Holcombe 1-2 Maidstone

Despite boasting an 80% win record at home, the Stones have been particularly poor on their travels – winning just two away from home prior to this weekend, these results being against bottom and second from bottom.

Holcombe’s visit to Tovil had been a tight affair where MHC earned themselves their first and, so far, only clean sheet of the season. In parallels to the first clash, Saurday’s game was cagey, well-contested and low scoring.

There was chances to both sides in the first twenty minutes without either side manging to find an opening. Phil Skillen was called into action twice – on both occasions he saved well. One such occasion he was challenged one-on-one but saved well with the ball directed low toward goal.

The opener came following some quick hands and trickery from Ben Stott. Mark Christmas took a free hit on the edge of the D quickly before ushering it onto Stott who beat a couple of players before directing a hard reverse into the bottom right of the goal. On the balance of affairs, a 1-0 lead was deserved by the Stones, but Stott’s opener had not been the best of MHC’s chances in the half – Dean Wheeler reminded the squad of this at half time and warned them they may rue their missed opportunities.

The second half started quietly with both sides defending the other’s attacking efforts well. Holcombe first chance of the half came as a result of some nice running into the D from their left hand side. The winning of a short corner allowed them a proper chance to drag at goal. Holcs had been wasteful when rewarded with short corners when in Tovil earlier in the year – they didn’t show such inefficiency in front of their home crowd, however. A drag at goal was unable to be blocked or saved. 1-1.

Having led for a decent portion of the game, Maidstone made sure to re-gain their lead sharpish. Working the ball nicely from a 16, the Stones initially went down the left before it transitioned to the right when in midfield. On reaching the D, Maidstone forced the home keeper into a good initial save. However, his stop was not enough to prevent it falling into the path of Rob Clarkson. Clarkson struck well on the volley into the roof of the net. Lead restored, 2-1.

In usual form, Maidstone opted to make the final stages shaky by seeing out the game with just nine on the pitch. The final whistle was met with a sigh of relief by all.
One more win from their two remaining fixtures will secure fourth position for the Stones who play Cliftonville midweek.