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| Saturday, 31 August, 2002: FA Cup Preliminary Round. Tonbridge Angels 2-3 Maidstone United Congratulations to Maidstone, who outplayed the Angels in the 2nd half and - you have to say - deserved the win. It was a cracking FA Cup game with plenty of incident and a bumper crowd of 1,027 will have many talking points. Chances for Steve Portway and Peter Overton missed the target in the first 10 mins, and the Angels had the better of the play in the opening 20 mins without really troubling the visiting keeper. Maidstone came back into the game and took the lead on 35 mins after a counter-attack left the Angels defence in no-mans-land and veteran Steve Butler made no mistake sweeping the ball past Joe Radford. 7 mins later, Steve Portway was trapped between two defenders in the box, there was contact and he went down. Referee o' Keefe awarded a penalty in spite of furious Maidstone protests. Although Kevin Hudson got fingertips to Portway's penalty it found the corner of the net. Just before halftime from an Angels corner, Ryan Royston toe-poked the Angels into the lead, 2 - 1 at halftime. Not for the first time the Angels were caught napping straight after the resumption, and Maidstone were awarded a penalty (didn't see the incident - fiddling with camera!). Butler mad no mistake from the spot. Steve Marshall wasted an excellent chance for Maidstone, but although the Angels tried to respond the passing was often ill-directed or just plain poor and some promising attacking moves ended in weak finishing. Portway had the best chance after a strong run and cross from Danny Kedwell but he struck it straight to Hudson. It was left to Steve Butler on 73 mins to beat the defence rather too easily again and make it 3 - 2 after Adrian Webster had run through from the right. In the last few minutes the Angels again tried to apply the pressure but neither sub Brendan Cass nor Portway could find the finishing touch. If Maidstone can get into the Southern League next year, they will certainly hold their own if they can reproduce this sort of form. Meanwhile it's back to the drawing board for the Angels who need to find a consistently good link from midfield to attack and a more effective striking partnership that gives increased options. Angels Online Man of the Match: Craig Roser, who gave a battling display in midfield and whose passing was superior to any other player in blue on the pitch today. Report by: Klitch |
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