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After Saturday’s disappointing showing against Sutton Maidstone United fans might have thought that their poor season could not get any worse. But those who braved the cold at Folkestone soon discovered that it was possible for The Stones to plunge to a new low after an embarrassing performance against one of their relegation rivals.
This was Maidstone’s seventh defeat in eight games and once again their defending from set pieces was shocking. With matches running out it seems unlikely that The Stones will escape relegation this season and with fixtures against Lowestoft and Tonbridge coming up, it is difficult to see Maidstone putting an end to this dreadful run of form at any point soon.
It was The Stones who had the first chance of the evening as with just one minute played a long ball forward from Cedric Abraham picked out Danny Hockton who shot just wide.
Then on 12 minutes a corner from Colin Richmond was met by Hockton who powered his header past the left hand post.
The play then swung to the other end and with 13 minutes played Folkestone took the lead when a mistake from Reis Boyle let in James Everitt who lashed the ball past the stranded Andy Walker.
Eleven minutes later Hockton saw a shot from a tight angle blocked and then he had an even better chance on 31 minutes when Gary Wharton found him in plenty of space inside the box but Hockton’s shot hit a patch of mud and diverted wide of the goal.
Unfortunately for Maidstone though they fell even further behind on 38 minutes when they yet again conceded from a corner. This time Darren Smith’s ball into the box was headed downwards and Walker made a good save only for the ball to stick in the mud givingFrankie Chappell the simple task of finding the net.
The Stones started the second half strongly and had a number of good chances to get back into the game. On 48 minutes Jay Saunders headed the ball into the path of Wharton who worked the ball into Alex Flisher only for the Maidstone player to lean back and blaze the opportunity over the bar.
Two minutes later a corner from Flisher reached Saunders in a central position and his header should have found the net but it whistled over before Nathan Paul hit the right hand post from a tight angle.
On 56 minutes another corner from Darren Smith caused havoc in The Stones’ defence and during the process the home side had a strong appeal for a penalty waved away.
At the other end a low shot from substitute Tommy Whitnell was well saved by Jack Delo and then on 63 minutes a good ball from Abraham put Hockton in on goal only for the Maidstone striker to curl his shot wide of the left hand post.
After being on the back foot for a short spell Folkestone soon began to assert themselves once more and on 75 minutes they added a third when yet again a ball into the box was not dealt with by the Maidstone defence enabling James Everitt to add his second goal of the evening.
Six minutes from time Delo tipped a shot from Richmond over the bar but unfortunately for The Stones there was still time for them to be further embarrassed as on 86 minutes they once again failed to defend a corner and Chappell powered his header past Walker.
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