The referee had no idea what was going on, or what he was doing, blasts Strouts

Maidstone United’s player-coach Jimmy Strouts slammed referee Mr James Garrett for turning their pre-season friendly at Fisher Athletic today into a farce, writes Stephen McCartney.

With the Stones leading through Andy Martin’s fifth minute strike, and playing well against the Blue Square South outfit, the Blackheath referee stole the show on the half-hour mark.

Waiting for a free-kick on the right-hand side from Sam Tydeman, Mr Garrett issued red cards to both Ben Lewis (Maidstone) and Sean Batt (Fisher) after the pair pushed and shoved each other as they jostled for position.

And Stones skipper Tydeman was also shown a red card after 32 minutes for something he said to the referee following that initial 30^th minute incident.

Fisher levelled on the stroke of half-time through Ross Gaynor, and manager Wayne Burnett withdrew right-back Jason Thompson at the interval, as both sides finished the farcical game with just nine players apiece.

Maidstone United squandered an excellent chance to take the lead after 47 minutes when Mo Takaloo, one of four half-time changes, had his right-footed penalty saved by the diving, Colin Lewington.

Fisher wrapped up the win through Gavin Heeroo’s long-range drive (59 minutes) and Leo Gohann with two minutes remaining.

“Let’s talk about the 35 minutes that we got out of it, that was worthwhile,” Strouts, whose returned to Maidstone United from Whitstable Town during the close season, told www.kentishfootball.co.uk.

“The first 35 minutes, I thought we set our stall out as we wanted to. We worked hard, we kept the ball, very competitive and we showed them that we’re a standard above the rest really.

“And we proved that by going one-nil up and then obviously it all spiralled out of control.

“The referee had no idea what was going on, or what he was doing, and spoilt the rest of the game.

“But, saying that, we’ve spoken to the boys and we’ve just said “put the effort in, put the work-rate in, and get out of it what you put in” basically.

“That’s all we could have done. It was disappointing because there were things that we wanted to try, but we got everybody on that we wanted to in the end, even thought it was a bit makeshift.”

Strouts was full of praise for Fisher Athletic’s manager, Wayne Burnett for his act of sportsmanship, to make it nine-a-side for the second half.

He said: “Good sportsmanship from him and he was as shocked as we were really to see the player’s sent off.

“There was no need as he (the referee) could have quite easily had a chat with him (Burnett), a chat with us, and we could have moved on from there and still played a decent game and given the crowd a decent game to watch.

“Instead we ended up nine versus nine. In the 35 minutes, we more than tested them, and if we can take that into the (home) Dagenham game (next Thursday) and the rest of the season, we should more than hold our own.”

Lewis and Tydeman are now expected to miss the opening three games of Maidstone United’s Ryman Premier League campaign, against Horsham (home), Hastings United (away) and their trip to Chelmsford City.

But Strouts, whose won championship winning medals at both Maidstone United and Whitstable Town during the past two seasons, added: “At the end of the day, the players that we’ve got here at the club will be quite adequately do what Sam and Ben was going to set out to do - places are still up for grabs.”

Goalscorer, Andy Martin, who played for Kent sides Tonbridge Angels and Cray Wanderers last season, was dumbfounded afterwards.

Asked how it felt to play in such a farcical game, the Welshman replied: “Interesting is probably the word I’d use.

“Good game for half an hour, 35 minutes, and then obviously as you read on the report and see on the internet, the referee went and spoilt it good and proper.”

Martin felt the referee should have warned Lewis and Batt or asked their managers to replace them, rather than brandishing red cards to the pair, and the same for Tydeman.

“I think it was probably unjustified, again, he could have done with making them subbed or ticking them off,” said a stunned Martin.

“I think the ref was out to prove a point in the end.

“Extremely difficult, even eleven versus ten is tough but playing with nine men, your formation goes out of the window, you have to reorganise.

“Even then, when you re-organise, three at the back, two or three in midfield and one up front, it just turns into a training exercise in the end, just defending and trying to get the ball as far away from the goal as you can - it‘s just a tide coming back all the time.”

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