Maidstone United 1 Tonbridge 1

Match 53/14/1162 - Thursday 1st January 2015 - Ryman Premier

Maidstone United (1) 0 Greenhalgh 45
Tonbridge (0) 1 Miles (o.g.) 84
Att. 2,226

Entrance: £10
Programme: £2
Mileage: 26/3,840

Match Report

It was an unsavoury end to this A26 derby between two bitter rivals that captured the headlines after the two clubs had contested a hard-fought draw in front of an all-ticket, capacity crowd with Tonbridge finding an unlikely equaliser, seven minutes from the time, when their former player, Sonny Miles deflected a free kick from Lee Carey past his own keeper.

Tonbridge saw out the final minutes of the contest and on the final whistle celebrated the result perhaps a little to heartily for some of the more fickle Maidstone supporters. What happened next did neither club any favours and dishonoured the values of non-league football.

The game itself had largely gone off without incident; Maidstone carved out the lion’s share of the chances but, without the cutting edge supplied by Alex Flisher and the bustling centre forward play of Jay May, were fairly toothless in front of goal. Two sets of supporters, who are supposed to dislike each other intensely, stood side-by-side without segregation and with no apparent problem.

The vocal element of the Tonbridge support had followed the time-honoured tradition of changing ends during the half-time break whilst the Town End Maidstone support always choose to remain in position. Even with that close proximity there was little to concern the stewards; at least it appeared that way from a distance.

At the final whistle, the Tonbridge players went to the Town End to acknowledge their support and unwittingly ignited the disturbance that followed. I can only draw my conclusions of what occurred from a safe distance of 30 yards of so. Two wrongs have never made a right and this occasion was no different. In their celebration, the Tonbridge players perhaps strayed a little too close to the fencing behind which both sets of fans were gathered and when beer was thrown at them, some sought the perpetrator and a punch was thrown before some sort of order was restored.

The Maidstone United Unofficial Forum has made for interesting reading in the aftermath with a serious introspection of their own club’s role in the disturbance. The beer throwing was not, it appears, an isolated incident and the club’s policy of selling beer from a stand outside of the clubhouse for people to take pitch side is brought into question. This practice is one that I have always felt was trouble waiting to happen and have stated that point previously on this blog. From a Tonbridge point-of-view, it is impossible to condone the throwing of a punch and, doubtless, serious disciplinary action from the Football Association will follow.

The ending was such a contrast to the warm welcome that had been offered as we entered the Gallagher. Wearing our colours, we were not hiding our allegiance to the visitors and were met by a club official who guided us to the various facilities on offer, including, of course, the beer stand! And, although there were a couple of misguided comments in our direction on the way out, there was no tension as we took our place alongside Maidstone supporters.

The game itself was one of very few chances. Tonbridge, shorn of the services of Marvin Williams, whose achilles could not be risked on the 3G surface, struggled to create anything at all going forward, but with one piece of magic from Dee Okojie, whose 20 yard shot clipped the bar with Lee Worgan beaten, they may well have found themselves in front.

In the ten minutes prior to the break, the hosts mounted a continuous assault on the Tonbridge goal with Tom Hadler saving well from Tom Mills and Ben Greenhalgh. The pressure finally told on the stroke of half-time. Matt Bodkin, a serious threat throughout, had a goalbound shot blocked by Laurence Ball but the rebound fell kindly for Greenhalgh to drive his shot into the centre of the goal.

The second half was largely one-way traffic with Hadler making a good save from Greenhalgh before a Steve Watt header was cleared with claims that the ball had crossed the line.

The livewire Alex Akrofi placed a shot millimetres wide of the far post after a run into the penalty area with defenders frightened to put a foot in to stop him.

The points seemed destined to reside with the hosts and bring to an end to a run of 10 matches without defeat in all competitions against Maidstone when Miles’ moment preserved the record.

Maidstone should, in reality, get promotion this season. Even if they fail to overhaul Margate at the top of the table, they are going to enter the play-offs as hot favourites. Perhaps it was with this in mind, that four old fools gathered together for the photograph below, sensing that it might be somewhile before we are once again assembled at the Gallagher.