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Maidstone United shocked the sports world by beating Ipswich Town in an FA Cup fourth round matchup on Saturday.
The Stones currently feature in the sixth tier of the English soccer pyramid, five divisions behind Championship side Ipswich. In fact, Maidstone are currently 98 total places below Ipswich in English soccer.
Despite being massive underdogs for the fixture, FA Cup magic struck again in the epic match in Suffolk.
Before the game, Maidstone’s manager George Elokobi to his players and a group of fans outside of the stadium. The former Wolves defender proclaimed that his group are “history makers” and the team would “enjoy the game” on the day. Elokobi would certainly be right on both accounts.
Visitors take advantage of two significant counter attacks
Ipswich essentially dominated their lower level opponents throughout duration of the game. Nevertheless, Maidstone took a shock lead just a few minutes before the halftime break. The visitors struck on the counter attack in the 43 minute with a clever cross-field pass from Liam Sole to Lamar Reynolds.
The forward raced free on goal and brilliantly chipped the ball over the Ipswich goalkeeper to give Maidstone the lead. Reynolds’ finish was surely not indicative of a player that has been struggling in front of goal in league play. In fact, the striker had previously not scored at all during the current campaign.
Ipswich, however, would fight back to level the scoreline in the 56th minute. The Blues grabbed the goal through patience and persistence going forward. Jack Taylor picked out Jeremey Sarmiento near the Maidstone penalty area and the Brighton loanee converted his shot through a defender for the goal at the near post.
Despite the massive amount of chances for Ipswich, Maidstone struck again to retake the lead just 10 minutes later. Reynolds this time provides a pass towards Sam Corne and the midfielder struck a beautiful left-footed shot into the back of the…
Source link : https://worldsoccertalk.com/news/sixth-tiered-maidstone-stun-ipswich-for-historic-fa-cup-victory-20240127-WST-485879.html
Author : Chris Moore
Publish date : 2024-01-27 15:45:22
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