Rare goalless stalemate for Westleigh Park’s biggest crowd since start of the pandemic

In an entertaining affair, injury-hit Hawks shared the points with a Maidstone side who have now fired six blanks in their last seven league and cup matches.

It was Hawks’ first goalless draw of the season and only their second in 37 league, FA Cup and FA Trophy ties since the start of 2020/21.

In the 77 games across those three competitions that Paul Doswell has overseen as the club’s manager, it was only the seventh 0-0. And three of those were shoehorned into a four-game run (against Chippenham, Concord and Dulwich) in late January and early February 2020.

Failing to score for only the fifth time at home in the league under Doswell, the manager was looking on the bright side after following up a midweek 1-0 win at Tonbridge with another shut-out for loanee keeper Will Mannion.

And given Hawks had kept just one clean sheet in the previous 15 league and FA Cup ties prior to Tonbridge, that is a big leap forward - especially with the squad’s well-documented defensive injury woes.

‘That’s two clean sheets in two games, which is important,’ said Doswell.

‘Both teams had chances in a really entertaining game. Both teams contributed, you saw two teams trying to win. We were both down to the bare bones in terms of what we had available - it was a really good game in the circumstances.

‘I actually enjoyed watching it, and it’s not often you can say that.

‘It would have been harsh if either side had conceded late on. A draw was probably the fairest result.’

In front of a crowd of 1,554, the visitors started on the front foot, aided by the pace of Jermaine McGlashan and Christie Pattisson.

Michael Green picked up a second minute booking for bringing down the former, while Mannion blocked a cross-cum-shot from the latter.

Billy Clifford’s 30-yard free-kick clipped the top of the Stones wall, wrong-footing Millwall loanee Ryan Sandford, with the ball deflecting just wide.

At the other end, the lively Pattisson fizzed two efforts just over Mannion’s bar and Jack Barham headed over from a corner.

Hawks dominated the second half of the opening 45 minutes. James Roberts, Tommy Wright and Oscar Gobern saw efforts saved and Roberts curled another angled effort over the bar.

The best chance - of the game, as it turned out - fell to Roberts on 43 minutes. Played in by a lovely pass from Billy Clifford, Roberts had time to control the ball but instead went for a first-time lob that sailed over Sandford and the bar.

Roberts cutting in from the left and having a go would be a feature of the second period. On 53 minutes once such effort clipped the top of the crossbar, and late on another was beaten out at his near post by Sandford.

Wright, clear on the right side, lobbed Sandford but a defender was on hand to clear the danger while top scorer Jake McCarthy’s 20-yard half volley was straight at the keeper.

It was the visitors who went closest to a second half goal, midfielder Dom Odusanya’s shot from just inside the Hawks penalty area striking Mannion’s left-hand post.

While Roberts was a constant threat on the left, expectation levels were high when Abdulai Baggie received the ball on the other flank. But the end product was never there and Doswell lacked attacking options off the bench.

Ex-Hawk Roarie Deacon, playing at right back for Maidstone, was among the players booked by Dale Wootton, who infuriated both benches at times - Doswell picking up a yellow card for protesting after Wright had been shown a yellow.

Maidstone certainly didn’t look to shut up shop and take a point. Seven-goal top scorer Joan Luque, on the periphery of the action throughout, was taken off with Reece Grant on in his place. Another sub, Bivesh Gurung, saw a shot deflected for a corner by McCarthy’s block before firing another effort wide from the resultant flag-kick.

There was a brief moment of alarm for Hawks in injury time when Pattisson was in space in their penalty area, but couldn’t find a team-mate. In essence, that was the story of the entire match. There was a lot of good football, but the final ball - apart from Clifford’s pass to Roberts in the first half - was missing.

‘They started well, they were causing us problems with their pace, but in the second period of the first half we had probably our best spell of the game.

‘Maidstone have lost four and drawn one of their last five, but what you saw out there was a team battling and fighting for their manager.

‘They fielded six attackers in their starting XI due to injuries, but James Roberts had the best chance - you expect that one to go in.

‘We’ve got a lot of players out, and they’re all big players.

‘It’s a content dressing room. You always want three points, especially at home, but anyone who knows their football knows the team put a massive, massive shift in.

‘We’ve got seven points out of the last nine and I’m happy with that, given everything that’s gone on.’

Hawks: Mannion, Newton, Green, Oastler, Rooney, Gobern, McCarthy, Clifford, Baggie (Bailey, 84), Wright, Roberts.

Maidstone: Sandford, Deacon, Binnon-Williams, Hoyte, Brown, Odusanya, Phillips (Pavey 90+3), McGlashan, Barham (Gurung, 54), Luque (Grant, 74), Pattisson.