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The Stones travelled to
Thanet for their final pre-season fixture against Ramsgate
today. The game was played in temperatures in the mid
to high 70s on pitch with a good surface but totally
without shade.
The visitors were without Tom Parkinson (flu), Shannon
O'Donovan (nose op), James Peacock and Nick Barnes (both
at work) and this necessitated Jay Saunders to play
at centre back and Roland Edge at right back. On the
plus side, Ant Bodle and Dan Stubbs were both given
the opportunity to play a full 90 minutes in midfield.
The young Ramsgate side started well and Jamie Turner,
who was returning to his previous club was forced into
two decent early saves. In the 17th minute a long ball
over the top eluded Ashley Ulph and Ben Brown moved
in behind the defender and hammered a strong shot towards
goal. Turner got two strong hands to the shot to parry
the ball away.
Ten minutes later Brown was again thwarted by Turner
as he dived low to his right to stop another powerful
effort. Gary Mickelborough was following up and his
shot was stopped just short of goal by the chest of
Saunders who had done well to cover the goal following
Turner's first save.
Within three minutes The Stones had gone ahead. A straightforward
square pass across the Ramsgate midfield was mis-controlled
by Liam Quinn. James Pinnock seized onto the loose ball
and having looked up he chipped home a delightful effort
from around 35 yards out. Keeper Shaun Alliston was
left with no hope of keeping the shot out.
The second half began with The Stones in the ascendancy
and within ten minutes Pinnock had doubled his goal
tally. Ulph had carried the ball forward on the left
flank and moved in towards the edge of the penalty area.
The ball ran to Pinnock and he hit a crisp low shot
from 18 yards which Alliston could only parry into the
bottom corner of the net.
Ramsgate at this point looked as if they had no fight
left in them but they found a second wind in the last
quarter of an hour following a goal from Tom Tsangarides.
A long clearance from a Maidstone attack cleared both
Saunders and Hawkins in the centre of defence. Tsangarides
did well to progress to the edge of the area and as
Turner advanced the striker slotted home low inside
the right hand post.
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