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John Still said no keeper would have saved Noah Chesmain’s wonder strike as Maidstone marched on in the FA Cup.
All the goals came in the second half as the Stones beat Kings Langley 4-1 in the final qualifying round yesterday.
The highlight was Chesmain’s free-kick which gave them the comfort of a 3-0 cushion against their Southern League opponents.
With a tiny gap to aim for, and the angle against him, he somehow found the top corner with a brilliant strike that went in off the post.
Stones head of football Still said: “I’ll tell you what, he comes up with them, doesn’t he? He’s got a great strike.
“I was almost in line with it. I couldn’t see how he was going to score.
“I knew he was going to shoot, I could tell he was going to shoot and I thought, ‘I don’t know where you’re going to put it.’
“It was a fantastic free-kick. I don’t care who was in goal, I don’t think you’re going to save it.”
It was Chesmain’s third goal this season, and he also has five assists to his name after setting up Ryan Johnson’s opener from a corner.
Saidou Khan and a late Jonny Edwards spot-kick completed Maidstone’s tally before a bizarre penalty decision against Jake Cole gave Langley their injury-time consolation.
Such an emphatic victory hadn’t looked likely at half-time but Maidstone are through to the first round for the sixth year running.
Still said: “When games are tough, and they are tough for all teams at different times, you rely on people to come up with something to win you games and spark the team.
“A bit earlier in the season I’m not sure we would have had that but we do have that now.
“When we get in a hole we find a way of getting out of it and, you know what, I’ve had this before and it can change a lot of things.
“The first goal, the first right pass to lead to a goal, the goalkeeper making a great save, you need someone to come up with something.
“We’ve had that in a few games and we’ve done that today, so that’s a plus.”
Still and head coach Hakan Hayrettin had no complaints with the second-half sending-off of Ross Marshall.
The former Ipswich man was dismissed on his home debut after a clash with Harry Crawford.
Marshall reacted following a foul, and while replays showed Crawford landed a punch, both men had to go.
Still said: “It’s a red card. He’s been kicked off the ball and then Ross has chased him. He shouldn’t have done what he did.
“We’ll have a word with him because what you can’t do is put your team in a difficult position but he’s young and he’ll learn from it.”
The first-round draw will be shown live on BBC2 tomorrow at 7pm.
