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For the third time in five weeks, Maidstone United faced Cray Wanderers but this time there was to be no repeat of The Stones’ dramatic win in the FA Trophy as The Wands comfortably claimed their second league win over their opponents of the season.
After conceding three goals without reply on Saturday, Maidstone manager Andy Ford will be concerned that The Stones let in a further four goals against Cray and he will be disappointed that Maidstone could not hold onto the lead that they took just before the hour.
On eight minutes a neat Stones move down the left ended with the ball coming back into the middle of the pitch where it was met by debutant Cedric Abraham who saw his shot loop off a Cray defender and just drop over the bar.
There after it was the visitors who had the upper hand and Cray made their dominance pay on 24 minutes when the ball dropped to the unmarked Steve Lozano inside the area and his first time shot flew past the stranded Andy Walker into the bottom left hand side of the net.
One minute later, The Wands had another good opportunity when Tom Mills could not stop the ball reaching Laurent Hamici at the back post who found Danny Phillips but the Cray striker failed to hit the target from close range.
Then on 32 minutes Maidstone equalised when a delightful ball from Alex Flisher picked out Tom Mills on the left. Mills advanced forwards and hit a deep cross which reached Adrian Stone at the back post. Stone’s intital shot was stopped by Dave King and then Colin Richmond saw his shot on the turn blocked before Stone tapped the rebound in at the base of the right hand post.
Just as Cray had enjoyed the best of the early exchanges in the first half it was now Maidstone’s turn to dominate and they should have scored a further two times before the interval. On 34 minutes a fast break from the home side ,which was initiated by a good challenge from Danny Hockton, ended with the Maidstone striker charging up the other end and he saw his side footed effort well stopped by King in the Cray goal.
Five minutes later Sean Johnson found Flisher out on the left with a superb pass and Flisher’s effort was stopped by King before the Maidstone player squared the ball to Richmond who saw his wild shot sail over the bar.
Then on the stroke of half time Richmond poked the ball into Hockton who had the close attention of two Cray defenders and from a tight angle he put the ball wide of the left hand post.
The half time interval seemed to knock the wind out of Maidstone’s sails and they were put under pressure by The Wands as soon as the second half kicked off. Andy Walker was called into action to make two good saves in a goalmouth scramble and then on 48 minutes Ross Lover was allowed too much space down the right hand side and he gave the ball to Danny Phillips who wasted the opportunity.
Two minutes later, Walker kept the scores level as he tipped a rising free-kick from Lover onto the bar and then on 57 minutes Maidstone took the lead against the run of play with a fine goal. Hockton battled hard to win the ball in midfield and he released Flisher down the left hand side who raced to the touchline and delivered a perfect cross for substitute Tommy Whitnell to head the ball into the net with his first touch.
Five minutes later, Johnson picked out Whitnell who ran towards the edge of the area and fired the ball just over the bar.
Unfortunately for The Stones though, Cray drew level on 63 minutes when James Peacock conceded a free-kick which was whipped into the box and former Maidstone player Chris Saunders scored with a brave header.
By now it was the visitors who were dominant once again and on 76 minutes Walker made a good save to deny Phillips but he could do nothing to stop Cray scoring again three minutes later when Lover found Phillips in space inside the box and he smashed the ball into the net.
Eight minutes from time, Joe Vines lost possession and substitute Ebenezer Masade found Laurent Hamici only for the prolific Cray striker to fail to trouble Walker in the Maidstone goal.
However, Hamici made amends for this miss seven minutes from time when he got in behind The Stones’ defence once more and this time he registered his eleventh league goal of the season as he steered the ball past Walker.
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