Maidstone United manager Jay Saunders thought his side had produced an almost perfect first half performance, as the Stones went in three up against EFL Two Cheltenham Town.
Despite a red card apiece, and almost constant pressure on their goal in the second half, the Stones held on to record a 4-2 win and take their place in the hat on Monday evening.
Delano Sam-Yorke opened the scoring in the 20th minute with a deft header, and less than 30 seconds of playing time had passed before Joe Pigott doubled the advantage with a low shot. Zavon Hines’ delicate lob made it three before the interval as the Stones dominated a team 14 places above them in the league pyramid.
A more forthright Chelmsford team came out in the second half and Kevin Dawson’s header gave the Robins some hope, but Sam-Yorke drove in a response just over a minute later to restore Maidstone’s lead. However, Sam-Yorke saw the red mist descend moments later, reducing the Stones to ten men and when Alex Finney inadvertently diverted a save from Lee Worgan back into his own net, the home side thought it was game on again.
Constant pressure with no end result eventually led to frustration getting to Dawson, whose reckless lunge on Worgan saw him become the second player dismissed, and he was followed by his manager, Gary Johnson, whose discussions with the officials threatened to boil over.
The early exchanges saw chances at both ends. Stuart Lewis had two shots blocked as Cheltenham’s defence struggled to clear their lines with some lazy passing, while Zavon Hines curled a shot over from an acute angle when the Robins’ couldn’t cope with Alex Wynter’s back post header. It wasn’t just the home defence having to be alert as the former Greenwich Borough forward Mohammed Eisa saw a presentable shot blocked by Alex Finney, before Eisa skied a shot from outside the box.
Maidstone earned a series of corners down the left side, from which Delano Sam-Yorke, Lewis and Joe Pigott all had half-chances blocked, before the visitor’s building pressure made the breakthrough after 20 minutes.
The opening goal came from Cheltenham counter-attacking with numbers from another Maidstone corner. Joe Anderson broke up the attack on the edge of the box, shimmied past a second player and released Hines on the left. The ball was worked across the pitch to Seth Nana Twumasi, who Cheltenham manager Gary Johnson had tried to sign last season. Twumasi’s curling left foot cross was glanced over his shoulder by Sam-Yorke, over a stranded Scott Flinders and into the left corner.
If that got the travelling Maidstone army out of their seats in the Hazlewoods Stand behind Flinders’ goal, they were sent into raptures less than 30 seconds later. Maidstone won the ball back immediately and one long ball over the Cheltenham defence saw Pigott hold off the challenge of Taylor Moore to slot a composed shot under Flinders. The striker’s slide celebration showed he enjoyed the result as much as the supporters behind the goal.
Cheltenham responded with a double substitution after half an hour to revert to the 4-3-3 formation that earned them a point at Wycombe Wanderers last week. The changes made the Robins a very tall team, and they tried to capitalise from free kicks from the wing, but there was always an amber shirt making a block when required.
On 43, Flinders played a free kick into the Maidstone area, where Reece Prestedge threw himself in the way of Joe Morrell’s shot and the ball bounced out to the right back position. Jai Reason launched a long ball over the two Robins’ defenders to find Hines bursting in behind. Hines took one touch to put the ball into his path, then clipped a delightful lob over the advancing Flinders to put the Stones 3-0 up for half-time.
Gary Johnson sent his team out a good 5 minutes early after the interval and the Cheltenham players were clearly fired up. Seth Nana Twumasi was fortunate not to receive a second yellow card for an agricultural challenge on Eisa – he was replaced by Magnus Okuonghae soon after to avoid the Stones’ being reduced to 10 men. In the meantime, Cheltenham gained a foothold in the game when Eisa teased Finney on the right side of the box before picking out Kevin Dawson who headed into an unguarded net.
As in the first half, one goal brought two, but it was Maidstone who restored their three goal advantage. Pigott broke quickly from halfway towards the Cheltenham box. Pigott squared a pass to his strike partner, Sam-Yorke, who powered through Jordan Cranston’s tackle, and stabbed a shot into the top left corner, that Flinders’ despairing hand couldn’t keep out.
