After the floods that had put the game in doubt up to this morning, Maidstone United brought some Christmas cheer to the county town with a convincing 4 – 0 victory over Margate; the Stones’ first home victory over their East Kent visitors since reforming.
Three goals devasting 15-minute spell at the end of the first half saw the Stones virtually seal the match, as Zac Attwood scored against his old club to separate the teams. Alex Brown’s thumping finish and Frannie Collin’s 20th of the season saw the home side receive a thunderous reception at the break.
Although Margate upped their work rate in the second half, they were guilty of too many basic errors. While Lee Worgan was never truly threatened, Ashley Miller rounded off a professional team performance with his first goal for the club as all three replacements combined in the closing minutes.
Maidstone’s manager, Jay Saunders was a contented man who praised his team after the game. He said “It was important that we scored a few today as we haven’t had much luck in front of goal recently. We could have had another couple, so we’ve got to be happy. The problem with the 3 – 0 lead at the half is that there is a tendency to sit back, and I stressed that we had to be hard to beat, hard to break down and we would continue to get chances. There haven’t been many times this year we’ve come in with a comfortable lead.”
“I was told it was something like 2 years since we’d last lost consecutive games, and I think if we’d taken chances in those games it could have been different. But it was important to bounce back, which we’ve done today, we’ve put three points on the board and there were some really good performances. I don’t want to single anyone out, but I thought 17-year old Dan Parkinson did well in front of a crowd that size for the first time and put in a really accomplished performance.”
Meanwhile his opposite number, Terry Brown in only his third game in charge of Margate, saw none of the fighting qualities that had seen his side rescue a point against Hampton and Richmond Borough in horrendous conditions five days earlier, calling this “a nightmare performance.” He added, “There wasn’t much I could like about it. Defensively we were all over the place. I could use the excuse that we’ve only had one real training session together, but I would expect the players that were out there to have done better today.”
“I don’t think there was a lot in it early on, but we’ve gifted them the first two goals. They were worthy winners at 4 – 0 and it could have been more. We spoke about keeping clean sheets and since I’ve been here, it has been getting worse. We’ve got to stop haemorrhaging goals before we can worry about shapes, patterns or how you’re going to play football. We weren’t good enough anywhere today; there wasn’t one area that we competed.”
“We seem to be playing games with no training at the moment, but coming in as a senior manager, I would have expected to have seen a response from the players and I haven’t seen that. Collectively, and that includes the management team since I’ve been here, we haven’t been good enough. There’s been a lack of desire, a lack of will and I need to see a lot more from this group against Enfield and Thamesmead, and neither game will be easy after that performance today.”
The tone for the match was set in the opening exchanges, as the usually reliable Matt Bodkin was robbed by Alex Flisher deep in his own half, and the winger’s cross eventually fell to Collin, who volleyed over. Nathan Campbell had a chance moments later from a Flisher freekick, but his effort was blocked by a tangle of Margate legs.
It wasn’t all one-way pressure though. Mr Saily, who had an outstanding game controlling this derby match, allowed a number of shoulder-to-shoulder challenges in the midfield, with the ball breaking to Rashid Yussuff, whose scuffed shot almost fell to Phil Walsh as it rolled across the face of goal. Bodkin drew Worgan’s only real save from a quick throw, but the Stones’ keeper did well to hold a fierce shot from a tight angle.
Graeme Andrews and Jack Parkinson were working manfully to keep Margate’s leading scorer Walsh quiet, but were also getting the freedom to build from the back. Parkinson’s delightful ball up the right touchline to Attwood won the home side a corner, from which Tom Mills and Brown found Collin, but the forward’s shot on the turn was inches past the left post.
Worgan had to save a Walsh header, unaware that the offside flag had been raised, but the home side finally took control on the half hour as Attwood calmly beat Craig Holloway one-on-one to register his 11th goal since moving from Hartsdown Park at the beginning of September. Parkinson’s flighted clearance deceived Richard Avery allowing Attwood to outmuscle his marker, run into the area, before sliding the ball under Holloway’s attempt to block.
Flisher and Jack Sammoutis both missed good chances in front of goal before Brown doubled the lead on 39. Another raking crossfield ball from Jack Parkinson found Flisher on the left wing. His touch allowed Mills to burst into the area where Avery blocked Attwood’s shot. The ball rebounded to Brown, who took a touch to beat Wayne Wilson, then blast a rocket of a shot through a number of bodies, with the unsighted Holloway unable to react.
Bodkin had a 30-yard freekick saved comfortably by Worgan in the closing moments of the half, but there was still time for Maidstone to score a third, and nearly a fourth before the interval. Margate’s defence was sliced apart by a quick passing move in stoppage time as Mills laid the ball in behind Collin. Attwood was quickest to react and fed the ball back to his strike partner, for Collin to sweep the ball home of the inside of the left post.
Within seconds of the restart, Attwood won the ball from Jamie Stuart inside the Margate half and Rory Hill drove through two tackles, but his shot could only find the outside of the side netting.
Margate made a change at the interval and for a while looked to be finding a foothold in the game with Maidstone happy to sit back and absorb the pressure. Hill and Brown exchanged a one-two on a counter attack and Hill’s cross saw Collin’s shot block by replacement Gary Borrowdale. In reply, Dan Parkinson was quickly in from right back to deny Walsh a sight of goal.
The visitors’ revival didn’t last as their game continued to be littered with errors. Within a minute, the difference in attitude between the teams was highlighted by Nathan Campbell chasing back to retrieve his sliced clearance, whereas a Stuart crossfield ball gave his fullback little chance to recover.
Charles Ademeno somehow put a shot nearer the right corner flag than the goal and Avery had a good chance slide wide with a volley, but whenever Margate broke into the Maidstone half, there always seemed to be an amber leg making a timely interception.
The game was put beyond doubt with 6 minutes left as Ashley Miller came off the bench to claim his first goal for the Stones. Fellow replacements Jack Harris and Charley Robertson were involved as the ball was moved quickly from left to right. Miller weaved his way past three defenders to the edge of the visitor’s area. He laid the ball to Robertson, who burst past another defender and fired a shot that bounded off the inside of both posts. Miller reacted quickest to the rebound to fire a shot beyond Holloway.
Harris had a chance to open his account. Having outpaced Stuart, his shot was blocked by Ryan Dobly, covering behind Holloway, and Andrews had to stretch every sinew to head away from Bodkin as Margate finally put a passing move together.
But the 4 – 0 scoreline was deserved as Maidstone recovered from back-to-back defeats and stay in touch with the promotion chase.
MAIDSTONE UNITED: Lee Worgan, Dan Parkinson, Tom Mills, Nathan Campbell, Graeme Andrews, Alex Brown, Rory Hill (Ashley Miller 80), Jack Parkinson, Zac Attwood (Charley Robertson 82), Frannie Collin (Jack Harris 75), Alex Flisher.
Subs not used: Fabio Saraiva, Charlie Mitten.
Goals: Zac Attwood 30, Alex Brown 39, Frannie Collin 45, Ashley Miller 84.
MARGATE: Craig Holloway, Elliott Cox, Ryan Dolby, Wayne Wilson (Gary Borrowdale 46), Jamie Stuart, Richard Avery, Matt Bodkin, Jack Sammoutis (Charles Ademeno 60), Phil Walsh, Dean McDonald (Moses Ashikodi 70), Rashid Yussuff.
Subs not used: Warren Whiteley, Scott Kinch.
Booking: Wayne Wilson 29.
Attendance: 2,002
Referee: Mr O Saily
Assistants: Mr J MacLeod, and Mr D Johnston