Kentish Football 
We can get out of the relegation mire, insists Dan Stubbs
Sunday 13th March 2011
DAN STUBBS says he is confident that his home-town club Maidstone United can pull off The Great Escape and secure it’s Ryman Premier League status at the end of the season, writes Stephen McCartney.
The midfielder made his second debut for The Stones and impressed during their unlucky 1-0 defeat at high-flying Tonbridge Angels yesterday - a result that leaves the club rooted to the foot of the table, nine points adrift of safety, with only 10 games left to play.
“I was pleased with the performance,” said the 22-year-old, following the defeat at Longmead Stadium.
“The team worked hard, disappointed with the result. I thought we could’ve got something out of the game. I thought we were more on top than them but overall I was pleased with my performance and things are looking up now. I think we’ll do well.”
Maidstone United dominated a vast majority of the first half - without creating any real clear cut chances to test keeper Lee Worgan - but Carl Rook grabbed Tonbridge Angels a 38th minute winner - against the run of play - heading home Sonny Miles’ cross.
“We did create some chances, we dominated, but we didn’t create as many chances as we would’ve liked but I was just pleased we were on top, considering Tonbridge are doing so well and we’re obviously as the bottom. You couldn’t really tell the difference between the two teams. You couldn’t tell one was at the top and one was at the bottom.”
Reflecting on Rook’s goal, Stubbs added, “Gutted really because we dominated. They took a quick throw and caught us off guard a little bit. It was a great header, a good finish by him. After the chances we had in the game it seemed pretty unfair but we did push on and we created a few good chances. We were unlucky we didn’t get the equaliser really.”
The closest that The Stones got to equalising was an injury time Danny Hockton free-kick, which was plucked out of the air by Angels keeper Worgan.
Maidstone United have not won a home league game at Homelands Stadium all season - all four of their league wins have been on the road - but this sorry statistic must change on Tuesday night when second-from-bottom side Croydon Athletic visit.
Stubbs said: “The stats don’t look too good at the moment do they?” It doesn’t mater, we’ve got a different team now. The gaffer (Andy Ford) said ‘it’s a different team now,’ the team that we’ve got he expects good things to happen between now and the end of the season.
“I agree with him. We have got a good side and with the performance that we put out at today, I think things will look up. We will get wins. It’s just a matter of time really.”
Maidstone United didn’t look like a side that were rock bottom at Tonbridge Angels yesterday and team morale is positive as they bid to clinch the points to avoid relegation.
“I’m very confident after today’s performance,” added Stubbs, who made 81 appearances, scoring 9 goals in two spells with Margate.
“It’s my first game and I’m pleased with the side after looking at the team selection and everything, we did put one a good performance so we have to carry it on now for our home game against Croydon Athletic.
“I’m sure we’ll do well, they’re down there with us, and it will be a tough battle, but I think we’ll do well.”
Stubbs played second-tier Icelandic football for KA Akureyi, where former West Ham United star Dean Martin is player-manager, and he spoke about his experiences there.
“I really enjoyed it. It was a good experience, completely different to what I expected. The standard of football was a very good standard, not as physical.
“When I got back, I was looking to get straight back into things so I went back to Margate and now I’m here now so I’m looking to carry on my career down here now.”
Stubbs had this message to Maidstone United’s supporters: “We’re not down or anything like that. For a team that’s at the bottom of the league we’re not really down. We know we’ve got a good side and we know we can do better and it’s just a matter of time. We all want to do well so it’s going to come (good).”
Manager Andy Ford has taken the positives out of their narrow defeats to Lowestoft and Tonbridge Angels in the past two weeks.
“We’ve played two of the top teams recently and looking at the results there’s lot of ways of looking at it and we’re not too far off Lowestoft and not too far away from Tonbridge in my eyes after the performances so now we have to make sure we put in a performance on Tuesday because we’ve been in this situation before.
“We’ve got to put in a good performance on Tuesday and get three points.”
Visit Maidstone United’s website: www.maidstoneunited.co.uk
Maidstone United v Croydon Athletic
Ryman Premier League
Tuesday 15th March 2011
Kick Off 7:45pm
At Homelands Stadium, Ashford Road, Kingsnorth, Ashford, Kent TN26 1NJ
Red Dragon I.T. Ltd