Sam-Yorke though went from hero to villain within seconds as he was dismissed for an apparently late challenge on the left touchline on Eisa. This gave a fresh impetus to the home side, who threw bodies forward. William Boyle found space in the Stones’ area to head over as the visitors suddenly looked nervous, and just past the hour, Cheltenham brought the deficit back to two. Poor defending allowed Brian Graham a free header, which Lee Worgan did well to block with his legs, but the ball rebounded off the back of the unfortunate Finney past the prone goalkeeper.
Against 10 men, the red & white stripes streamed forward. Both Pell and Danny Wright had headers fly over as the Stones’ defence dropped deeper and deeper. Pigott did have a half-chance, following a one-on-one with Jamie Grimes, but his eventual shot cleared the crossbar.
Lee Worgan was suddenly the busiest man on the park. The Stones’ keeper was able to watch a Wright header skim the top of the bar, before being forced into saves from Graham, and an acrobatic tip over to deny a header from Pell.
The frustrations of the Cheltenham players surfaced with ten minutes remaining as Pell became the second player dismissed by Mr Johnson, although his lunge into Worgan’s standing leg left the keeper on the ground for a number of minutes. Cheltenham manager Gary Johnson soon followed for his protestations to the assistant referee and fourth official.
Fortunately for the Stones, Worgan was able to continue and came to his side’s rescue when Grimes found Eisa unmarked in the middle of the box. Eisa turned and his shot was struck against Worgan’s outstretched right leg and Cheltenham’s last chance went begging.
Now that the numbers were evened up again, there were fewer attacks from the home side, and Maidstone could have made the closing minutes a lot more comfortable had Hines rolled a pass back to Jamar Loza, rather than drill a shot against the chest of Flinders, and Tom Wraight aimed more towards the corner, but in the end it didn’t matter.
Maidstone can now look forward to the Second Round draw, knowing they have matched their achievements from three years ago, when they beat Stevenage as a Ryman Premier side.
CHELTENHAM TOWN: 24- Scott Flinders; 11- Carl Winchester, 28- Taylor Moore (15- William Boyle 30), 2- Jamie Grimes, 3- Jordan Cranston; 8- Kevin Dawson , 4- Kyle Storer (9- Danny Wright 30), 7- Harry Pell, 25- Joe Morrell (17- Jerell Sellars 55); 21- Brian Graham, 20- Mohammed Eisa.
Subs not used: 1- Jonathan Flatt (gk), 14- Daniel O’Shaughnessy, 18- Matthew Bower, 27- Freddie Hinds.
Goals: Kevin Dawson 49, Alex Finney (og) 61
Cautions: Harry Pell 45+3, Jerell Sellars 67, William Boyle 90+5
Dismissed: Kevin Dawson 79
MAIDSTONE UNITED: 1- Lee Worgan; 16- Seth Nana Twumasi (6- Magnus Okuongha 55), 5- Ales Wynter, 3- Alex Finney, 13- Joe Anderson; 8- Stuart Lewis, 4- Reece Prestedge, 14- Jai Reason (11- Tom Wraight 81); 27- Zavon Hines, 32- Joe Pigott (7- Jamar Loza 84), 9- Delano Sam-Yorke.
Subs not used: 12- Oliver Muldoon, 20- Tommy Taylor (gk), 21- Harry Phipps, 22- Johan ter Horst.
Goals: Delano Sam-Yorke 20 & 54, Joe Pigott 21, Zavon Hines 43
Cautions: Stuart Lewis 35, Seth Nana Twumasi 41,
Dismissed: Delano Sam-Yorke 57
Attendance: 2,799 (548 away)
Referee: Mr Kevin Johnson
Assistants: Mr Abbas Khan and Mr Simon Knapp
Fourth Official: Mr Darren Wilding