Maidstone Ladies’ 1st team had a promising weekend at the PLUM tournament, at Holcombe.

They started well against a very good St Albans side, but were unable to stop them taking the lead through a short corner routine.  Maidstone were playing quite well but were unlucky to lose another two goals in quick succession and find themselves 3-0 down.

They were, however by no means outplayed in the second half and managed to grab a late consolation goal through Hannah Durston.  The second game against Barnes saw some promising periods of play from Maidstone, but they were unable to create enough chances and lost the game 2-0.

Sunday morning saw a bright and early start against lower league West Herts, and Maidstone started very brightly.  The movement from the Maidstone forward line began to improve through more match time together, and this produced many more chances.

Jody Goodwin opened the scoring after 5 minutes, before Ellen Vigar did well down the right wing to set up Gemma Newman with her first goal for the first team.  Hannah Durston was able to finish just before half-time to give Maidstone a well-earned 3-0 lead.

The second half was slightly disappointing from a Maidstone point of view, who seemed to take their foot off the gas and allow Wst Herts back into the game.  A series of short corner goals saw them claw 2 goals back, before Jody Goodwin was able to deflect a brilliant pass from Laura Thompson to secure a 4-2 win.

The last game against Old Loughtonians, Maidstone’s opponents in their first league game this Saturday, was the most promising of the weekend.

Maidstone more than held their own against Old Loughts, creating several good chances and pressure on their defence. This paid off after 15 minutes when Lizzie Daniels finished cooly to give them a well deserved lead.  They were unfortunate to concede a goal just before half-time, and then again shortly after the break to go 2-1 down, which remained the final score.

Although results did not quite go their way, the improving performances were promising and Maidstone will go into their first league game, and the National League season, full of confidence.

The Men’s 1st team travelled to Bristol to participate in the UWE (University of West England) tournament over the weekend.

The results were:
Maidstone v Brighton = 2 – 1
Maidstone v Lichfield = 0 – 4
Maidstone v UWE = 1 – 1
Maidstone v Corinthians = 3 – 7
Maidstone v Firebrands = 2 – 3

This Saturday (17th) the Ladies’ 1s start their national league season. The match is at home, against Old Loughtonians starting at 12.30pm.  Everyone welcome.

The Men’s 1s continue their pre-season warm up, with a friendly away to Havering, 14.30.”