24th February 2006. 10.30am

With the postponement of last nights game at VCD Athletic, the team now go into the big showdown with Whitstabe this weekend with Craig Roser back in the squad. However, with the end of the season just 2 months away, it does mean that the fixtures are beginning to pile up. But Walker remained upbeat; "We have a strong squad with enough strength and depth for a busy run in, but it's the same every season in football and the players are prepared for it. We've also been very lucky in terms of injuries this season and touch wood that will continue."

With Whitstable also pushing for promotion this season, this weekends encounter is a big game for both sides but Walker remained confident in his squads ability to win this game; "Man for man I believe we have the better side and I can't see them been stronger than us so it's down to the attitude of the players on the day. We've seen in the past that the players react well to these big games and they will be reminded again that they will need to be performing at 100% this weekend. Whitstable do have their threats, particularly with Steve Marshall who is both quick and good on the set pieces, but if we knuckle down and do the job, this is a game we can win."

As mentioned earlier in the week, Nick Hegley will not be available at the weekend due to a long standing family commitment so Hume and Walker have several options open to them to cover for Hegley including playing Lee Sperring, who put in a solid performance against Slade Green last week playing in that position. Apart from that the squad remains at full strength and the players will be hoping to benefit from the backing of a big crowd at the weekend too, so make sure you're there on Saturday for what promises to be an exciting game.

22nd February 2006. 4.00pm

Speaking ahead of our trip to Harrow Meadow tomorrow to face VCD Athletic, Alan Walker was hoping the Stones could stretch their winning run after a hard fought victory on Saturday; "Up until the sending off I though we looked comfortable and should have been 3 or 4 goals up by half-time. Lee Sperring worked well on the wing creating space for Mo and Lynden. We knew Nick Hegley would not be available for the game with Whitstable, so it was important for Lee to get some match practice in that position before the Whitstable game and he responded well. But Aaron Lacy let us down with a moment of madness and he knows that he will probably face a lengthy ban. But if we look back to last season, this was a side we struggled to come to terms with so we can take heart from that and see how far this squad has progressed."

Looking forward to tomorrow's game, Walker was once again confident in his squad's abilities to go out and get a result; "We've played them twice in the League Cup each side winning the away fixture so it's difficult to draw any conclusions from that but we know where their dangers are, Paul Foley at set pieces and the return of Richard Dimmock to name but two. But we have a full strength side a go into the game confident of the 3 points."

The only omission from the squad will be Craig Roser who has a personal commitment and Jason Barton will be brought in to cover with Walker confident this would have little impact on the squad; "Barts has played well when he's come on as substitute and as far as I'm concerned we are still playing at full strength despite Craig missing from the squad. We'll also have to decide whether to give Lee Sperring more time in the starting line up so he is fully fit for Saturday's game, although Nick is available for Thursday's game too."

Victory will put the Stones 5 point clear in the championship race as Beckenham's midweek game fell foul of the weather on Tuesday night. Walker felt this could play into the Stones' hands: "To go 5 points clear would give us a slight psychological advantage, I would always rather have the points in the bag to games in hand, but it will also give us added confidence particularly with some tough games ahead."

21st February 2006. 10.00pm

The Stones have seen a resurgence in their popularity as they push towards promotion this season with crowds up nearly 20% on last season. Averaging 293 per league game this falls just short of our record average of 298 set in our first season in the Kent League.

These numbers put us in amongst the best supported teams in Kent, beating many clubs from the leagues above us including Dartford, Ramsgate, Chatham and even our landlords Sittingbourne. With the visit of Whitstable at the weekend to Bourne Park another big crowd is expected for this top of the table clash and should our attendance pass 370 our average crowd will hit 300 so make sure you're there for this game. You can also do you bit to promote this match by downloading a matchday poster and displaying it in you local bar/shop/living room window. CLICK HERE for the match day posters' page and lets get a bumper crowd in for Saturday and maybe even break our league attendance record of 434!

