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Maidstone United were given a lesson in finishing as they were comfortably outclassed by runaway leaders Dartford at Princes Park.
This was the thirteenth time that The Stones had failed to hit the net in the league this season and the Dartford keeper Andrew Young only had one save to make during the entire game.
“We have been comprehensively beaten,” said Pete Nott after the match. “We were second best in every area and lacking all over the place again. We have been stuffed and the scoreline in the end was probably kind to us.”
Like in the games against Cray and Horsham The Stones started brightly and forced a number of early corners. On four minutes Craig Stone swung in a corner from the right and James Peacock’s header dropped onto the roof of the net before Peacock was instrumental again on 10 minutes when he sent over a good cross which reached Danny Hockton but the Maidstone striker could not direct his header on target.
However, The Stones were torn apart on 11 minutes when Dartford opened the scoring with well taken goal. Adam Gross crossed the ball into the box and Lee Burns headed it on to Danny Dafter who arrived to side foot the ball in from inside the six yard box.
There was then little else to note until the 34 minute when The Darts extended their lead. Danny Harris played the ball out to Allan Tait on the left wing. Tait appeared to be in an offside position but no flag was forthcoming and Tait was allowed to advance upfield before squaring the ball to Burns who could not miss from close range.
As the game moved towards the break Peacock and Adrian Stone both saw headers go wide and then it wasn’t until the 70th minute that Maidstone vaguely threatened again when this time a neat move ended with Dean Rance’s shot from the edge of the area finding Young’s arms.
Any feint hope The Stones had of getting back into the game were extinguished on 82 minutes when a pass across the back from Peacock unfortunately picked out the unmarked Ryan Hayes and the Dartford winger had time to move towards the area before curling a good finish past Walker.
Maidstone’s miserable afternoon was then compounded four minutes from time when Roland Edge saw red for bringing down substitute Rob Haworth as The Darts player ran towards goal and The Stones will now be desperate to pick up three points in order to move away from the relegation zone when they face Tonbridge on Tuesday night.
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