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Maidstone United continued
their good away record at Boreham Wood as they notched
up their third victory at Meadow Park in as many seasons
thanks to two goals in first half stoppage time.
The Stones looked strong in the first half and on
two minutes Nick Barnes drove a well taken corner low
into the box where it was met by Jay Saunders but his
momentum meant he only got a slight touch with his head
and the ball glanced wide.
Saunders went even closer on 14 minutes when a neat
move involving Barnes, Ant Bodle and Ashley Ulph ended
with Ulph curling in a great delivery which Saunders
tried to steer inside the left hand post with a well
placed header but Tony Tucker intervened with an excellent
save to push the ball wide.
Five minutes later, the home side had their first
attempt on goal when a nicely worked corner saw the
ball played out to Chris Watters who was in space on
the edge of the area and he clipped the ball to the
back post where it was met by Sosthene Yao who saw his
effort blocked by Jamie Turned in the Maidstone goal.
The turning point of the game came on 24 minutes when
Tucker had to come off injured and as Boreham Wood had
no recognised substitute keeper, The Wood were forced
to send substitute striker Jamie Richards into goal.
It wasn’t long until Richards was called into
action when he made a good unorthodox diving save to
keep out Barnes’ goal bound free-kick from twenty
yards and then he was alert to snuff out the danger
as a shot on the rebound came in from close to the right
hand post.
Two minutes later, The Stones should have opened the
scoring when Crystal Palace reserve team striker Matthew
Wright surged into space inside the box and his weak
shot was spilled by Richards which presented James Pinnock
with an opportunity but under pressure, Pinnock saw
his effort fly wide.
Then with the game one minute into first half stoppage
time, Curtis Ujah fouled Pinnock inside the box and
the referee, Mr Degnarain had no option but to point
to the spot. It was Pinnock himself who took the spot
kick and he confidently registered his fourth goal of
the season.
Then two minutes later Ulph played the ball to Barnes
who drove a dangerous ball into the box which was met
by Kevin Stephens who tried to put the ball behind for
a corner but accidentally swept his clearance into the
left hand side of the net.
Just after the break Barnes sent over another good
corner from the right and this time Wright’s header
just cleared the bar but apart from another effort from
Wright on 71 minutes, this was the closest The Stones
came to scoring in the second half as the home side
enjoyed the best of the proceedings.
On 54 minutes, Mario Noto shot straight at Turner
before Watters’ corner was met by Lee Allinson
who saw his header loop onto the roof of the net.
With the muggy weather not helping with the pace of
the game, it wasn’t until the 81 st minute that
Boreham Wood threatened again when the Maidstone defence
stood off Allinson and he hit a fierce shot which fizzed
just wide. Then six minutes later, Noto’s curling
effort looked threatening but Turner did well to hold
onto the ball with a confident catch and with that,
any hopes that the home side had of getting back into
the game were gone.
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