Maidstone United continued their fine start to the campaign with a gutsy win at Ramsgate.

The Stones moved up to fourth in the Ryman League Premier Division table after a goal two minutes from time from sub Lloyd Blackman gave them an unlikely 2-1 victory.

Target man Meshach Nugent gave the visitors the lead in the seventh minute after some fine work from strike-partner James Pinnock.

Pinnock chased a long ball down the left and pulled the ball back from the byline, behind an onrushing defender and to the feet of Nugent.

The former Dulwich Hamlet frontman spun expertly to outwit a defender before firing past Jack Delo into the corner of the net to delight the travelling fans in the crowd of 430.

Ramsgate got back into the game 10 minutes later when former Stones striker Mo Takaloo sent the impressive Andy Walker the wrong way from the spot after Ben Lewis had been penalised for handling an Aaron Firth shot in the box.

It was Takaloo's fifth goal of the campaign and fourth in three home games.

A testy game threatened to boil over when referee Constantine Hatzidakis showed Stones right-back Nathan Paul a straight red card for a seemingly innocuous clash with Joe Dowley.

Dowley slid in to tackle Paul by the touchline on the half-way line after 39 minutes but Paul's trailing leg appeared to catch the left back and after an angry reaction from the nearby Rams bench, Paul was dismissed.

After the break Walker was kept busy by the lively Ramsgate frontline but they could not find a way past the former Bromley man and on a late foray forward Maidstone grabbed the points for their third win in a row.

Roland Edge's 88th minute cross from the left was not cleared and popped up for Blackman to guide a header to Delo's left from eight yards.

Maidstone are five points adrift of leaders Ashford, who have won six out of six.