Maidstone United 1
Stevenage 0
FA Cup (3rd Round)

Match report written by Neil Metcalfe, The Comet

History repeated itself for Stevenage at Maidstone United - as they suffered an FA Cup exit to the non-league side.

A Sam Corne penalty two minutes into first-half stoppage time was enough to see the National League South into round four with a 1-0 win.

It repeated a November 2014 loss at the Gallagher Stadium, that coming in the first round.

Stones had been the better side in the first half but had lived dangerously all through the second period, as Boro created plenty of chances.

But with decisions going against them, and the home crowd believing more and more in another FA Cup upset, frustration and an exit was all Boro would get from their trip to Kent.

No Dan Butler was one surprise in the starting line-up, one of three changes from the side that lost 2-1 to Portsmouth on New Year's Day, Elliott List and Finley Burns the others to miss out.

In came Jake Forster-Caskey, Terence Vancooten and Kane Hemmings with only eight of the nine substitute slots filled.

The actual formation provided plenty of debate prior to kick-off and it turned out to be a back five with Nick Freeman filling in at left wing back.

Stevenage would need a reshuffle again at half-time as the first half did not follow the script.

Yes, there were decisions that went against them, with similar incidents going unpunished by the home side, but the truth was they were not at their best in the first half.

They were presented with a couple of gifts in the opening stages but in what would become a pattern over the first 45, they were slow to capitalise on them and seemed to lack conviction in the final third.

Their only real moment of note was when Louis Thompson barging his way to the byline and pulling the ball across the face of goal, just too far in front of Jamie Reid.

And at the other end, Maidstone were fashioning opportunities.

Lamar Reynolds had a header saved at full stretch by Taye Ashby-Hammond, although it seemed a comfortable stop for the keeper, and the Stones man then put another cross wide of the target as he dived in at the back post.

The home side also had plenty of set-pieces but these were all wasted, that was until the second minute of stoppage time.

Jacob Berkeley-Agyepong got the ball in the box and a tangle of legs with Thompson sent him to the floor.

That brought the penalty and Corne hit it high over the diving Ashby-Hammond.

The reshuffle saw Burns and Ben Thompson brought on in place of Forster-Caskey and Louis Thompson, the latter seemingly suffering an injury to his wrist when Harry Kyprianou throw himself at the Boro man in winning a free-kick.

There was also a change to the formation, Vancooten moving to right back and Luther James-Wildin switching to the left of a back four.

It had something of an effect with a couple of chances coming Stevenage's way.

First Reid got behind the Stones defence and although he was being held, he got a shot away that Lucas Covolan did well to tip it over.

The corner was then met by the head of Carl Piergianni but Corne was in the right place on the line to block it with his knees and the keeper grabbed the rebound.

It still wasn't enough with a couple of set-pieces and balls into the box going harmlessly through to Covolan.

That meant Evans turned to Harvey White to try and unlock the game but it was Ben Thompson who gave them their big chance when he slipped Hemmings in behind the offside trap.

The striker though could not get the better of the keeper with Covolan getting his angles right.

White's corner was then met by Freeman at the back post but he could only turn it back across goal.

Maidstone though suddenly handed it back to the visitors but Reid didn't pull the trigger for some reason and the chance was lost.

It was starting to feel like one of those days for Boro and that seemed confirmed when they hit the woodwork twice in two seconds.

White's free-kick was met by Piergianni and his nod down seemed perfect for Reid to finish.

His effort was skewed and hit the crossbar and when the rebound landed, it hit Hemmings a yard or two out and bounced off the post before being cleared.

That proved to be that in terms of big chances and the final whistle brought the obligatory pitch invasion.