Aveley 0. Maidstone United 3

AVELEY'S optimism as they went into this evening's Vanarama National League South clash with Kent rivals Maidstone ultimately proved misleading as the Millers ended up on the wrong end of an emphatic scoreline - albeit the third goal against them may have been a 'ghost' one.

Millers went into Monday's (2 December) clash on the back of some positive results, but they found themselves pushed onto the back foot in the opening exchanges.

Eventually they found their feet and on 15 minutes Tyrese Owen threatened with a shot that went narrowly wide.

However, the visitors - who moved up to tenth with the victory - regained the ascendancy and just before the half hour Matt Rush took aim from outside the box and his effort, with the aid of a slight deflection, beat Millers keeper Carey Bloedorn and nestled into the bottom corner.

Things might have been worse for the hosts just before the break when Maidstone were awarded a penalty when Owen was adjudged to have handballed in the box, but Bloedorn came to his side's rescue by saving the subsequent penalty from Sam Corne.

Aveley were positive in the early stages of the second stanza, but were unable to break down their visitors' resolute defence.

And that failing proved costly on 75 minutes when a long delivery by Ben Brookes towards Reiss Greenidge resulted in the Stones player nodding it across goal for George Fowler to finish from close range!

With five minutes to go Maidstone ensured there was to be no comeback with a third goal, although there was some mystique over the decision.

Matt Bentley drove a powerful effort straight at Bloedorn which the keeper spilled and play moved on. However, a goal was given following consultation with the linesman, who had stood his ground with a raised flag, much to the chagrin of the Millers keeper.