Maidstone 1st XI VS Holcombe 1a's

Team: Darren Marchant (GK), Rob Lamb, Matt Emery, Phil Morrison, Will Ostler, Harry Bone, Joe Drake, Jimmy Christmas (Capt.), Chris Howson, Joe Broadbent, Phil King, James Honeywill, Chris Fahy, Richard Turner (Player-Coach).

After a humbling trip to Brighton & Hove 2nd XI the previous week, Maidstone Men’s 1st XI hoped to jumpstart their 2018-19 Kent/Sussex Regional Division One league campaign with the visit of Holcombe 1a [2] to Armstrong Road.

Both sides played at a high intensity from the start, stretching the game, leaving forwards high whenever possible, and giving their midfield and defence the responsibility of efficiently transitioning the ball from defence to attack. This led to a midfield battle, with turnovers in the middle of the park providing counter-attacking opportunities. It was unsurprising, therefore, that it was from one of these instances that Maidstone opened the scoring.

Using pace and skill, Will Day beat two people down the right, getting to the baseline, and pulling the ball back onto a foot, winning Maidstone the first penalty corner in a match which would be defined by set pieces. Player-coach Richard Turner’s shot was stopped on the line by the body of a defender and, after some deliberation between the officials, a penalty stroke was awarded and coolly dispatched by Turner. 1-0.

Not long after this, Chris Fahy found himself in an identical position on the baseline. Fahy slipped the ball to Day, who shot past the goalkeeper’s right-kicker to make it 2-0 to the home side.

The game edged towards half-time with Maidstone on top. Turner had a shot well-saved, and Joe Broadbent had a strong case for a penalty stroke turned down after it looked like the ball struck a player’s body on the line again. Defensively, goalkeeper Darren Marchant’s unit of Matt Emery, Phil Morrison, Rob Lamb, Will Ostler, and Harry Bone marked superbly and ensured the score was 2-0 at the break.

The second half began as frantically as the first and, as Maidstone tired, Holcombe slowly worked their way into the game. An unfortunate series of events led to three contentious penalty corners being awarded against Joe Drake, Ostler, and Lamb. Maidstone being further aggrieved by Holcombe’s clinical routines, the first resulted in a penalty stroke – a duly converted – and the succeeding two flew high into the net.

Without doing much wrong, Maidstone had gone from 2-0 up to 2-3 down with just five minutes left on the clock.

Feeling they had been the better team in a very close match, Maidstone pushed forward in search of an equaliser. Knowing they were good enough to fashion at least one chance in the last few minutes, Maidstone pressed high, forcing a mistake by a Holcombe defender. The ball looped up high, dropping towards James Honeywill on the penalty spot. With the goalkeeper swiftly closing him down, Honeywill struck the ball reverse stick, first time, on the half-volley. The ball flew past the keeper and rattled the backboard, making the score 3-3, and giving Honeywill his first goal of the campaign.

Maidstone had one more chance, Phil King firing just over before the final whistle. Despite the game ending 3-3 and the predominant feeling of it being a case of two points dropped, rather than one gained, Maidstone should look back on the game with pride as it was their best all-round performance of the season.

A preponderance of Maidstone’s positive play came because of the hard work of the midfield four – Captain Jimmy Christmas, Chris Howson, Drake, and Turner – and the solid foundation of Marchant’s defensive unit. After such a positive performance, next weekend’s match away at Sevenoaks 2nd XI cannot come soon enough.

Man of the Match: Will Ostler