The healthy crowd of 355 witnessed a match between two well-balanced opponents. With Maidstone shading the first half, the visitors dominating long periods of the second half, but with the home side finishing strongest. The Stones, come the final whistle, were good value for the three hard-earned points.

Maidstone made the first attempt of note in the 10th minute, when after a clumsy foul on midfield dynamo Jamie Kempster on the edge of the penalty area, a Steve Butler free-kick was crossed for centre-back Ross Edwards to head narrowly wide of veteran keeper Micky Simmons’ right hand post.

Richard Sinden, who showed plenty of examples of his blistering pace, came close to breaking the deadlock in the 22nd minute. Following a long Kevin Hudson clearance, Pedro Knight was able to flick the ball on with his head into the path of Sinden. The strikers’ right-footed effort flashed low across the Cray goal but just wide of the left-hand post.

Just three minutes later however, Sinden did open the scoring with a goal of quality. The hard working Knight combined with new signing Hackett, who supplied a marvellously weighted right foot cross. Sinden timed his run to perfection and powerfully directed his header across the goal of Simmons from 12 yards out. The ball flew into the top left corner of the net to open the Stones’ goalscoring account for the season.

One minute later, many in the crowd believed it was 2-0 to Maidstone. Knight let fly from over 20 yards out which forced Simmons into a marvellous save. The ball ran loose to Sinden who prodded home from two yards out. Unfortunately, the cheers were stifled when referee Gary Johnson disallowed the effort due to the assistant’s raised offside flag.

After 49 minutes, the home side almost doubled their lead, when following a Cray corner; Paul Ribbens headed clear to Sinden who was deep inside his own half. The Maidstone speed merchant put his head down and went on a 70 yard run, which ended with his strong shot just clearing the crossbar.

After this attack, the second half saw Cray get to grips with the match. Pietro Cirillo’s battle with Pedro Knight in midfield was absorbing, the creative running of Adam Heaslewood began to cause the Stones’ defence problems and the probing runs of ex-VCD strike pairing, Richard Dimmock and Ricky Bennett posed a constant threat.

The Wands started to impose themselves on the game and in the 61st minute, ex-Stone Phil Turner had a powerful, low 20 yarder well saved by Hudson. The action quickly swung to the other end, Maidstone having a Ross Edwards header chalked off for pushing at a corner kick.

Maidstone started to re-establish themselves and a combination of passes between Butler and Knight presented defender Paul Ribbens with an opportunity to strike a superb scissors kick from 12 yards out. Micky Simmons however, was equal to the task in the Cray goal and produced a great save.

The visitors’ second half efforts were rewarded with an equalising goal in the 75th minute. One of Cray’s numerous corner kicks was flicked on at the near post by Dimmock. The ball travelled across the goal and Cirillo was the first to react as he stabbed home from two yards out as the Maidstone defence played at spectators.

The equaliser was nothing more than Wanderers deserved.

The points were eventually wrapped up by the current league champions just eight minutes from the end of regulation time. Knight again played the ball into the box and Sinden found himself with space. He skilfully lobbed the ball back across goal into the path of midfielder Kempster. The smallest man on the pitch managed to rise highest to knock the ball home from close range, despite the attention of two defenders.

Maidstone: Hudson (7), Kempster (8), Ribbens (7), Hackett (7), Coatham (7), Edwards (7), Knight (8), Butler (7), Sinden (7), Davey (7), Jeffries (7)

Subs not used: Scott, Marshall, Price, Chainey, Reynolds.

Cray: Simmons, Turner (88 - Jenkins), Ward, Cirillo, Willy, Woods (12 - Dudley), Heaslewood, Watkins (85 - Tompkins), Dimmock, Bennett, Hammond