Stones caught out once more
HAMPTON 2
Allen forcing a couple of early corners, but Hampton took the lead in the ninth minute with a cracking strike.
The ball arrived at the feet of left-back Farrell whose terrific 25-yard drive flew past Jake Cole and into the corner. Maidstone won plenty of corners during a first half short on quality in the rain and went close to an equaliser when Ryan Johnson met Noah Chesmain’s ball to the near post – only to see a downward header cleared off the line by Sam Cox.
United had a golden chance at the start of the second half when Ibby Akanbi broke into the box.
The ball ended up with Kyei who perhaps had too much time to think about it and Dan Lincoln got a hand to his shot. Kyei wasn’t to be denied a second time, though, as Maidstone levelled in the 50th-minute with a 20-yard strike that hit the underside of the bar and went in.
Maidstone introduced Jonny Edwards and then Jake Embery in search of a winner but it was Hampton substitutes Ryan Hill and Lewthwaite who combined to win the day.
The warning signs were there when Hill got past George Elokobi from a long ball and fired wide.
And, soon after, in the 90th minute, the winner came as Hill’s cross was turned in by Lewthwaite from a couple of yards out.
Hayrettin said: “I think we put the ball in the box six or seven times, forced about five or six corners in the first eight, nine minutes, but we didn’t get anything out of it.
“They scored a worldie of a goal but we were the better team in the first half.
“We keep talking about this and if you don’t take your chances, you don’t shoot, if you don’t buy a ticket, you aren’t going to win the raffle and that’s the problem we’ve got at the moment.
“The performance was good but I think we lacked a little bit of resilience up top, to keep it up there and push them back. “I think our final pass could have been better but we had no real end product. That was the problem.”