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There was to be no New Year cheer for Maidstone United fans who braved the cold to see The Stones play for the first time in three weeks as another poor performance from the home side saw them slump to their tenth defeat of the season.
And to make matters even worse for The Stones, just like in the corresponding fixture on 2nd January 2010, James Peacock was sent off for picking up two bookings in his first appearance since early November.
Margate were the better side from the start and with just one minute played, former Stones midfielder Dan Stubbs placed his header wide of the right hand post.
Four minutes later, two other ex Maidstone favourites were involved in a Margate move as Aaron Lacy’s throw into the box came to James Pinnock who failed to trouble Andy Walker with his shot.
Then on 13 minutes it looked certain that Stubbs would score only for Cedric Abraham to make a superb stop on the line and divert the ball over the bar.
From the resultant corner taken by Wayne Wilson, Margate had two loud penalty appeals waved away and then shortly afterwards, Wilson himself went close when his free-kick from 35 yards was expertly tipped over by Walker.
However, Margate’s dominance finally paid off on 17 minutes when another dangerous corner from Wilson appeared to be handled on the line by Tom Parkinson and The Gate’s leading marksman Shaun Welford confidently lashed in the penalty.
It wasn’t until the 29th minute that The Stones finally threatened when Tony Boot put Paul Vines in but his scuffed effort trickled past the far post and then at the other end, Walker kept Maidstone in the game with another fine save to this time deny Welford.
Despite being second best for the whole of the first period, The Stones could have gone in at the break on level terms. With 45 minutes played, Boot got in behind the Margate defence and unselfishly squared the ball to Colin Richmond. However, as Richmond went to shoot it appeared that he was fouled by Sam Groombridge but the referee, Mr Hatzidakis, was unimpressed with appeals for a penalty.
The Stones improved slightly after the break and on 49 minutes a quick free-kick from Richmond released Vines who put the ball wide of the right hand post and then eleven minutes later, Margate should have stretched their lead but Welford headed an excellent cross from Stubbs wide.
Walker once again came to Maidstone’s rescue on 69 minutes when he made a good stop to deny Stubbs but The Stones’ keeper could do nothing to prevent Pinnock scoring a second in stoppage time and then Peacock saw red to compound another miserable afternoon for the home side.
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