on 41 minutes when James Peacock,
on for the injured Tom Parkinson, dived in to try and
tackle Gary Norgate and appeared to catch The Rocks’
striker but the referee, Mr Crouch, was in a good position
and did not award a penalty.
Meanwhile, at the other end, a nice move on 33 minutes
saw Nick Barnes clip an excellent ball down the line
to Matthew Wright who drove in a cross only for Roland
Edge to head wide. Then on 45 minutes, Jay Saunders’
shot from the edge of the area deflected up into the
air and James Pinnock managed to get to the ball but
he could not direct his header on target.
The Stones tried to up the pace immediately after
the break and Matthew Wright’s drive on 46 minutes
flew across goal before Maidstone should have taken
the lead with 54 minutes gone when Peter Hawkins opened
up the Bognor defence and picked out Pinnock whose attempted
lob went over the bar.
Then on 66 minutes, Maidstone could have conceded
another penalty when Ashley Ulph appeared to foul Sam
Tucknott as the Bognor player tricked his way into the
box but fortunately for Ulph, Tucknott stayed on his
feet and The Stones’ defence soon snuffed out
the danger.
Two minutes later, Jay Saunders’ delicate effort
caught the wind and looked to be heading into the top
left hand corner of the net until Antony Ender tipped
the ball over and then on 81 minutes it looked as though
the deadlock had finally been broken when Mickey Demetriou
finished from close range but he was adjudged to have
been in an offside position and the goal was ruled out.
Until this point there had been little brilliance
from any player but on 86 minutes Pinnock set off on
a mazy run which saw him beat three defenders to get
into the area and then from an excellent position he
dragged the ball just wide of the left hand post and
with it went any hopes The Stones had of winning the
game.
|
