TT MATCH VERDICT

Joe Uglow – @joe_ugs

Joe discusses the draw

MAIDSTONE UNITED 1-1 TORQUAY UNITED – NATIONAL LEAGUE SOUTH – 16.08.25

SUMMARY

238 of the Yellow Army travelled towards Kent in hope that finally we might take something from the Gallagher Stadium; not a happy hunting ground for us over the years with not even so much as a point in our last six visits. Paul Wotton chose to remain unchanged after last Saturday’s victory, Maidstone opting to make one change from last Saturday.

United started with plenty of possession, and looked to be getting the ball down and moving it well, when a crazy two minutes changed the outlook of the game. Firstly Maidstone midfielder John Gilbert flew in to challenge Sonny Blu Lo-Everton, he was late, slightly out of control and Lo-Everton took a nasty whack as a result. It looked a nailed on yellow card at a minimum, & a serious argument could have been made for a red card but to United’s amazement the referee kept his cards in his pocket.

Torquay then showed their naivety, with Lo-Everton off the pitch after receiving treatment, they sent both centre halves up the pitch for the resulting free kick. Maidstone won the ball back and got it forward to striker Deon Moore who along with Dajon Golding & John Gilbert was 3-on-1 against Jordan Thomas, Moore managed to hold off Thomas before playing in Golding who slid the ball across for Gilbert to stroke home into an empty net. 1-0 to Maidstone….and it was starting to feel like a familiar story in Kent.

The early goal seemed to sap all of the energy and confidence out of Torquay as we seemed to forget any principles of getting the ball on the deck and playing, instead opting to go long which played into Maidstone’s physical backline’s hands.

Maidstone were forced into an early enforced change as their keeper collided with his own defender attempting to defend a cross, and despite his attempts to continue was withdrawn.

His replacement; Holden’s first action was to appear to punch Dyer instead of the ball as he attempted to clear a free kick. The referee decided goal kick and no penalty as Dyer received lengthy treatment from the physio. Par for the course from the referee throughout the afternoon unfortunately.

There were little clear cut chances for either side, although a shocking underhit back pass from Jordan Thomas allowed striker Deon Moore to steal in, and only a combination of a brilliant last ditch tackle from Jordan Dyer and a big James Hamon save prevented the Stones from going 2-0 up.

Half time came and it looked like it could be another tough afternoon at the Gallagher Stadium. I was expecting at least a change or two at half time, but none were forthcoming.

The second half picked up where the first half left off with little in the way of chances, the ball seemingly spending long periods out of play, and little momentum could be gained by either side.

Wotton had seen enough from his first eleven and looked to his bench to spark things into life. Munashe Sundire was introduced in place of Sonny Blu Lo-Everton & shortly after Cody Cooke made way for Matt Jay. ‘Nash’ added a bit of bite and physicality to the midfield but as the game wore on there was little quality on show.

Dan Hayfield came on for Dylan Morgan causing United to have a slightly lopsided midfield with no recognised left winger on the pitch.
There was more frustration for Paul Wotton as Louis Dennis succumbed to a thigh injury, short of options on the bench, PW opted for Ed Palmer up top instead of Jaydn Crosbie, as he looked to add physicality in the final third.

For all our possession, we did very little with it, struggling to break down a stubborn Maidstone defence who got their heads to everything. Palmer provided a focal point for our long balls but even Ed struggled in the air against two imposing centre halves. That was until the 95th minute. Maidstone looked like they had dealt with a late flurry of throw ins and corners but then a bouncing ball in the box was pounced on by Jordan Young, his touch took the ball past the defender who could only upend Young, and the referee wasted no time in pointing to the spot! Penalty to Torquay in 95th minute, and up stepped Jordan Young to smash it home!

1-1 and finally we are able to return from Maidstone with something to show for it, hopefully putting the ‘Maidstone curse’ to bed. A fair result on the balance of play in what was a pretty dire football match.

PLAYER RATINGS

1. HAMON 7: Made an important stop in the first half to keep it 1-0.

3. FOULSTON 5: Struggled with the dangerous Golding and offered little going forward.

26. THOMAS 4: Easily outmuscled for the goal and another mistake nearly led to it being 2-0, offered very little going forward. Was definitely targeted by Maidstone.

4. DYER 6: Struggled against the physicality of Deon Moore.

5. DREYER 6: As in the Enfield game, looked a little shakier than last season, struggled to dominate at the back.

18. WORTHINGTON 6: Guilty of hitting too many balls forward that were rushed and with no intended target, led to us giving up possession far too easily.

24. LO-EVERTON 5: Quiet game for Sonny Blu, struggled to impose himself on the game.

7. DENNIS 6: Struggled to get into the game, Thigh injury looks like will keep him out for a few weeks.

11. MORGAN 6: Again, struggled to impose himself onto the game.

8. YOUNG 7: Quick feet in the penalty area led to the penalty, and picked himself up to smash home the equaliser. Didn’t have a lot of joy on the wing, as Maidstone doubled up on him.

9. COOKE 6: Battled hard but didn’t get much change out of the Maidstone centre halves

SUBS

20. HAYFIELD 6: Plenty of energy and running as we’ve come to expect from Dan, but didn’t see a lot of the ball.

6. SUNDIRE 7: Was introduced to add some physicality to our game and certainly did that with a couple of strong tackles. Was just the kind of introduction we needed at the time.

27. JAY 6: Busy, but didn’t get on the ball enough to make things happen.

16. PALMER 6: Brought on as a makeshift Target Man, battled hard, and did help to cause a bit of chaos in the Stones box. Helped add a bit of physicality to our game which we lacked without him or Sundire.

PLAYER OF THE MATCH – JORDAN YOUNG

Really difficult choice if I’m honest, nobody stood out in what was a very laboured performance. Ultimately though without Youngy creating the penalty opportunity and scoring it I would be writing about a seventh straight loss at Maidstone so that gets him my MoM.

TACTICS

Same as last week, Paul Wotton started off playing a 4-2-3-1 formation with Matt Worthington and Sonny Blu Lo-Everton as a central midfield two with Jordan Young, Louis Dennis and Dylan Morgan playing as an attacking three behind Cody Cooke. In the second half as changes were made, Dennis was pushed into the striker position, with Matt Jay in behind. For the last 25 or so minutes we operated without a left winger as Morgan was withdrawn for Hayfield. Due to Dennis picking up an injury Ed Palmer was employed as a makeshift Striker for the last 20 minutes.

OPPOSITION

Little quality on show but plenty of hard work and physicality. I can see why Maidstone fans are not as optimistic about their chances this season, they’ll be difficult to beat at home, but they lack the quality players like Blair & Seaman from last season.

THE OFFICIALS

Man in the middle was poor in my opinion. Seemed insistent to not show his cards in the first half despite several late and cynical fouls by Maidstone which led to the game becoming very stop-start as each side took their turn to make fouls. He started to get his cards out in the second half but only for dissent, a fair few questionable decisions throughout.

CONCLUSION

Ultimately you’d have taken a point before the game, and given how poorly we played I’m happy to have escaped with a point. We’ll need to play a lot better if we are to be successful this season, and I’m sure the management and players are under no illusions about that.
I’d like to see us try and stick to principles of getting the ball on the floor and working it around opposition quickly rather than reverting to going long the moment we go a goal behind, plenty for Paul to work on, that’s for sure.