Aylesford 0-31 Maidstone

Maidstone travelled the short distance to Aylesford to play in an evening fixture in memory of Paul Whitehead, the Aylesford coach who sadly passed away last year.

Aylesford started the sharper of the teams and with Maidstone soaking up some early pressure before settling down and playing the flowing rugby which they are used to.

Maidstone’s pack, although smaller, dominatingly were turning over Aylesford at every opportunity and winning good ball to feed to the backs.

It was interesting to watch the midfield battles between the centres as both teams tried to break the line. It was Maidstone’s forwards who broke the deadlock but the try was disallowed due to double movement. A good passage of play from the forwards saw a maul form and Sam Weston rolled off the back to touch down under the posts with Sam Ellis kicking the extras.

From the restart a good linking of play between the forwards and backs saw Sam Ellis break the line, draw his man and give the ball to Ollie Newton to score under the posts, Sam Ellis, again added the extra two points. Half time score: 0-14.

The second half saw Maidstone step up a gear and with the threat of a score from the Aylesford backs the Stone’s forwards made territory and kept the ball tight releasing after a couple of phases which saw Sam Ellis break the line and score.

From the restart Aylesford attacked and kicked deep into Maidstone’s 22 which James Corbyn collected and ran, linking well with Tom Griffin and Ollie Newton to score a classic counter attack try.

The last eight minutes saw the game speed up more and more as Aylesford pressed for a score, Ollie Newton broke and sprinted for the line, he was tackled just short and Tom Griffin who was supporting him scored. Sam Ellis kicked the conversion.

Final score was Aylesford 0-31 Maidstone. This was really a superb game to watch and loads of credit to a very big and strong Aylesford squad. The real threat of them scoring was not over until the final whistle.

We took a lot of positives from this game, Maidstone’s pack working and thinking as a unit, Tom Matley, the smallest player on the pitch took 6 balls against the head, the front five out muscling and the back row turning over opposition ball. The half-back pairing and the whole of the three-quarters really gelled and strung together some fantastic support, running and moves. Man of the match was Sam Ellis.

Weston, Matley, Kalete, Hines, Hazelwood, Lonergan (C), Scott, Child, Taylor, Ellis, Smith, Newton, Griffin, Clucas, Corbyn, Vaughan, Zhang, Sey, Denton, Jez, Haw.