Stones Match Reports Page

Greenwich Borough 0

Maidstone Utd 5

SINDEN 8, 14, 16 FOLEY 45,58

Kent League
17th August 2002

There will not be many more one sided fixtures than this one during this season's Go Travel Kent League campaign. Greenwich Borough, who have retained just two of the squad that finished second bottom last season, were no match for 100% Maidstone United. If this game had been a boxing bout, the referee would have called "no contest" well before half time.

With temperatures in the mid-80's, it would have been far more appropriate to hear the captains at the coin toss electing to either bat or field. As it was, Stones almost (and really should have) hit Borough for six. Stones were fresh from their 4-1 thrashing of Tunbridge Wells in midweek and Greenwich were still reeling from their opening day 6-1 reverse at the hands of VCD Athletic. For neutral observers, the final scoreline will have been of no surprise.

Richard Sinden opened the scoring in the 8th minute, with a carbon copy of both of his strikes against Tunbridge Wells. Jamie Kempster and Pedro Knight, both ex-Greenwich players, exchanged passes neatly. Kempster drilled the ball across goal from the byline and Sinden scored via the underside of the bar.

Six minutes later, Sinden extended the lead with another screamer from two yards. Centre back Ross Edwards had hooked a volley over his shoulder from 20 yards out. This forced a tremendous save from Pat Brown in goal. The ball struck the crossbar and flew straight up into the air. Unfortunately for Brown and Borough the ball did not go out of play and fell onto the goal line for Sinden to poach his second goal.

Within two minutes, Sinden had scored again, giving him a hat trick in only eight minutes. The impressive Kempster ran half the length of the pitch with the ball, finally beating Spencer Holt before crossing from the left to find Sinden. From eight yards out, the in form striker slotted home for his 6th league goal of the season.

Pedro Knight had his best performance to date for Stones, as he was afforded far too much space by the home side's midfield. In the early stages of the game, both he and Kempster tore the Borough defence apart with both runs and passes. Knight himself almost scored in the 19th minute after a great run and shot produced another good save from Brown. In the ensuing scramble, Steve Butler's effort was also saved by Brown.

Sinden spurned a glorious chance to score his 4th goal of the day from the penalty spot. Sinden was pulled back in the 24th minute by James Crowhurst, who only received a yellow card despite being the last defender. The spot kick was weak and centrally placed, which gave Brown the opportunity to check his dive and save with his left foot despite diving to his right.

In the 28th minute, one of the few negative points of the day occurred for Stones when influential playmaker Butler was taken off with a slight hamstring strain. Several in the crowd wondered whether Butler had a problem prior to the game, due to his wearing an odd pair of boots. These fears were allayed after the game, when it was revealed that in fact, the ex-pro had arrived at the game with only one boot. This necessitated a quick dash to a sports shop by kit man Ada Hubbard to purchase another pair of boots. One shiny Umbro boot and a well worn Adidas boot looked a touch bizarre to say the least!

Sinden, who had an extremely impressive first half, was denied a further goal by the crossbar in the 32nd minute. A mix-up in the Greenwich defence allowed the Stones hitman to lob the ball at goal from 35 yards out. Agonisingly, the ball clipped the underside of the bar and bounced down towards the line. Defender Paul Garrett was able to head the loose ball over the bar and away to safety. Despite Maidstone protests that the ball had crossed the line, the referee, Brian Young, who had an indifferent game to say the least, gave the corner kick.

The large contingent of travelling fans were angered further by Mr Young just two minutes later. Substitute Richard Chainey was through on goal with only Crowther between him and keeper Brown. With a foul committed just outside of the area, the majority of the fans present at Harrow Mead were fully expecting Crowther to collect his second yellow card. To everybody's amazement, 17 year old Chainey was shown the card. The only plausible explanation to this being the use of foul language by the youngster. However, with the incident happening only 15 yards from the touchline, no such comments were heard by the crowd.

The fourth goal was added just prior to the break in stoppage time. Another ex-Borough player, Stones skipper Paul Foley, made full contact from a Paul Ribbens long throw, to plant the ball into the back of the net from 10 yards.

In truth, the second half was a dull affair with both sides struggling with the intense heat. Incidents were few and far between and as in the first half, Stones keeper Kevin Hudson remained a virtual spectator. The final goal was added in the 58th minute by captain Foley. With the ball played across the visitors' back line through, in turn, Ribbens, Steve Coatham and Kempster, a final ball was centred for the marauding Foley to head home easily for his second goal of the game.

The last minute saw one final chance for Sinden to add to his tally. However, he contrived to strike the ball at the keeper in yet another one on one situation after Ribbens had created the chance with a neat through ball. With three league games now played, Maidstone ended the afternoon happy in the knowledge that they lead the league table with a 100% record.

Maidstone: Hudson, Kempster, Ribbens, Foley, Hackett, Edwards (Taylor 59), Knight, Butler (Chainey 28 ), Sinden, Davey (Coatham 45), Jeffreys Subs: (not used) Reynolds, Price

Greenwich: Brown, Holt, Russell, Smith, Garrett, Crowther, Cohen, Sinclair, Henry, McKee, Hand (Brown 72) Subs (not used) ; Moore, Zaha, England, Turkman