Maidstone United 0-1 Walton Casuals - All they wanted to do was waste time, says Jay Saunders

MAIDSTONE UNITED  0-1  WALTON CASUALS
Ryman League Division One South
Saturday 10^th December 2011
Mike Green reports from Bourne Park

A CONTROVERSIAL penalty two minutes into stoppage time sent Maidstone United crashing to their third successive defeat and left boss Jay Saunders in a far from happy mood after Glenn Stanley drove the injury time spot kick into the roof of the Stones net as Walton Casuals returned round the M25 with the points.


In truth this was a very below performance from the Stones from which they deserved little, but they faced a side who came to Bourne Park hopefully of perhaps nicking a point and in the end staged the ultimate smash and grab raid to leave Saunders far from happy. 

Speaking after the game, Saunders said, "To be fair their player who's gone down for the penalty told my payers it was never a penalty and that sums it up really and sums up the refs performance perfectly - I thought he was very poor today! He wasn't helped by his assistants - it didn't look like he had a clue at time to be honest with you - disallowing that goal when Alex (Flisher) has jumped a couple of yards in front of the keeper and not touched just summed it up for me.

“They came here and set up - all they wanted to do was waste time; they just wanted to turn us and hoped that they might get a bit of joy and in the end, we heard their manager saying that they were going to put another defender on to make sure they left with a point - and that was when they were on top in the game and summed it up for me if I'm honest!

“But as I've just said to the lads, we are going to get games like that in this league and there are going to be days when you're going to have to grind out results, and we've not done that today.

“We had a 20 odd minute spell in the second half when we came out and I honestly thought that we're going to win this and if we'd got that first goal I'm convinced that we couple have won by two or three! It hasn't happened and they've nicked the goal!"
 
The game itself wasn't the best that Bourne Park has produced this season, and a very disjointed first half left many of the 396 crowd wondering if the Christmas shopping option might well have been a better option as the temperature plummeted. 

Indeed both sides were limited (if that's the right word) to one chance each. 

Sam Bewick had the game’s first chance taking advantage of a loose back pass to sprint clear only to be denied by a fabulous block from Walton Casuals keeper Gareth Williams.  As the ball bounced around the goal mouth Alex Waugh looked as though he would score but was beaten by a horrible bobble which saw the ball bounce to an offside James Pinnock and the chance had gone.
 
On 20 minutes Walton Casuals had their best moment of the half but Liam Holden (who was to play a larger part in the game as it wore on) who got to Josh Gallagher's through ball first, only for Tom Mills' brilliant tackle to deny the Casuals number 11.
 
And that was effectively that for the first half - the home side won the half's only corner and there were half a dozen offsides -  scant entertainment really for those who had chosen Bourne Park over Christmas shopping.
 
Thankfully the second half improved - marginally!  Within seconds of the restart, Williams had to scramble a Bewick cross behind after he and Pinnock had combined down the Stones right.
 
On 54 minutes there was a clash of heads in the centre circle between Danny Lye and Casuals' John Boswell, yet with both players prone and obviously in trouble, Referee Mr Graeme Ions ridiculously allowed play to continue for fully another 20 seconds.  By the time the official did stop play, to their eternal credit both physio’s had reached their players and thankfully both were able to continue after treatment.
 
That said Lye clarly wasn’t quite right for a few minutes - which would explain his wayward back pass that only found his way to Alfie Arthur who suddenly found himself clear on his own with only keeper Deren Hawkes to beat, yet the young keeper stood up brilliantly and blocked the striker outside of his box. 

As the Stones broke, they thought they'd broken the scoring through an unlikely source.  Tommy Osborne launched the ball into the Walton box and as Waugh jumped with Williams both players missed the ball and as Osborne turned to salute the goal, Referee Mr Ions disallowed the goal for a foul by Waugh - a decision which incensed Saunders, "Sums up the refs performance perfectly really I think - I thought he was very poor today! He wasn't helped by his assistants - it didn't look like he had a clue at time to be honest with you - disallowing that goal when Alex (Flisher) has jumped a couple of yards in front of the keeper and not touched just summed it up for me."
 
After spending 70 minutes seemingly on the back foot, Casuals then sprung an unexpected weapon - Richard Taylor's huge throws. 

Casuals won a batch of them in and around the box, and everyone caused chaos to the Stones defence. 

On 71 minutes Arthur flicked the first one on for Holden, who with the goal at his mercy slipped and the chance was gone. 

Four minutes later, Arthur again got on the end of Taylor's throw, but this time his flick header brought out a stunning reflex save from Hawkes. 

Then with thirteen minutes remaining, Arthur turned provider for Glenn Stanley, only for Stanley's first time dipping volley to fly just too high. 
 
The Stones defence really was creaking now and on 80 minutes should have really cracked.  Walker's corner caused absolute mayhem in the home penalty box and with boots flying and the ball bouncing all over the place, the ball was cleared off the line twice, and when the ball was played back in for a third time by sub Danny Fernandes, Arthur's free "he must score" header flew over the bar leaving the Walton number nine thumping the turf in frustration.
 
Stones substitute Alex Flisher was then denied by a very brave save by Williams at his feet, though the Stones winger will have been frustrated to have been beaten by a horrid bobble from the Bourne Park pitch.
 
Then with a blank score line looking the likely result disaster struck for the Stones.  A long ball was pumped into the box and Holden went down under what seemed to be an innocuous challenge at worst.  Referee Mr Ions though had other ideas and pointed to the spot which led to huge protests from the home side, before Stanley drilled the ball into the top right corner of the net with the spot kick which was almost unsavable.
 
After such a great run, this was the Stones third defeat on the trot - a fact that wasn't lost on the manager. 

Saunders said: "I know there were some people were excited when we were top of the League, and I've just under lined the boys that when Shaun Welford and Pouts won this league with Dover they had days like this. We've got to learn to battle for 80 minutes and hope that we'll see it through.

“We asked them to get tight first half so that we could turn them - but they didn't. If we're not going to turn them, we've got to keep the ball - we didn't do that – it’s frustrating but I'm sure that the quicker we get three more points we'll go on another run.

“We've missed both Shaun and Alex – it’s no doubt that anyone will miss players of their pedigree; Charlie Mitten is training again; slowly we're getting people back, but I don't want to make it as an excuse as to why we've lost the last three games as at the end of the day it’s a squad game and we should have a good enough squad to win games.

“Of course it’s great to have them back but we should really have been good enough to win the game."
 

Maidstone United:  Daren Hawkes, Tommy Osborne, Tom Mills, Lee Gledhill, Graeme Andrews, Sam Bewick, Ellis Green, Danny Lye (Jay Saunders 81), Alex Waugh (Shaun Welford 64), James Pinnock, Michael Phillips (Alex Flisher 58).
Subs:  James Abraham, Marc Powell
 
Booked:  Alex Flisher 83, Lee Gledhill 90
Walton Casuals:  Gareth Williams, Lee Cooper, Bradley Duke, Craig Lewington, Richard Taylor, Jon Boswell, Anthony Morrison (Danny Fernandes 54) (Zac Horkan 92), Josh Gallagher, Alfie Arthur, Glenn Stanley, Liam Holden.
Subs:  Harry Hoadley, Chris Davidson, Adam Fletcher

Goal:  Glenn Stanley 90 (pen)
 
Booked:  Danny Fernandes 61, Richard Taylor 62, Alfie Arthur 90 
 
Attendance:  396
Referee: Mr Graeme Ions (Westerham)
Assistants: Mr Valentine Anekwe (Bromley) & Mr Peter Crichlow (Carshalton, Surrey)