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The Stones have now collected
only three points from their last five league outings
as they were comfortably beaten by play- off chasing
Canvey Island.
Up until the point that the visitors opened the scoring
with 32 minutes gone, Maidstone were equal to Canvey
and had created the better of the early chances but
once The Gulls had gone in front thanks to a well taken
goal from Rob King, Canvey never looked like losing
their lead.
On six minutes, Danny Hockton’s shot on the
turn was pushed wide by James Russell and then at the
other end, Kevin Dobbinson found John Curran in space
in the box and Jamie Turner got a vital touch to divert
the ball wide.
The action continued to move from end to end and on
14 minutes Hockton moved in on goal but as he went to
shoot the ball got stuck in a huge puddle of water and
he lost his momentum before Hockton was involved again
seconds later when he had another shot turned wide by
Russell.
A neat move on 21 minutes saw Nick Barnes find Hockton
out on the left with an excellent curling pass and Hockton
played the ball into the box where it was met by the
stretching James Pinnock who could only poke the ball
wide.
It was then Canvey’s turn to go close four minutes
later when Greg Cohen’s corner picked out Richard
Hall and his header led to a goalmouth scramble but
Canvey did finally open the scoring on 32 minutes. A
poor goal kick from Turner led to Craig Davidson crossing
the ball towards the back post and King’s header
arrowed into the net.
Ten minutes later, things got worse for The Stones
when Canvey tore their defence open and Cohen found
the excellent Rowe who rounded Turner and confidently
dispatched the ball into the far side of the goal.
One minute into first half stoppage time, Shannon
O’Donnovan passed to Pinnock who saw his shot
blocked and then Jay Saunders also saw his follow up
drive stopped by the Canvey defence and this was to
prove to be Maidstone’s last attempts on target
until fifteen minutes from the end of the game.
The second half was a much quieter affair but on 70
minutes the visitors extended their lead when a long
ball forward was headed into Rowe’s path and with
Turner drawn from his goal, the Canvey striker expertly
lobbed the ball into the net.
Two minutes later, Turner prevented further embarrassment
for The Stones when Rowe put Hall in on goal only for
the Maidstone keeper to make a good save and push the
ball wide.
Then with fifteen minutes remaining The Stones finally
threatened when Barnes’ free-kick into the area
dropped to Peter Hawkins but his effort was cleared
off the line and with it went any feint hopes Maidstone
had of getting back into the game.
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