Lewington gets crowd backing
Returning Maidstone keeper Chris Lewington was desperately unlucky to be on the losing side against Dorking.
Lewington, the club’s goalkeeper coach, made just his second appearance of the season in United’s 3-2 defeat. Included at the expense of Jake Cole, Lewington performed heroics as Wanderers carved out chance after chance in the first half at the Gallagher Stadium.
The crowd were singing his name while Cole watched from the dugout but Lewington’s efforts proved in vain as John Still and Hakan Hayrettin’s side slipped to defeat.
Head coach Hayrettin said: “Chris did well. He’s been really patient.
“Me and John decided we were going to change it, which we did, and by the way, Jake Cole has been absolutely professional. He was cheering his team-mates on.
“He’s done a good job for us but we thought a fresh pair of hands at the back could make a difference and Chris played very well.”
Asked whether he’s earned himself a run in the side, Hayrettin added: “We’ll see.
I’ll speak to John and we’ll go from there. He did well, as you can see, and made some excellent saves.”
Ibby Akanbi scored twice as Maidstone came from a goal down to lead 2-1 but Dorking hit back to complete the double over the hosts. Hayrettin highlighted injury problems with the likes of Ryan Johnson, Saidou
Khan and Matt McClure on the sidelines, while Justin Amaluzor broke down in the warm-up.
But once again he was left reflecting on mistakes as Maidstone failed to hold on to another lead, missing the chance to climb back into the National South play-off places. Hayrettin said: “I’m not blaming injuries. We had a good go, our support again was fantastic, I just think in vital areas we didn’t do what was right.
“Before this little patch we were one of the teams letting in the least amount of goals.” Maidstone finished with 10 men after Luke Pennell was shown a second yellow card following a clash with Dorking match-winner Jason Prior. Pennell is free to play at Tonbridge on Boxing Day, with his ban kicking in against Dulwich on December 28. Hayrettin was baffled by the dismissal.
He said: “I can’t believe the decision the referee has given against Pennell.
“Prior’s got up and pushed him and then put his face into Pennell’s face and he’s sent our player off for aggressive behaviour.”
Hakan Hayrettin is taking Maidstone’s defensive frailties personally going into the Boxing Day derby at Tonbridge.
The Stones have lost 16 points from winning positions this season, a worrying trend that threatens to hit their National League South play-off chances. Mistakes have largely been to blame with the Stones conceding last-gasp goals against Bath, Braintree, Hampton and Dartford over the past couple of months.
They lost another lead on Saturday, going down 3-2 to Dorking, and head coach Hayrettin is determined to get to the bottom of it, even if it means calling head of football John Still at midnight.
Still thinks Hayrettin just needs to calm down but that’s easier said than done.
“I’ve been doing this job for over 25 years,” said Hayrettin. “The one thing I’ve learnt is when I get in that front door, I try and switch off.
“I’m intense until I get to that point and when I leave my house, wherever I’m going, I’m intense again. “The problem we face at this football club at the moment is our players are giving their maximum but we’ve got to try and eradicate those mistakes from their game.
“Do we take it personally? Of course we do. My point is I can’t switch off at the moment because it’s something which is chipping away at me, so I’m taking it home with me.
“I’ll be phoning my mate, John, at midnight sometimes and he’s laughing at me, but that’s the job. Until we can eradicate that, then I’ll be that intense. “We have a saying, never too high with success, never too low with failure, but that won’t take away from the fact we want to win just as much.” Tonbridge sit just outside the bottom two halfway through the season.
They’ve been no strangers to late drama themselves and are a making a good fist of their first campaign back in National South after a five-year absence. Hayrettin is looking forward to a special Kent derby atmosphere at Longmead.
He said: “Whoever this club plays, the atmosphere is fantastic.
“The Kent derbies I’ve been involved in, Ebbsfleet, Gillingham, there’s been great atmospheres. “We’ve just got to be ready. Tonbridge are a decent team and a good club.”