ACE ASANTE ON FIRE AS MOORS MAKE STONES PAY

AKWASI Asante was the hat-trick hero as Solihull Moors claimed a first away win since the opening game of the season at the expense of below-par Maidstone.

The Moors hotshot ruthlessly tore through the Stones defence to turn the tables on Liam EnverMarum’s opener.

“To score four goals away from home and the manner in which we played our football, I think everyone would agree we were deserved winners,” beamed Moors boss Marcus Bignot.

“That leaves us four games unbeaten now and we are delighted.”

In contrast, Maidstone have won just once at home this season – and manager Jay Saunders was left deflated by his side’s showing.

“Whatever level of football you play at, if you gift the opposition four goals then you are not going to win the game,” he moaned. “We literally gave them all of their goals and kept giving the ball away. It was a shambles.”

Both sides threatened in a lively opening but it was the Stones who took the lead on 20 minutes – Enver-Marum converting Ben Greenhalgh’s excellent cross at the second attempt after keeper Nathan Vaughan blocked his initial attempt.

The advantage, however, didn’t last long – six minutes in fact before a fine sweeping move involving Asante and Shepherd Murombedzi resulted in Jamey Osborne sending the ball to the back post where Omari Sterling-James volleyed past Lee Worgan.

Suddenly, Solihull had their tails up and within eight minutes they were in front. Dan Sweeney was adjudged to have brought down Asante just inside the box and the Moors front man dusted himself down to send Worgan the wrong way from the penalty spot. Then, four minutes later, Asante latched onto a mistake by Sweeney and kept his composure to fire past Worgan and Moors were 3-1 up. The Stones, however, stuck to their guns and pulled a goal back just before half time when Greenhalgh’s free-kick was headed in by Sweeney. Yemi Odubade almost pulled them level with a header which was blocked on the line, but in truth, Maidstone never really looked like getting back into the game. And Moors wrapped up the points on 64 minutes when Asante brilliantly curled an effort into the corner for his hat-trick.