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Maidstone United picked up their second point at home in a week but after dominating the until around the hour mark and taking the lead they will be disappointed not to have claimed their first win in four matches.
“It was two points lost,” said Pete Nott after the game. “I said to the boys that was a great opportunity to take three points. We fancied it before the game because they have been on the back end of four defeats. That game should have been a two or three nil and we shouldn’t even be contemplating about whether it was two points dropped.”
The Stones started brightly with Dean Rance in particular looking impressive as Maidstone tried to snatch an early lead. On 10 minutes Charlie Stimson got into a good position in the box and drew Josh Pelling from his goal but Stimson couldn’t get a shot away. Then four minutes later, Stimson lifted a delightful ball into debutant Adrian Stone who squared the ball to Rance and his fierce shot was beaten away by Pelling and Adrian Stone couldn’t capitalise with the rebound.
It wasn’t until the 28 th minute that the visitors threatened when Pat Harding’s shot from the edge of the area curled just wide and then on 34 minutes Steve Sargent slipped the ball into Harding but once again the Horsham striker failed to hit the target.
Six minutes from the break the ball dropped to Rance who was 35 yards from goal and he showed excellent technique to hit a first time shot goalwards only for Pelling to turn the ball wide and then the Horsham keeper was called into action again on 42 minutes to this time deny Stimson.
The Stones continued to look dangerous after the break and on 50 minutes Ashley Ulph surged down the left and saw his deflected cross hit the top of the bar before Maidstone finally opened the scoring three minutes later. There was an air of controversy about the goal as Adrian Stone appeared to robustly win the ball as he raced towards the Horsham area and like Peter Hawkins on Saturday he showed good composure before sending a fine finish past Pelling.
After taking the lead, Maidstone seemed to sit back and it didn’t take long for the visitors to equalise as on 62 minutes Harding gained possession close to the area and drilled the ball past Andy Walker.
By now there was fog swirling round Homelands and it was Horsham who looked the more likely side to score even though Walker was not called into action. However, the visitors should have clinched the win with just four minutes remaining when Chris Riley sent a free-kick into the box and the ball dropped to Harding who was in a great position inside the area but he curled his shot wide with the goal at his mercy.
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Maidstone United: Adrian Stone 53
Horsham: Pat Harding 62
Maidstone United: Andy Walker, Ashley Ulph, Rob Lyall (Antonio Gonella 71), Roland Edge, Peter Hawkins, James Peacock, Mark Corneille, Craig Stone (Ant Bodle 78), Charlie Stimson, Adrian Stone, Dean Rance. Subs Not Used: Lynden Rowland, Alex Tiesse, Richard Knell.
Horsham: Josh Pelling, Chris Riley, James Nicholls (Tony Nwuchukwu 76), Anthony Acheampong, Sam Page, Steve Davies, Steve Sargent, Jack Page, Claude Seanla, Pat Harding, Sam Tucknott. Subs not used: Ian Payne, Adam Hutchings, Pat O’Sullivan, Mark Hawthorne.
Peter Nott
Man of the Match
Pictures from Steve Terrell
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