It was a mixed weekend for Maidstone hockey with some of their sides back in action.

Ladies 1s Home v Old Loughtonians

Score: 1 – 1 (Jody Goodwin)

Confidence was high for the start of Maidstone’s National League campaign with the team looking forward to putting weeks of pre-season training into practice. Having played the opposition in a friendly the week before, they knew what they were up against & knew they needed to play with composure & work hard for each other. The team started strongly & fought hard for possession. Jody Goodwin won the team a well-earned penalty corner 15 minutes into the game after a slightly-too-physical challenge from an Old Loughts defender. A well worked corner routine ensued which Maidstone converted to go 1-0 up. Old Loughts fought their way back into the game & forced Maidstone into some defensive errors, resulting in 3 penalty corners in a row. The third proved one too many & an Old Loughts straight strike found it’s way into the bottom corner shortly before half time to make it 1-1. The second half was an even battle, with Old Loughts creating more clean-cut chances than Maidstone. As the game went on, they built more & more pressure & forced a penalty stroke. Keeper Jenny Vincent guessed correctly & saved the shot, keeping the score to 1-1. Captain Vincent kept Maidstone in it making 2 further expert saves late on in the game. Maidstone clawed back some possession during the final few minutes but unfortunately were unable to convert, resulting in a 1-1 final score line. Despite missing out on 2 points, Maidstone were encouraged with their performance and look forward to the next challenge.

Ladies’ 3s Home v Canterbury

Score: 5-4 (Wendy Carter, Maddy Jarvis, Sarah Day, Helen Brown, Kate Pomphrey)

Maidstone started the game fearing the worse without a goalkeeper and were 0-3 down within eight minutes. Just before half time Wendy Carter followed up a penalty corner strike from Maddy Jarvis to make it 1-3. The second half saw Maidstone take advantage of the extra outfield player as Maddy Jarvis made in 2-3 from another penalty corner with Maidstone then dominating the next twenty minutes of play, only for Canterbury to score a counter attack goal. Maidstone looked out of it at 2-4 with less than ten minutes to go. Sarah Day then pulled one back, who then had another shot saved by the goal keeper which was followed up and firmly put away by Helen Brown. With the clock ticking away and the crowd roaring Maidstone on they were awarded a penalty corner as the final whistle went. The ball came out to Maddy Jarvis who put a perfect slip wide of the advancing keeper for Kate Pomphrey to score the winner.

Men’s 1s Away v Harleston (friendly) Score: 4 – 0 (Joe Martin [3], Iain Brine)

Saturday 17th September saw Maidstone 1st XI take on Eastern Premier outfit Havering in their penultimate friendly fixture prior to the Southern Premier 2 league kicking off on 1st October. Maidstone, recovering from over a months worth of hockey crammed in to the previous weekend, started off the match slowly and allowed Havering to penetrate their D several times in the first few minutes. However just one of these required keeper Darren Marchant to make a smart save which was to be his only action of the half. Maidstone slowly adjusted to their new structure and style of play and their good discipline and quick passing showed as they manufactured several good chances in the half. As the Maidstone defence soaked up the Havering attacks like a sponge their attack struck twice to put the kent side 2-0 up at the half time break. The first came from a quick break on the right hand side which Joe Martin fed into the Havering D. Despite their defence dealing with this they could only get the ball out as far as new Spanish signing Ricard who delivered an inch perfect cross into the path of Joe Martin’s well timed run. Martin then bagged his second after some good attacking play forced Havering to concede a short corner. The well worked routine found the Martin stick for another well placed deflection. Buoyed by their good first half performance Maidstone started the second half brightly but were held up by torrential rain which forced the umpires to temporarily stop play much to the amusement of the adjacently playing rugby team. Once the rain had abated the game restarted and Maidstone picked up where they left off. This half they were clearly the better team which showed in the number of chances they created as well as the increasing frustration of the opposition. Only some good saves prevented Maidstone from taking their tally beyond the 4-0 score line. Martin completed his hat-trick and a thoroughly impressive performance after some clever linked play from Chris Brinn and Jeremy Swaffer from a delightful Tom Nissen through-ball. Despite Havering pressing hard, desperate to get on the score sheet, The Maidstone defence and keeper Marchant maintained their clean sheet. Iain Brine put the final nail in the Havering coffin as he looped home a drag flick from a final short corner. Maidstone go into their final friendly on 24th September, 11:30 at Tonbridge School deservedly full of confidence.

Men’s 2s Away v Old Williamsonians (friendly)

Score: 2-4 (Mark Rimmer[2])

The Mens 2nd team had the first game of the season this weekend against close rivals Old Williamsonians. They started of very well but conceded an unfortunate goal against the run of play. Then they conceded another not very long after. Maidstone then managed to pull one back from Mark Rimmer with a short corner. In the second half Maidstone were put under a lot of pressure and conceded 2 more goals. The 2s managed to get a consolation good near the end of the game, again from Mark Rimmer. This resulted in a 4-2 loss. Men’s 4s Away v BBHC (friendly) Score: 2 – 2 (Andrew Turner, Robert Clarkson) Maidstone started the match with only seven of their team (due to one car getting lost en route!) on one of BBHC’s newly laid pitches and played good attacking hockey until BBHC broke the deadlock against the run of play ten minutes before half time. Although the visitors came out for the second half with a full side (as reinforcements had at last arrived!) BBHC caught them off guard soon scoring a second goal. From then on however Maidstone controlled the game, continually pushing into the home team’s half which resulted in Andrew Turner scoring a superb reverse stick goal to take the scoreline to 2-1. A few minutes later, after some more great work from ‘Man of The Match’ Graham Ford, the ball went to Jack Slattery and then to Robert Clarkson who pushed in the equaliser. Both sides worked hard in this friendly opening game but Maidstone feel they are unlucky not to have won and perhaps the score could have been different with a full squad from the start. Good performance from all the team today and well done to Mike Metcalfe who was unlucky not to score from several shots on his debut game at the club.