Richard Sinden vs Cray in the 2003 Kent Senior Trophy Final

In the early 2000s there was a short-lived rivalry between Cray Wandrerers and Maidstone United that fizzled out almost as quickly as it started. Both teams were sharing grounds, both were going for the Kent League title and both would take a very long time to go home …

6th APRIL, 2002. CRAY WANDERERS 1 MAIDSTONE UNITED 2. KENT LEAGUE.

Kent League football was once described to me as “war” by a Stones fan who ended up playing several seasons at that level. After watching this game I knew what he meant.

Maidstone were well off the pace in the title race when they visited Hayes Lane in early April, but what was then a large crowd of305, at least 50 percent of whom were from Maidstone, saw a brutal encounter.

The welcome started at the entrance, where the gateman looked like a bouncer from a Guy Ritchie film. On the field tackles flew in and when Cray took the lead in the first half a mulleted dwarf (25 years ahead of his time in the fashion stakes) started mouthing off at the away fans.

Richard Sinden equalised from the penalty spot, however, and Steve Marshall then scored an outstanding goal to win it (pictured). The violence of the challenges made this one of the most satisfying wins of the season. 

We assumed Cray hated us. It turned out they were like that with everyone and they ended up doing us a huge favour when player-manager Ian Jenkins scored a last minute equaliser agaist the leaders VCD Athletic in their final game. Cray’s players joined the Stones fans who’d travelled in going “fucking mental” on the terraces and that 2-2 draw allowed us to win the league at Deal the following Saturday … the friendship didn’t last.

10th AUGUST 2002: MAIDSTONE UNITED 2 CRAY WANDERERS 1. KENT LEAGUE. ATT: 353.

It was widely assumed Maidstone would walk the Kent League the following season and the margin of victory on opening day flattered Cray. With 40-year-old Steve Butler (above) looking regal, the Stones outplayed a Cray side who’d signed several of the VCD players who’d blown the league just a few months earlier.

Pedro Knight set up Richard Sinden for the opener after 25 minutes, but after wasting several chances, and having a goal disallowed, we were pegged back 15 minutes from time. There were seven minutes left when Sinden put in a cross that was headed home by Jamie Kempster.

We won our next eight league games, went on a joyous FA Cup run, winning away at Tonbridge and Newport and then Butler joined Peter Taylor at Hull and everything slowly went wrong …

15th FEBRUARY 2003: CRAY WANDERERS 2 MAIDSTONE UNITED 1. KENT LEAGUE. Att: 321.

Cray had knocked us out of the League Cup a couple of weeks earlier and this was the result that arguably started Maidstone’s slide. Club reporter Darren Lovell described what happened as follows: “a large crowd were anticipating a feast of football. Unfortunately, the fare on show was more cold buffet than haute cuisine in a desperately disappointing affair”.

Ricky Bennett scored the first after just two minutes and Richard Dimmock made it 2-0 ten minutes after the restart. Sinden pulled one back 15 minutes from time, but was denied an equaliser in the final seconds by Cray’s veteran keeper Micky Simmons. In truth Maidstone had been poor, but the lead was so great no one seriously expected us to “do a VCD”. And, before we did, we’d see a false dawn …

19th APRIL 2003, MAIDSTONE UNITED 3 CRAY WANDERERS 0. KENT SENIOR TROPHY FINAL, AT CHATHAM TOWN. Att 575.

By now Maidstone’s title-ambitions were tanking, after we’d taken just two points from three games, losing at Whitstable and blowing leads against both Herne Bay and Lordswood, whose teenage striker Danny Kedwell equalised with a 25-yarder.

The Kent Senior Trophy Final came four days later and two days before a crucial game with Hythe on Easter Monday. By now Cray were the last opponents Maidstone wanted to face. Ross Edwards, Paul Foley, Liam McCabe and Neil Davey were all injured and Ian Court (father of Riley) was cup-tied.

Cray were on top for a good hour, but Dimmock shanked a chance to put them in front and with 20 minutes left Adam Morrish played in Sinden, who left two defenders trailing and picked out the bottom corner. He scored a second from an Aaron Lacy long-throw and as Cray threw men forward, Adrian Webster and Jamie Kempster set him up for a hat-trick.

It was the definition of a pyrrhic victory. Two days later a physically shattered Maidstone team could only draw at home to Hythe. The league nearly came to our rescue when, having expunged Faversham’s results late in the season, they decided on the night before our final game of the season that the league would be decided on points average.

It was a farcical situation, with the announcement only coming at 10-15 on the Friday night, but in the end it was irrelevant. We drew our final game at Ramsgate and even if we’d won, there’s no guarantee legal action wouldn’t have followed. In any case, no Maidstone fan could seriously argue that Cray didn’t deserved the title.

From then on the rivalry fizzled out and the handful of times we’ve met have never had the same intensity – except perhaps when our erstwhile columnist Steve Watt took exception to a Cray player crunching Alex Brown a few years ago and he sprinted several yards to remonstrate with him. They don’t make them like that any more. (Watch from 7:45 for the industrial strength part.)