Hemel Hempstead Town 0 Maidstone United 4
Vanarama National League South 23/04/22
Match Report by Allan Mitchell
Maidstone showed their class with a comprehensive win at Vauxhall Road in front of a crowd of over 900, swelled by the large number of supporters travelling up from Kent.
Hemel had a couple of early chances, with Sam Mantom seeing his shot deflected wide before Craig Fasanmade failed to get onto a Pierre Fonkeu cross, Gavin Hoyte blocking the ball as the Hemel striker honed in on goal.
After a quiet start, Stones then started to take more control with some slick passing and movement, and they almost took the lead in the 24th minute when Pattisson smashed a volley past Craig King and onto the underside of the bar, the ball bouncing down and away.
They finally went in front in the 37th minute when Hemel lost possession on the halfway line; the ball was fed upfield and then laid back to Sam Corne, who fired the ball past King from the edge of the box.
They went two up on half time when Jack Barham curled in a speculative effort from 25-yards-out; it got caught in the wind and looked to be heading over but dipped at the last second, dropping under the crossbar.
After losing Gus Scott-Morriss just after the break through injury, Mark Jones had to reshuffle, and Jacob Gardiner-Smith had to fill in at right wing-back.
Any hope of the Tudors getting back into the game ended on 55 minutes when Pattisson drove down the left before laying the ball back to Corne, who picked his spot to make it 3-0.
After this, the visitors took their foot off the gas, and Hemel almost pulled a goal back when Fasanmade broke clear, but Tom Hadler saved well. He made another superb save when Dan Wishart fired in a free-kick, the Stones stopper tipping the ball over the bar.
There was another injury blow for the home side when King had to leave the field with young ex-academy keeper David Saunders coming on for his league debut.
The young keeper made a decent save from Pattisson but was helpless shortly after when Jerome Binnom-Williams danced his way past a couple of defenders on the edge of the box before planting the ball into the top corner to wrap up the points.
Hemel: King, (Saunders 74), Scott-Morriss, (Hughes 54), Wishart, Westbrook, Kpekawa, Nembhard, Morgan-Griffiths, Gardiner-Smith, Mantom, Fonkeu, Fasanmade, (Cerulli 71)
Subs not used: Paul, Bunga.
Match Rating 4/5 Attendance 923. Tudors Man of the Match: Dominic Morgan-Griffiths
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