Football Season Guide

Maidstone’s remarkable journey goes on as the small club from Kent look to continue their unstoppable rise. They have just won back-to-back promotions after playing some excellent, slick attacking football, and are getting ready for their first ever taste of the top flight of the non league. It is a big challenge for a team that was playing with much more modest outfits just a couple of years ago. But the Stones have shown that they are not afraid to take up a challenge and are instead eager to get into it and try their best. They are also an innovative club because they are the highest one in the football pyramid that uses an artificial grass pitch. It is something that the rest of the league are not accustomed to and it is certainly an advantage for Jay Saunders’ men. The manager has forged his reputation in recent years and knows that he can take this team up another level in the coming year. He was not afraid to go head to head with strong sides like Sutton and Ebbsfleet when his men were newcomers last year too. Indeed, the Stones dramatically defeated the much more financially powerful Ebbsfleet in the play-off final via a penalty shootout and will be now itching to get going and give it their best in the quest to stay up. Their squad does not look that ominous or stacked with experience but flair players like Vasilis Karagiannis, Alex Fisher and Bobby-Joe Taylor are capable of lifting their level and being pretty good for the team. The one big loss during the summer was that of Manny Parry as the regular centre-back chose the advanced of Margate. Yet Anthony Acheampong is a pretty fine replacement and should be able to slot in nicely. Tom Murphy struggled last season at Dover but he is a good wide forward and can have real impact too. Ben Greenhalgh, the reality star, is another interesting signing and he comes off a very good season at Concord Rangers where he scored 13 goals off the wing. There is still a feeling that the squad is a bit lightweight but the Stones certainly have a fighting chance of beating the drop.