Maidstone United crashed out of the FA Carlsberg Trophy on an afternoon to forget in shivering Wiltshire.
 
Behind inside the first minute, The Stones then found themselves a man down by the half hour when James Peacock was controversially the only player sent off following a melee, before conceding a second shortly after half time.
 
The gulf in class between the full timers from Wiltshire and the part time Stones was clearly evident, but you can’t but wonder what would have happened if Crawley referee Warren Atkin had seen the 26th minute melee that saw Peacock dismissed slightly differently. 
 
The opening goal will haunt the Stones for a long time to come.  Matt Tubbs, who was to play such an integral role in the afternoon, broke free down the right, and his deep cross found Bradley Gray unmarked at the far post, and with all the time in the world and effectively the freedom of Wiltshire let alone Salisbury, the left winger duly despatched his ninth goal of the season past a motionless and defenceless Jamie Turner in the Stones goal.
 
Tubbs the brought the best of Turner with a free kick which the giant stopper only just reached before the game took a sinister turn.  Peacock’s tackle on Tubbs earned him a red card.
 
The sending off and the injustice of being a man short finally kick started the Stones, and Hawkins was only denied by a last ditch lunge whilst Jay Saunders shot straight at keeper James Britnell.
 
If the Stones felt any injustice into Tubbs still being on the pitch at the start of the second half, the Salisbury striker really did rub Maidstone noses in it as he was on hand, six minutes after half time to tap home his 20th goal of the season after Turner had made a fine save to deny Darrell Clarke.
 
Nathan Paul then had a golden chance to pull one back but could only head straight at the keeper from Roland Edge's long free kick. On 64 minutes came another key incident.  Stuart Anderson clearly led with an arm in a challenge with Parkinson that led the Maidstone defender needing treatment. Anderson was only shown a yellow card.
 
Tubbs could have netted another but for a combination of Turner and Hawkins, and Gray could have helped himself to a second but for Turner’s fine late stop.

Some games live long in the memory - the memory of this one sadly started fading before the exit to the car park was reached!

Salisbury City: Bradley Gray 1, Matt Tubbs 51

Maidstone United: -

Salisbury City: James Bittner, Sean Clohessy, Luke Ruddick, Stuart Anderson, Jamie Turley, Robert Sinclair Chris Flood 71), Darrell Clarke, Matt Tubbs (Toby Osman 79), Ben Adelsbury, Bradley Gray, Patrick Cox
Subs Not Used - Ryan O'Hara & Tommy Widdrington

Maidstone United: Jamie Turner, Nathan Paul, Jermaine Darlington (Dean Hernandez Bradshaw 81), Tom Parkinson, Peter Hawkins, James Peacock, Roland Edge, Jay Saunders, James Pinnock (Gabriel Odunaike 76), Danny Hockton (Lynden Rowland 68), Nick Barnes
Subs Not Used - Ant Bodle & Richard Knell

Man of the Match

Pictures from Steve Terrell