The growing popularity of the club is also matched by the growing popularity of the website which has witnessed a similar increase in hits as more and more people log on to follow the progress of the Stones helped by features such as regular news, live matchday commentary, unique to our league and in depth stats both on our stats page and the new format interactive league table.

20th February 2006. 10.00pm

The Kent League have confirmed the dates for the Premier Division Cup Semi-Final with Hythe Town.

The two-legged Semi-Final will see the away leg take place at Hythe on Tuesday 7th March KO 7.45pm, with the return leg taking place the following Wednesday 15th March at Bourne Park KO 7.45pm. The fixtures have meant that our scheduled game against Deal Town on 8th March has now been put back to Wednesday 29th March KO 7.45pm.

Following on from Lynden Rowland reaching 50 goals for the Stones, Takaloo's second goal on the day marked another landmark for the Stones as we reached 100 goals in all competitions this season. For a breakdown of scorers see the STATS PAGE

19th February 2006. 2.00pm

Since first joining The Stones from Tonbridge Angels at Christmas 2003 Lynden Rowland has played (in two spells) 79 times for the club plus he has made a further 7 substitute appearances. His goal against Slade Green was his 50th for the club giving him a strike average of a goal every 1.72 games.

Rowly's 1st goal for Maidstone was in a 4-0 victory against Lordswood at Bourne Park on 27th December 2003. He has also scored three hattricks.

One in the league against Thamesmead Town, and two in FA Vase ties, last season against AFC Totton and versus Eastbourne Town this season..

Here's to the next 50 goals Lynden!

Meanwhile the draw for the semi-finals of the League Cup took place on Saturday and Stones have been drawn against Hythe Town. The semi-final takes place over two legs which will take place midweek during March although the dates have still to be confirmed by the league. The first leg will take place at Hythe.

Finally, the 400 Club draw took place at the weekend and the results are now online. CLICK HERE

16th February 2006. 8.00pm

Stones coach Alan Walker spoke to the website ahead of Saturday's away trip to Slade Green to give us his thoughts on the game and the latest team news.

The Beckenham game was a very tough game for us, not particularly in a physical sense but mentally. I now think that the squad we have got have 'come of age' in this respect. Last season we had games against some of the less strong opposition that some of our squad approached with an indifferent attitude, wrongly assuming that we would win because the other side's league position wasn't great. Well, we appear to be over that now and this Saturday's game will be a good test of that. It was easy for our players to get 'up' for the Beckenham game. We'll be looking for our squad to be just as 'up' for Slade Green as well.

We mustn't forget what happened last season at Slade Green. We were 3-0 down and if it wasn't for Jimmy Strouts scoring in stoppage time we would have been fairly and squarely beaten. Just remembering that performance should be reminder enough to our players that this game will be a battle. Slade Green will be at us straight from the start and will, like so many other sides, raise their game against us.

This week's team news is both good and bad. Sadly, it looks like Mario Celaire could miss the game with badly bruised ribs. He had an enormous game for us against Beckenham and he underwent an x-ray on the damage this week. He doesn't have any break or fracture but his movement is restricted at present.

Lee Sperring missed training on Wednesday because of a slight groin pull. Bearing in mind that Lee was out for almost a month just a few weeks back, we'll probably not risk him this weekend. That's a shame for him because he's been in awesome form and he was in with a chance of a starting place against Slade Green.

The good news on the injury front is that Jimmy Strouts will be available to the squad. He has been suffering with a painful back problem but he did a full training session on Wednesday night and as of Thursday afternoon, he has not shown any negative reaction. As I said last week, Jimmy will run through a brick wall for this club and if we can get him on the bench this week that'll be a massive plus for us.

9th February 2006. 10.00pm

Looking forward to this weekend' s League Cup quarter-final against Beckenham Town, Alan Walker stressed that The Stones would be going all out to win the tie. "As in any game that I've ever been involved in, I definitely want my side to win. There is no point in stepping out onto the pitch if you do not have the mindset to win a game."

