Title hangover excused after derby defeat
Hakan Hayrettin joked Maidstone were still drunk from title celebrations after losing at Welling on Bank Holiday Monday.
United went down 3-2 at Park View Road, two days on from clinching the National South crown, as the Wings secured safety.
Stones players celebrated at the Duke of Marlborough pub in the town centre on Saturday night after their win over Chelmsford before reporting for training in preparation for Welling on Sunday morning. Hayrettin was desperate to keep Maidstone’s winning run going but, with the title in the bag, he could afford to have a little joke after the game. “Some of them might still be intoxicated, because I know I am, but I’m the manager!” he said.
“We take it all in jest but we still wanted to win.”
Hayrettin was frustrated as Maidstone missed the chance to finish the season with a 100% record in Kent derbies. But poor defending was punished as Welling secured their National South status at the expense of Billericay. Hady Ghandour cancelled out Harvey Bradbury’s opener but Bradley Stevenson and a second for Bradbury made it 3-1 before Joe Ellul’s consolation.
Hayrettin, who made four changes from the titlesealing win over Chelmsford, said: “I’m not going to take anything away from Welling, it was a local derby, and I’ve just told our players we need to defend better. Three long balls, three horrible goals.
“I wanted to win today, I didn’t come here to make the numbers up. We’ve made changes because we had to, and I wanted to have a look at other people.
“I wasn’t disappointed by that, I was just disappointed by three critical incidents in the game where we could have done better.
“I wanted to win all eight local Kent derbies. I don’t think anyone’s done that.
“We need to do better really if I’m being totally honest but the job had already been done.”
Maidstone thought they’d rescued a late point when Wings keeper Coniah BoyceClarke appeared to fumble the ball over the line. Referee Michael Ryan waved play on and Welling added their third. Hayrettin was convinced a goal should have been awarded and thought little of Ryan’s performance over 90 minutes. “It’s about 3ft over the line and the keeper must have been taking 20-25 seconds every time he was supposed to take a goal-kick,” said the Stones boss.
“We had him at Slough and we had him today and I’m thinking, is it me or is it him? But it can’t be me because I know what I saw. I thought he was terrible.”