Pass and move turned to cagey second half

With regular captain Alex Waller away on a spa weekend, the equally capable Matt Oakley (although with a slightly less flamboyant playing style) stepped in to guide the 3s to a 1-0 win over Canterbury Squires.

The pre-match team talk largely focussed on how well drilled and technical the Canterbury team would be but also with a large dose of avoiding the “silly tapping the ball in the air”.

The stand-in Captain was keen we play with a high back line and close the space in the middle of the pitch. This played dividends with Canterbury unable to find any way to the Maidstone circle and not a single penalty corner conceded in the first half.

The first half also saw the best passing game of the 3s season, leading to chance after chance. Ash Messenger played in beautifully by Mark Bromley bent his 7ft frame to push wide of the post from 6 inches out was one of the highlights.

The stellar moment came at a Maidstone short corner. A clean injection to James Duggan at the top of the circle resulted in an absolute rocket of a drag flick to the top left corner and deservedly gave plenty of man of the match votes to James at the end of the game. James has very kindly offered some training sessions to Chris Howson if he wants to learn how to drag flick like a 3s legend.

Maidstone had plenty of chances in the first half, with Canterbury commenting after the game how they could have been 4 or 5 down at half time. However, it wasn’t to be. The press dropped off in the second half and led to a cagey 35 minutes. Apart from a couple of penalty corners for Canterbury, they never really looked like they were going to threaten Andy Willoughby’s goal.

Canterbury brought a couple of younger players who look like they will be bright stars for the club’s future. The Maidstone youngsters stepping up from the 4s certainly didn’t look out of place and the older guys were very grateful for their legs late in the game.

The stand-in Captain filled in expertly for the absent Waller, completing the brief by receiving the only Maidstone card of the game when he accidentally bundled over a Canterbury player on the 23 metre line.

All in all a tidy performance giving a rare clean sheet and a needed 3 points. Onwards to near top of the league Sevenoaks next week.