"Lloyd and myself will be playing our strongest possible side and it will probably be the eleven that started last weeekend in our 5-0 win against Sevenoaks."

"Our only injury worry is Jimmy Strouts. He had some bad news from his scan this week and we fear that he may have a prolapsed disc in his back. Whether Jimmy will be able to get over this painful injury before the end of his season is questionable but knowing Jimmy as we do, he'll be prepared to run through a brick wall for this club, so we won't rule him out entirely just yet."

Walker finished by saying "Obviously, this game is not as important as any of our remaining league fixtures but a win for either side on Saturday will put down an important psychological marker for the remainder of the season, especially with the big league fixture between the two clubs due for 25th March."

Supporters are reminded that Saturday's quarter-final is to be played to a finish with no provision for a replay in place. Therefore, if required, there will be extra time and penalties to decide who goes through to the two legged semi finals in March.

Tunbridge Wells manager Martin Farnie has made another raid on The Stones playing squad. A month ago he signed defender Gary Hemens and now joining him at Culverden Stadium is midfielder Matt Nicholl. Nicholl only had limited opportunities with the club in the earlier part of the season, playing mostly as a sweeping midfielder before the team reverted from a three man defence to a back four. He has played most of his football this season at Snodland in the Kent County League as part of the arrangement between brothers and managers Lloyd and Matt Hume. The club wishes Matt the very best of luck at Tunbridge Wells for the remainder of this season.

Chairman Paul Bowden-Brown held a meeting with officials from the Football Association on Thursday afternoon with regards to the club's application for consideration for promotion from Step 5 to Step 4.

Various aspects of the future of Maidstone United were discussed at the meeting, including the club's move back to Maidstone and arrangements for an official Ground Grading visit to Bourne Park within the next month.

All of the discussions undertaken left the club with grounds for optimism, as the meeting gave Paul Bowden-Brown the opportunity to make enquiries of the FA in regard to some of the finer points of ground relocation and ground grading in particular.

As and when the club receives any further news, we will let you all know.

3rd February 2006. 1.00pm

Coach Alan Walker was once again pleased with last weeks performance as it gave himself and Lloyd another opportunity to look at the fringe players in the squad play against a competitive Deal Town side. "It has given us more food for thought about our preferred eleven and there were some good performance particularly from Lee Sperring. It also gave Scott Lindsay another full 90 minutes which he needed after being out of the game since Christmas. But myself and Lloyd now who our preferred eleven are and barring injuries that's the team we will put out on Saturday."

Walker was under no illusions that our opponents on Saturday would be an easy game. "The lads know that if you don't give 100% you will get punished in the league, with Lordswood proving that against us, so we'll be reminding the players that we expect nothing less than 100% on Saturday. We know that's what Sevenoaks will be giving and their manager who worked with me at Tonbridge will be demanding that from his players, but if we match that commitment, it should see us through."

With Stones still holding top spot in the league thanks to last weekends results, Walker was still expecting a few more twists before the end of the season; "My gut feeling is that this year is going to the wire with still plenty of twists and turns to come. I certainly think Beckenham will suffer defeat again, but there are no guarantees in this game and the likelihood is that we will drop points too with us still to play the likes of Whitstable, Thamesmead and VCD. But with the squad we have, many of them know the pressure of the final few weeks of a season when your fighting for promotion and Lloyd and myself have been in that position many times before. Beckenham have a very young squad who have yet to experience this kind of pressure so it will be interesting to see how they react to the pressure."

The team news for Saturday is that Lloyd will have a very strong squad available with only Jimmy Strouts set to miss out with a back injury. Sam Tydeman should be fit for Saturday as should Craig Roser who picked up an ankle injury last weekend.

Finally could we make another appeal to all fans yet to join the 400 Club to join the scheme which provides essential revenue for the club both on and off the pitch. There are some great cash prizes on offer with last months jackpot reaching £170 which costs from just £10 a month. Please CLICK HERE and join up today.

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