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United booked a second qualifying
round tie at Bognor Regis thanks to a Peter Hawkins
goal deep into the second half of Tuesday night's replay
at Homelands on Tuesday night.
The Stones may not have battered their Ryman North
Division opponents, but they were just about value for
a 1-0 win that wasn't without the occasional alarm.
This was a tie pregnant with possible pitfalls for
the home side, but the crowd of 152, while modest, exceeded
expectations and United could have been at least 1-0
up by half-time.
After 11 minutes Dean Hernandez-Bradshaw was put clean
through by James Peacock, but he was thwarted by Forest
keeper Sam Tanner, who kept his side in the tie deep
into the second half.
Maidstone suffered a blow when Roland Edge limped
off eight minutes before the interval, but otherwise
they shaded matters, despite a failure to create clear-cut
opportunities and two glorious chances for the visitors
either side of the break.
Andre Humphrey-Modeste was inches away with a header
in first half injury time and 12 minutes after the restart
Robert Carter went closer still with a header that bounced
off the turf and came back off the bar.
As the Stones went through the gears Tanner made a
superb double save to deny Matthew Wright in a one-on-one,
before picking himself to tip the rebound from James
Pinnock over the bar.
The breakthrough came in the 69th-minute after a Nick
Barnes free-kick was nearly deflected in for an own
goal. Barnes' resulting corner created mayhem in the
box and the ball finally fell to Hawkins, who couldn't
miss from a yard out.
Forest nearly snatched an equaliser when Carter just
failed to reach Humprhey-Modeste's cross, but therafter
United had the better chances, with sub Ashley Dann
giving a demonstration in the art of chasing lost causes
when he clipped the post after latching on to a clearance
from Jamie Turner that seemed destined to go out for
a goal-kick.
If it wasn't the battering manager Alan Walker had
been hoping for, the result at least ended United's
run of three games without a win and earned the club
some useful prize money.
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