Maidstone United 0 Tonbridge 3

Match 04/12/957 - Saturday, 21 July 2012 - Pre-Season Friendly

Maidstone United (0) 0
Tonbridge (0) 3 Collin 58, 75 Browning 85
Att. 1,320

Entrance: £7 Senior
Programme: 50p
Mileage: 18/106
New Ground: 251

Match Report

As Maidstone United are my pet dislike in football, it would be easy to denigrate everything about their homecoming to the Gallagher Stadium, so it would be best to congratulate the true supporters of the club on managing, after nearly 25 years in exile, to bring their club home. And a nice home it is; functional and fit for purpose, if it lacks a little on the eye. A focus of interest of the stadium’s construction has been the club’s choice to lay a 3G synthetic pitch. The picture below is the first and last time plastic grass will feature on That’ll Be The Day! Before the game I ran a hand through the 60mm pile and whilst it doesn’t feel much like grass, it doesn’t feel much like plastic either. As far as I could tell from the touchline the ball ran true, players certainly didn’t shirk a sliding in tackle and neither goalkeeper felt the need to wear tracksuit trousers.

The main stand sits 400 and straddles the halfway line, alongside of which is a rather horrible, Yellow Box-type structure that houses the club’s social facilities. At either end there is covered terracing with uncovered flat hard standing on the remaining length of the pitch. There is plenty of scope for expansion as the club make their way through the pyramid.

So I’ve been nice, now for the criticism. The biggest downside of the stadium is the lack of car parking. I chose to park at Lockmeadow, mainly because it was the cheapest at £1.60 for four hours, Fremlin Walk is closer, but at £3.70 it is an expensive add-on. A walk along the river towpath was very pleasant, whether I would consider it so on a wet Tuesday night in February is another matter. Whilst on the subject of money, I thought £10 entry for a pre-season friendly was a bit steep. I can understand the club charging full whack for their opening game against Brighton, but Tonbridge? Sorry, too much.

And my final issue was with the selling of beer from a tent outside of the social facilities. This might be harsh, but Maidstone is a chav town and there were plenty of said people in evidence. I can see people being allowed to continue drinking pitch side throughout the game causing a problem or two at some stage during the season.

Maidstone just edged a first half of very few chances. Shaun Welford, a proven striker, with Alex Flisher giving good supply from the left wing might have caused the visitors a problem had it not been for the solid central defensive pairing of Ben Judge and Ollie Schultz. George Purcell showed good movement upfront, whilst Mikael Suarez won every ball in the air, but in attack it wasn’t quite happening.

Into the second half, from the bench came the Golden Boot and with Lee Browning dominating the midfield, Tonbridge showed their Conference South class and took the game by the scruff of the neck. Frannie Collin missed one that you would have stacked your mortgage on before turning and shooting for the opener and followed that with a beautiful flick at the near post from a corner before George Crimmen laid a super pass for Browning to wrap it up. After getting rolled over by higher class opposition this was Tonbridge’s chance to do the rolling, and they did it with ease in the second half much to the disgust of a couple of young chavs who stomped away after the third.

Maidstone United now have a set up that should, especially with the huge fan base they enjoy, see them progressing through the Divisions with a similar impetus to that of Dartford on the advent of their new stadium. I predict they will begin this process by winning Ryman South this season by a country mile.