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The Stones’ regular pre-season visit to Rede Court Road to play Bly Spartans of the Kent County League this year produced a feisty contest littered with full bloodied challenges from both teams.
The much improved ground has seen the installation of floodlight pylons and an improvement to both the club house and the dressing rooms as Spartans prepare themselves for possible involvement in next season’s new Kent Step 6 league. The addition of lights to the newly installed pylons and hard standing around the pitch perimeter will no doubt follow in the near future but the club should be applauded for attempting to improve the facilities at their smart ground in an attempt to raise the standards of their club.
This fixture sees the Hume brothers come face to face as managers and as expected the determination to achieve a success over the other sibling is never far from the surface of this keenly contested fixture. There were plenty of Maidstone United connections in the Bly set up. Glen Cooke acts as Matt Hume’s assistant whilst on the pitch midfielder Matt Nicholl and formers fans favourite Steve Marshall are key components of Spartans’ playing line up.
The Stones dominated the early stages of the game with the majority of the possession and they peppered the home goal with efforts. The cross bar was struck and the keeper made several scrambling saves. Despite the heavy early pressure it took the visitors 41 minutes to break the deadlock when James Peacock headed home from close range from a corner kick. The goal followed a disjointed spell in the game with some fierce challenges being meted out and one bad challenge in particular, on Alan Pouton, caused an outbreak of handbags as around a dozen players engaged in some push and shove, with the most notable moment being where referee Saul Kay, in pulling one of the Bly players away from the situation, inadvertently threw the player to the floor!
The referee did well not to issue an abundance of cards as the match went on and by the time full time was reached it was only Stones’ Lhueureux Menga who was booked after a series of robust challenges throughout the second half.
The Stones, with a smattering of trialists on show in the second half showed promise early on but lost some of their cohesiveness after the home side equalised in the 73 rd minute. Miscommunication between James Peacock and Jay Saunders allowed striker Charlie Almond to win the ball 30 yards from goal. After a couple of touches to steady himself, Almond then produced an exquisite chip from 25 yards out that beat Jamie Turner in the Maidstone goal.
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Bly Spartans: Charlie Almond 73
Maidstone United: James Peacock 41
Maidstone United 1st Half: Jamie Turner, Nathan Paul, Ashley Ulph, Alan Pouton, James Peacock, Tom Parkinson, Roland Edge, Jay Saunders, James Pinnock, Keelan Mooney, Dan Stubbs.
Maidstone United 2nd Half: Jamie Turner, Steve Elliott, Tom Parkinson, Jay Saunders, James Peacock, Sam Cutler, Ant Bodle, Nick Barnes, Ash Dann, Lheureux Menga, Jimmy Bottle
Coming Soon...
Starts 15 August
Pictures from Steve Terrell
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