Maidstone 5 Canvey Island 2

PLAYING in front of their lowest home crowd for seven years, Maidstone United produced their best display of the season to beat Canvey Island 5-2 in the Ryman League Cup on Wednesday night.

Just 131 fans turned up at Bourne Park, but they missed an exhibition from Stones striker Luis Cumbers, who scored two goals and was instrumental in Maidstone’s best moves.

The forward, on-loan fom Gillingham, was in the right place at the right time to steer in a rebound after Ricky Wiseman saved Alex Tiesse’s shot in the 15th minute.

After earlier hitting the post the Essex side deservedly drew level through Ian Luck on 34 minutes, but a minute before the break Tiesse cut the ball back to Andy Martin, who swept the Stones back in front.

Nine minutes after the break Cumbers put Tiesse through on goal and he was upended in the area by Wiseman, who was lucky to escape with a yellow card.

Tiesse scored from the spot and then pounced on a defensive slip to make it 4-1 with 66 minutes gone.

Cumbers scored his second goal, his fourth in three games, when he turned in Jamie Maxton’s header nine minutes from time.

Canvey were finally rewarded for a gung-ho second half when Chirs Bourne grabbed a consolation goal in the 89th-minute.

* Full report in Friday’s Kent Messenger.