Maidstone 0 Gillingham 0

A crowd of 1,535 forced the kick off for last night's friendly at Sittingbourne's Central Park to be delayed for 20 minutes as the former arch-rivals met for the first time in 10 years.

The match, organised by Maidstone coach and former Gillingham player Steve Butler, generated a cash windfall for the Stones who are aiming for promotion to the Dr Martens League at the end of this season. The last time the two club meet the match finished goalless in a Football League, Division 4 match at Stones' former home at Watling Street, Dartford.

Gills boss Andy Hessenthaler played himself and lined up in a strong side that included Marlon King, Iffy Onuora and triallist from Tottenham, Yannik Kamanan. Other first teamers to appear included Jason Brown, Nyron Nosworthy, Guy Butters and Guy Ipoua.

All Gillingham eyes were on Kamanan, who was playing the first of two trial matches after arriving last week from White Hart Lane. He played the first half and had a couple of chances before being withdrawn.

King went close on a number of occasions in the first half only to be denied by Kevin Hudson in the Maidstone goal, while Stones¹ top scorer Richard Sinden hit the bar.

Gillingham dominated the second period but were unable to find a way through the home defence. King was guilty of missing a number of good chances and was also out of luck with a shot that struck a post and had another effort cleared off the line by Maidstone captain Paul Foley.

Butler said afterwards: "This was a fantastic night for Maidstone United and it rekindled some of the memories of games between the two sides when both teams were in the Football League. The most important thing was that the Stones players did not let themselves down and in the end they were superb."