Maidstone 5th Xl 0 : 7 Sutton Valence 4th Xl (Davies; Cockayne 4; Sheldon 2)
In the last pre-season friendly, Maidstone hosted a strong Sutton Valence 4s XI at Armstrong Road. Both sides fielded a good mixture of senior and junior players which tested some rusty skills and confidence over the ball.
The SVHC defence was probably the more practiced in the first half, when they forced Maidstone to look for longer passes to break through. This allowed more cut-outs providing SVHC opportunity to pressure the Maidstone defence, resulting in several short corners and other opportunities to score. The Maidstone keeper and centre and right back did a sterling job to try and stop these attacks on goal.
The second half became much more even with Maidstone’s Mick Emery joining the fray after first half umpiring to play centre mid-field. Both sides now began to have to work harder to gain possession in order to score. Sutton Valence profited from a few breakaways where their wings and centre mid continued to trouble Maidstone defence by moving the ball wide to the baseline and hitting across the D.
Next week Sutton Valence 4th Xl commence their Kent Open Division 4 League season with a home game against K Sports (Cobdown) 3rd Xl..