Rolling Stones
Lamar adds another smash hit in incredible story for the…
HE may have scored a goal and got an assist in the FA Cup fourth round on Saturday but as most of his team-mates gathered in the clubhouse at the Gallagher Stadium to watch the fifth-round draw yesterday afternoon, Lamar Reynolds was busy at his other job as a social support worker in Ilford. Only the FA Cup can provide such storylines.
Away from football, Reynolds works as a minibus driver for Links Support Solutions — a company that helps people with autism and learning disabilities — taking young adults to events. And for Maidstone United’s FA Cup hero, normal service resumed yesterday with his Sunday shift.
‘I would have loved to watch the draw (in which Maidstone were handed a trip to Coventry or Sheffield Wednesday) with the boys but I’ve got to work,’ said Reynolds. ‘I do that job once or twice a week depending on if we have games midweek. We have a day off on Wednesday usually and on Sundays.
‘I’m pretty much the driver so I pick up them up and I’ll take them to things like live wrestling and basketball matches. They’re just local young lads that want to enjoy themselves.’
The events of Saturday etched the names of Reynolds and his team-mates into the history books as Maidstone pulled off one of the all-time Cup upsets against Ipswich, 98 places above them in the English football pyramid.
Reynolds was born in Jamaica and moved to England aged seven. After joining the Barking academy, he signed for the first team in 2013 and over the next decade, the 28-year-old played for 12 teams before joining Maidstone last summer.
Until Saturday he had never scored for the Stones but he didn’t half choose a good moment for his first strike. Such was the quality of his dinked finish, which sparked joyous scenes on the pitch and in the 4,472-strong away end, it surprised everyone including his team-mates.
A few weeks ago, midfielder Liam Sole interrupted Reynolds’ interview with KentOnline to ask when his team-mate was going to get his first goal. ‘That’s a great question,’ said Reynolds. ‘I think I might save that for Ipswich.’
Of course, it was Sole who provided the assist. The pair share rooms for away trips and on Friday night in the team hotel, the question came up again.
Reynolds said: ‘We spoke about the game and said, “Yeah we’re going to score and assist each other” and, hey, it just happened. The feeling was amazing.’
After Ipswich equalised through Jeremy Sarmiento, the Stones scored the winner with another counter-attack as Reynolds teed up Sam Corne, who finished with the second of Maidstone’s two attempts on goal. Ipswich had 38. ‘We knew counter-attacks were going to benefit us,’ added Reynolds. ‘I thought I was by myself but I looked to my right and saw Sam bursting through.
‘I’m happy he burst through because I was knackered by then and I just had to play him the ball and he smashed it into the bottom corner.’
Maidstone’s fifth-round tie will be their eighth game in the FA Cup this season and Reynolds insisted their miracle run, in which they have beaten opposition from League Two, League One and now the Championship, has ‘put Maidstone on the map’.
It was not the draw Maidstone had been dreaming of, admitted boss George Elokobi. ‘It’s a draw most of our supporters didn’t really want but it’s a good draw,’ he said. ‘Both clubs (Coventry and Sheffield Wednesday) have history and we are going to try to do it all over again.
‘My preference was Wolves but it’s not about me, it’s about our community and our club and our players. We are still in the Cup. The magic is very much alive.’
Maidstone are the first club outside English football’s top five tiers to reach the last 16 since Blyth Spartans in 1978 and have already earned more than £350,000 in prize money.
When Mail Sport was granted behind-the-scenes access to training two days before the game, Elokobi had hired a local Sunday League pitch with grass (Maidstone train on artificial turf usually) and, with his coaching team, ensured they trained on a pitch that had exactly the same dimensions as Portman Road.
‘Before the game he exaggerated on believing,’ added Reynolds. ‘Believing in each other, trusting each other and knowing we’re capable of winning. He just kept nagging on believing, and hey, when you believe in yourself, things like this happen. Our gaffer puts it in our head that in football anything could happen.’
From 732 teams at the start of the FA Cup in August, Maidstone are in the last 16 and after chants of ‘Que Sera’ and ‘Wembley’ echoed from the away end on Saturday, who can blame them for believing anything is possible.