Maidstone United’s dominant second half performance maintained their place at the head of the Ryman Premier League; still ahead of Dulwich Hamlet on goal difference.

The first half was an even contest, with Frannie Collin’s penalty miss the clearest of the chances the home side created.

Alex Flisher’s goal within 6 minutes of the restart triggered a series of attacks that should have seen the Stones comfortably home, but it took until the 77th minute until Jack Parkinson doubled the lead, and Zac Attwood’s stoppage time penalty sealed the victory.

Jay Saunders was a happy man saying “I think tonight we were on a hiding to nothing, and it could easily have been one of those nights.”

“When you’re at the top, you are expected to turn up and roll sides over, but I knew we had to be patient. We had a lot of chances tonight, maybe we should have been out of sight, but I think we were quite comfortable. We’re on a nice run now, so we’ve got to keep that going.”

“I thought we dominated possession, and it was a case of when we got the first.  If we’d got the first, and second, a bit earlier, I think we could have scored a lot more.”

“You look at the chances; the penalty first half, Kaiyne, Zac and Alex have all had chances. You sometimes hope someone scuffs one in.”

“We said to the lads to be patient; first half we tried to force it too much and they were defending it well, but second, we kept it better, moved them around and created chances.”

“It was important to get the second goal, as there was always the worry they might nick a goal from a set piece. Then at the end, it was nice to see that people wanted to take the penalty; I don’t think Luke (Rooney) was aware of what happened against Burgess Hill.”

The first half was a case of what might have been for both sides. Maidstone were quicker out of the blocks with Alex Brown’s shot from a quick corner testing Cray’s Darren Behcet, but this Cray side is a very different one to that beaten 5-0 by the Stones in September.

New Cray manager, Keith Bird, has completely overhauled the Wanderers’ squad in the last 3 months, and one of the new signings, Tyrone Berry, who last week was plying his trade at Conference South Farnborough, had a sight of Lee Worgan’s goal, but fired high over.

Berry would have a better chance later in the half, as Cray carved through the Stones defence, but Worgan came to the rescue with a good parry high to his left.  Apart from this, it was a quiet night for the Stones’ keeper.

Bird admitted “I think it was a fair result tonight, Maidstone were worthy winners, but the first two goals came from our mistakes.”

“We were positive for about 80 minutes tonight. Maidstone are a quality side, but we went in with a game plan as to how to come away with something, and I thought that we executed that very well for 80 minutes.”

“I thought we had a stonewall penalty early in the game and that could have changed things.”

“At half-time we thought this game could go either way, and I felt we had the opportunities to get something our of it. But in the second half, Maidstone’s quality really came through, they were the better side and from 2-0 there was no way back. You can see why they are top of the league.

In the meantime, Maidstone were being frustrated into hitting 50-yard crossfield balls to the wide men, but with little reward. Cray had loud shouts for a penalty as Berry was challenged by Tom Mills, with Mr Fissenden waving away the claims, before Maidstone started to exert some control on proceedings.

A long Alex Flisher throw found Zac Attwood free on the left side of the area, and his deft flick allowed Frannie Collin to power a drive goalward. Behcet managed to get down to his right to get an arm to the ball, but was relieved to see the deflection bounce over the bar. From the corner, the legs of Ugo Udoji blocked Jack Parkinson’s header.

After 22 minutes, Mr Fissenden did point to the spot, and for the 5th consecutive game, the home side had a chance from 12 yards. Flisher’s cross into the area was behind Attwood, but he managed to poke the ball back to Mills, who was bundled over by Alex Stavrinou.

Unfortunately, the normally reliable Collin saw his spot kick come back off the face of the left post, and Kaiyne Woolery couldn’t control the rebound.

After a 12-minute delay to the match, caused by an injury to Mr Fissenden, Cray took advantage of hesitation in the Maidstone midfield as they sliced through middle, only for Worgan to deny Berry one on one. Attwood did hit the bar late on, but an offside flag would have denied his chance.

Maidstone dominated the second period, creating chances by utilising Woolery’s pace on the right flank, and deservedly took the lead six minutes into the half through a composed Flisher finish.

Woolery broke clear of left back Jordan Bird to fire a cross in towards Collin. The Maidstone captain tried exchanging passes with Attwood, but the second attempt ran across the box, with Flisher reacting quickest to slide the ball past Behcet.

Woolery created chances that saw both Attwood and Brown fire over, before Paul Vines gave Maidstone a reminder of the danger Cray posed on the counter attack, heading wide after good build-up play from Stavrinou and Steve Smith.

Stavrinou had to head off the line after Parkinson found himself free in the box to meet Luke Rooney’s corner as the home side looked to press home their advantage, and Woolery blazed over after arguably the move of the match.

Patient passing in the midfield eventually saw the ball laid back to Worgan. The keeper’s clearance was flicked on by Woolery to Collin, whose touch back inside allowed the right-winger to race into the area, but Woolery’s shot was high over the town end stand.

Maidstone doubled their lead with thirteen minutes remaining, but Cray will be disappointed that the ball wasn’t cleared in the build-up. Rooney’s freekick towards Jack Parkinson bobbled around the area, before Collin hooked the ball back into the middle of the area, where Parkinson was in acres of space to place a side-foot volley into the corner.

Moments later, Parkinson thought he had a second, only to be denied by the assistant’s flag, and Attwood brought a fine save from Behcet as Cray tired.

Flisher also tried his luck from distance, before Charley Robertson powered through 2 challenges, but couldn’t steer his effort on target.

In the end, Maidstone were awarded a second penalty in stoppage time, as Bird upended a weaving Rooney run inside the area.

Rooney wanted to claim the spot kick himself, but Attwood won the discussion between the two and stroked his penalty into the top right corner to complete a satisfactory evening’s work.

MAIDSTONE UNITED: Lee Worgan, Elliott Cox, Tom Mills, Alex Brown (Charley Robertson 79), Jerrome Sobers, Luke Rooney, Kaiyne Woolery (Jack Sullivan 87), Jack Parkinson, Zac Attwood, Frannie Collin (Jack Harris 83), Alex Flisher.

Subs not used: Dan Parkinson, Will Godmon.

Goals: Alex Flisher 51, Jack Parkinson 77, Zac Attwood 90 (pen).

CRAY WANDERERS: Darren Behcet, Ugo Udoji, Jordan Bird, Merrick James-Lewis, Jide Maduako, Helge Orome, Tyrone Berry, Alex Stavrinou, Paul Vines, Morgan Ferrier (Adrian Stone 86), Steve Smith (Giannoulis Fakinos 72).

Subs not used: Nathan Simpson, Dmitri Larin, Nick Taylor.

Bookings: Steve Smith 22, Paul Vines 22, Jordan Bird 90.

Attendance: 1,292
Referee: Mr Ian Fissenden (replaced by Mr Bakalarz after 30 minutes)
Assistants: Mr Adam Bakalarz (replaced by Mr Joseph McKay) and Mr Valentine Anekwe