United 0
Maidstone 2
(Golding 29′, Gilbert 34′)
United bowed out of the Isuzu FA Trophy on Saturday, as Maidstone ran out winners at Plainmoor.
First-half strikes from Dajong Golding and John Gilbert did the damage, with The Gulls unable to turn the game around despite bossing the territorial stakes for long periods.
United manager Paul Wotton made three changes to the side that beat Maidenhead 2-1 last time out, with Dylan Morgan, Sonny Fish and Dan Hayfield taking the starting spots of Callum Dolan, Louis Dennis and Matt Worthington.
Just as they had done in recent weeks, Wotton’s side flew out of the traps, and were desperately unlucky not to be ahead early on.
Hayfield smacked an 8th minute free-kick against the post, before visiting glovesman Lenny Holden made a superb double-save five minutes later to keep out Jordan Young’s effort, before recovering quickly to parry Fish’s point-blank follow-up.
The visitors did steady themselves thereafter, and Lexus Beeden should have done better when he got on the end of a corner midway through the first period, only to see his volley clear the crossbar by some margin.
It was a still a real sucker-punch when The Stones hit The Gulls with a quick double either side of the half-hour mark.
With a low ball into the box causing chaos inside the Torquay box, it was Golding who eventually got the final touch to divert the ball into the back of the net following a goalmouth scramble on 29 minutes.
Five minutes later, with the men in purple still recovering, it was 0-2.
A swift break upfield saw Gilbert get in behind the United backline, and after drawing Hamon out of goal, the Stones man fired a diagonal low shot past United’s No.1 and into the back of the net.
Wotton’s men did their best to reduce the arrears prior to the interval without success, leaving plenty of work to do in the second half.
Once things got back underway, United did their best to get the goal that would put them back into the contest.
Unfortunately though, a well-drilled Stones backline gave The Gulls little encouragement.
Torquay enjoyed plenty of the ball but with Maidstone happy to pack their penalty area and defend what they had, there was little to report in terms of goalmouth action.
The Yellow Army had to wait until the 72nd minute for the next real chance of the game, as substitute Matt Jay got on the end of a delicious delivery from Young, only for Holden to once again come to his side’s rescue.
A last-gasp challenge prevented Palmer from slotting home three minutes later, as the defender-turned-striker showed an unexpected turn of pace to break into the box and fashion a goalscoring opportunity for himself.
United pressed and pressed until the final whistle, but sadly it wasn’t to be.
UNITED: 1. James Hamon, 3. Jay Foulston, 4. Jordan Dyer, 5. Sam Dreyer (c), 8. Jordan Young, 11. Dylan Morgan (16. Ed Palmer, 54′), 17. Sonny Fish (2. Denzel Akyeampong, 65′), 20. Dan Hayfield, 24. Sonny Blu Lo-Everton, 26. Jordan Thomas, 27. Matt Jay.
SUBS NOT USED: 13. Matt Wonnacott (GK), 29. Aidan Edwards.
Yellow Card: Young 30′, Palmer 65′, Dreyer 89′
MAIDSTONE: 13. Lenny Holden, 2. David Sesay, 3. Leo Hamblin, 4. Lexus Beeden, 5. George Fowler (c), 7. Jephte Tanga (20. Antony Papadopoulos, 69′), 10. John Gilbert, 12. Dajon Golding, 17. Riley Court, 22. Teo Kurtaran, 23. Hamzad Kargbo (14. Eweku Lucan, 59′).
SUBS NOT USED: 1. Nathan Harness (GK).
Yellow Card: Kurtaran 7′, Sesay 71′
Attendance: 1,624 (44 away)
