Our aim has to be safety, says Hume

Maidstone United joint-manager Lloyd Hume paid tribute to chairman Paul Bowden-Brown for keeping the faith during the side’s poor start to their Ryman Premier League campaign, writes Stephen McCartney.

The Stones are now sixth in the table courtesy of a nine match unbeaten run in all competitions with 22 points from 16 games - but it was a different story earlier in the season.

Maidstone United found themselves 3-1 down after 50 minutes in yesterday’s derby thriller at Margate, and earlier in the season they would have “caved in”.

But on this occasion they won the game courtesy of Andy Martin’s sixth goal of the season inside stoppage time.

Striker Luis Cumbers, 19, on loan from League One foes Gillingham, played his part in the dramatic comeback, playing his part in all four Stones goals.

The Chelmsford based striker took his tally for the season to eleven goals with a brace.

His first came from a right-footed lob from twenty-yards after Margate failed to deal with a long clearance from goalkeeper Pat Mullin after eleven minutes, cancelling out Jay Saunders’ headed opener after just 28 SECONDS.

All three Margate goals came from headers, and Rob Haworth (40^th minute) and Saunders (50^th) giving the Stones a 3-1 deficit with 50 minutes on the clock.

Haworth then had a goal ruled out for offside when he turned in James Pinnock’s drilled shot before Margate player-manager Robin Trott headed into his own net after Cumbers flicked on Sam Tydeman’s free-kick after 54 minutes.

Cumbers, now playing on the left-hand side of midfield, levelled proceedings with thirteen minutes remaining, rolling the ball into the bottom far corner, following a scramble inside the box after a corner from substitute Aaron Lacy caused panic.

And the Stones sealed a dramatic win, and only their second league win on their travels, when Cumbers picked up a shanked kick from Mullin, raced past Margate right-back Louis Smith before drilling his cross towards the far post.

Andy Martin, who did nothing throughout the game, was on hand to send the Stones fans’ wild, tapping home the winner from close range.

“It’s been a very eventful afternoon and as a manager it’s one you don’t enjoy until the final whistle goes if you come down a winning side,” Hume told www.kentishfootball.co.uk after yesterday’s seven-goal thriller.

“We nicked it in the death there, which was very, very pleasing for us but our players have to take the credit.

“It’s not just the players that started the game, it’s the payers that we brought on because they all did exceptionally well. They battled really, really hard, they never gave up.

“At 3-1, earlier on in the season, I think we might have caved in and lost 5-1, where we’ve had a change of character and a change of attitude within the club and definitely a change of confidence and we’ve done really, really well at 3-1 down, away to Margate, kicking up the slope which is a big slope when you’re out there, to come back to win 4-3, is just delighting.”

Cumbers enhanced his chances of a call-up by his club Gillingham, with a heroic display at Hartsdown Park yesterday.

“Luis was fantastic in the second half, praised Hume. “Luis’ best fifteen minutes was his last 15 minutes and to be honest his last fifteen minutes he played left midfield.

“But what we found, we’ve done it once before (against Bury Town) when we put him out there.

“At this level he gets a lot more space and if you give Luis space for him to run into then he’s going to und you and that’s exactly what he done to them.

“We were fairly brave today, and we were finishing the game with four forwards on there but my attitude was that we wanted to get something from the game.

“I’d rather lose by a bigger score than not have a go and that’s what we did.”

When the ball left Mullin’s boot as the game was in stoppage time, Hume was fuming as he shanked the ball - but the rest his history as the ball fell to Cumbers’ feet, who raced up field before setting up Martin’s winner.

“I can’t repeat what was going through my mind or what was coming out my mouth,” said Hume.

“We’re in the dying seconds of the game and all I want my keeper to do is turn them round and get the ball in their third of the pitch.

“Pat to his credit shanked one to Luis’ feet. Luis was pretty much free because no one expected the ball to be there because it shouldn’t have been.

“Luis did the rest by sort of running at them and he put a delightful ball in and Andy Martin did what, and I said to him in the dressing room, he did the only thing I thought he did well all afternoon, which was put the ball in the net, and that’s why we kept him on the pitch.

“So I’m delighted for everyone involved with our club, including the chairman.

“The chairman should have a little bit of credit today because I think there’s a lot of pressure on him about me and Alan (Walker) when we were down there and we were struggling to pick up results and he stuck by us.

“He was very verbal about sticking by us and things are coming now.”

One player relieved with the comeback was defender Mario McNish, who was facing the hairdryer treatment from Hume, had the side not won.

“I said in the dressing room afterwards I’m not going to criticise any of them because I’m absolutely delighted with our performance,” said Hume.

“But I said to Mario when I got out of the shower and I was half joking, had we not come back and got something out of that game, I’d be having a different conversation with him.

“Because whilst he was fantastic for most of the game, two of the goals I will blame him for.

“Away from home it’s rare that you concede two goals and still get something so I’m delighted with that.”

Stones fans will recall that they started slowly last season and went on to clinch the Ryman League Division One South title on the last day of the season at Walton Casuals - exactly 12 months after clinching the Kent League title on the final day, at Sevenoaks Town.

“I don’t think there’s a story behind turning the tide,” admitted Hume. “Last three seasons it’s taken a while to gel (as) we’ve brought new players in.

“We’re three leagues away from where we were because we’ve had two promotions and that’s three leagues worth of difference and it takes players time to adjust.

“And it happened last year and it’s happened this year and I’m not kidding myself.

“We’ve really got to concentrate, we’ve got to push on and remain focused and over a period of our careers me and Alan have done well in management.

“We’ve got to make sure we do well now so we can secure our safety of our club in the Ryman Premier.

“I’m not getting carried away with where we are in the league. I’m just getting my mind on our next couple of games.

“If we can get some points out of the next couple of games, we’ll be much, much closer to safety to when we were seven or eight games ago.”

Hume wants the Stones vocal contingent to get themselves to Bourne Park, Sittingbourne next Saturday to cheer the club into the first round proper of the FA Carlsberg Trophy.

Former winners Canvey Island, now a Ryman League Division One North club, visit Bourne Park in the third and final qualifying round.

“The supporters will go home absolutely ecstatic today because they had a really entertaining day and they come out the right way on it with a win,” said Hume.

“So hopefully that will encourage more supporters to come and hopefully we’ll have a big crowd next week and they’ll get behind us like today and again they were fantastic today.

“So I just hope they’ll come in numbers next week and support us and hopefully we’ll get a result.”

Visit Maidstone United’s website:  www.maidstoneunited.co.uk