Maidstone were unable to confirm a play-off place in the Ryman Premier League despite beating Grays at the Gallagher Stadium.

The stones came into their game knowing that they needed to win, as well as hoping that either Dulwich Hamlet or Lowestoft Town lost as before the game, they were in seventh place with three points between them and the play- off places. Knowing that all his team could afford to do was win, Jay Saunders made no changes to his starting line up from his team’s midweek win against Metropolitan Police.

Although Grays came to Kent with very little to play for as they sat comfortably in mid table, they refused to allow Maidstone to have an easy match, within 5 minutes they had their first chance, but after a good run from Jordan Wilson on the right wing, his cross to the near post fell onto the head of Joel Nouble whose attempt went wide of Lee Worgan’s goal.

It was obvious that Maidstone needed a win, from the opening whistle they were putting every opposition player under pressure and this nearly allowed them to score the opening goal, from George Kamurasi’s bad clearance the ball came to Frannie Collin, after looking up to find a way to shoot, he played the ball into the path of Charley Robertson, but the winger’s powerful shot was easily saved by the goalkeeper.

It only took fifteen minutes for Maidstone’s hard work to reward them, after Alex Flisher collected the ball on the left wing after a mistake from Joao Carlos, the winger was able to put a low cross towards the near post, Phil Anderson, the Grays defender went to clear the ball away, only for it to hit the outside of his foot and wildly fly into his own goal to give Maidstone the lead they needed.

The stones continued to attack in the first half, but none of their attacks were able to penetrate the Grays defence, forcing them to take long shots which were easily saved from Kamurasi in the Grays goal.

In the second half the visitors became more dependent on set pieces to get them back into the game, Lee Flynn was obviously the danger man from dead- ball situations and he had plenty of opportunities to get his team back into the game; the first of these came from a free kick from 25 yards out, but Flynn could only curl the ball past Lee Worgan’s left post.

Maidstone had a good opportunity to double their lead soon after, after Jack Harris did well to use his strength to hold the ball up to wait for support, he found Frannie Collin, but the attackers low, powerful shot slammed against the post.

The stones continued to use Grays’ attacking 4-3-3 formation to their advantage and were regularly using counter attacks to break down their opponents, Helge Orome was a victim of the good pressure put on his team from Maidstone who flooded forward but after a good run from Flisher, he could only see his shot tipped wide.

This fast, counter attacking style of play finally worked for Maidstone in the 64^th minute when after some more great hold up play from Jack Harris the substitute was able to play a perfect pass through the centre of the Grays defence to Frannie Collin who was able to dribble past the goalkeeper and tap the ball into the empty goal to double his teams lead with his 23^rd goal of the season.

Although the stones were now 2-0 up Grays refused to give up, they continued to push forward and got their reward three minutes before full time, Jack Parkinson was unable to clear the ball out of the penalty area, it them came to the feet of Chris Benjamin, who was given enough space to get the ball onto his stronger left foot before firing a shot past the hapless Lee Worgan.

Despite the stones getting the three points they needed, both Dulwich and Lowestoft were able to pick up points in their matches meaning that Maidstone finish 7^th in the Ryman Premier League in their first season back in the division.

Maidstone United: Worgan, Cox, Butcher, Mills, Brown (Hughes- Mason), Parkinson (Hayes) Robertson, Parkinson, Attwood (Harris), Collin, Flisher

Subs not used: Sullivan, Godman

Booked: Parkinson

Grays Athletic: Kamurasi, Orome, Flynn, Anderson, Yala, Wilson, Small, Cruickshank (Mbamaran), Griffiths, Nouble (Benjamin), Carlos

Subs not used: Pope, Dunn, Wickham

Booked: Wilson, Griffiths

Attendance: 1,984