TISA Statement on Incident at Maidstone United

With regard to the incident before the Maidstone United v Truro City game on Sunday May 8^th where at least five innocent TISA members were falsely identified as “troublemakers” it remains the case that we still do not know who the perpetrators were of this cowardly and malicious act which could have resulted in a serious public disorder incident were it not for the admirable restraint shown by all concerned and the common sense and professionalism of the Maidstone officials.

 

With Truro City Football Club seemingly not interested in investigating this matter any further and seeking to draw a line under the issue with their recent statement we in TISA feel we cannot allow the reputation of our members and that of our Association itself to be tarnished in this way.

 

Despite claiming that the statement issued by TCFC was made jointly with Maidstone United FC, we understand that no such corresponding statement on this issue has been made by Maidstone which leaves the only evidence we have being that given to us repeatedly in person by various Maidstone officials and officers of the Kent Police Force that the information and photographs came from “your club”.

 

In the absence of any further investigation by either club we don’t know whether “your club” referred to officials of Truro City Football Club or perhaps even persons within  the official Truro City Supporters Club but we intend to use the official and approved channels open to us in order that we may find out.  We believe we owe it to our members to do this.

 

We have already sought the advice from the Football Supporters Federation (FSF) and on Monday May 16^th if we do not hear from TCFC that those responsible have been identified and dealt with appropriately, applying sanctions consistent with those applied on previous occasions by the club, then we will be making Subject Access Requests to both Football Clubs, Freedom of Information Requests to the Kent Police Force and letters to the National League.

 

We hope that this course of action can be avoided and that TCFC can work with TISA by contacting me the Secretary in order that we can put an end to this properly once and for all.

 

Simon Birch – TISA Secretary

Maidstone Utd 1 Truro City 0 (Maidstone win 3-0 on aggregate)

City's hopes of a second successive promotion came to an end in Kent, despite a brave fight in this National League South play-off second leg tie.
The visitors went into the game trailing 2-0 from the home leg, but in the first half they were better team and created several good chances without being able to take any of them them.
And the longer the game went on in the heat at the Gallagher Stadium, the tougher it became for City and Alex Flisher's 73rd minute goal following s quick counter-attack finally sealed their fate.

 

But despite the defeat it has been a superb season by Steve Tully' side to finish fourth, but unfortunately they fell just short at the end with that first leg defeat just too difficult to overcome.
For the game, Tully made three changes with Aaron Dawson coming in at right back for Shane White, with Connor Riley-Lowe returning at left back to allow Ryan Brett to move into midfield with Ben Adelsbury dropping to the bench.
And in the first half, City were the more dangerous side and knew that a goal that would get them right back into the match.
They took the match to the home side, with Dan Green and Cody Cooke both going close.
Dawson had a long range shot turned away by home keeper Lee Worgan, who then performed heroics to somehow keep out Cooke's flick with his legs following a corner.
With Matty Jay influential in many of the visitors' best moves, City continued to press without reward.
And they then suffered a blow early in the second half when influential skipper Arran Pugh had to go off injured with Jamie Richards taking his place in central defence.
Maidstone improved after the interval, but City still carried a real goal threat without being able to find a finish.
And when Flisher struck it was game over though City never gave up.
Over the two legs they competed well, but the lack of a goalscorer, with Isaac Vassell out injured, was telling.
In the final Maidstone will travel to local rivals Ebbsfleet utd on Saturday after they beat Whitehawk on penalties.
Maidstone: Worgan, Driver, Mills, Coyle, Parry, Rogers, Karagiannis (Sweeney 74mins), Healy, Dumaka (May 62mins), Taylor (Paxman 78mins), Flisher. Subs not used: Davies, Godmon.
CITY: Rice; Dawson, Pugh (Richards 47), Bentley, Riley-Lowe (Afful 60); Jay, Green, Knowles, Cooke (Adelsbury 70), Brett, Wright. Subs: Not used: White, McHale.
Goal: Flisher (73) 1-0.
City man of the match: Ollie Knowles.
Referee: Carl Brook

Crowd: 2508

By Rhod_Mitchell | West Briton | May 08, 2016

Truro City 0 Maidstone Utd 2

 

             

Truro City face uphill task after 2-0 home play off defeat by Maidstone
By Rhod_Mitchell | May 04, 2016

           

Truro City have it all to do to reach the National South play-off final after going down to a 2-0 home defeat to Maidstone United in Wednesday night's first-leg encounter at Treyew Road, writes Stuart James.
In front of a healthy crowd of 1,011, Steve Tully's side were second best on the night against a very direct but clinical Maidstone side.
A brilliant overhead kick by Joe Healy broke the deadlock on the half hour mark before Alex Flisher gave the Kent club a healthy lead for Sunday's second leg with the second ten minutes after half-time.

 

Truro found themselves under the cosh right from the start with a very direct Maidstone side causing problems from set plays.
The long throws of Flisher were causing no end of problems and from the first one inside the opening five minutes, a Maidstone shot deflected narrowly over the bar and the second was headed behind by a Truro defender.
The Truro goal was living a charmed life with another long throw causing panic in the penalty box and Maidstone defender Manny Parry poked the ball wide from close range.
Bobby-Joe Taylor was next to try his luck with a shot from distance that dipped just over the crossbar and a rare Truro attack almost ended in a freak goal for them as Tom Mills ' backpass rolled under the feet of goalkeeper Lee Worgan, who got back to hack the ball clear just before it crossed the line.
However, Maidstone's pressure finally told when, on 29 minutes, they broke the deadlock and it came from another long throw. Truro initially dealt with it, clearing high into the air, but Healy, with his back to goal, lashed a stunning bicycle kick that flew past Martin Rice in the Truro goal from ten yards.
Maidstone continued to apply pressure and the first half ended with Vas Karagiannis seeing a shot blocked,
Truro were far better at the start of the second half and created their best chance when a free kick into the box found its way to Aaron Bentley six yards out, but he volleyed wastefully over the bar. It proved a costly miss as well as within two minutes, Maidstone doubled their lead in the 56th minute.
A long ball over the top was not dealt with and Flisher took advantage of some poor defending by Bentley as the Maidstone wide man hammered the ball past Rice from 18 yards.
Truro responded well to that setback with Ben Adelsbury seeing a shot deflect wide of the upright, but Maidstone were proving a hard nut to crack with Jamie Coyle outstanding at the heart of their defence.
Ryan Brett tried his luck from long range for Truro, but fired straight at Worgan and Matt Wright was high over the bar with an effort from 18 yards.
By then, Les Afful and Ollie Knowles had come on as manager Steve Tully tried to freshen things up and Knowles almost grabbed a lifeline when Worley spilled a shot, but the substitute was unable to turn the loose ball home.
Afful then won his side a free kick in a dangerous position, but Ryan Brett curled the ball high over the bar and Worley punched a looping Wright header behind for a corner.
Time was running out for Truro though despite no lack of effort and they came agonisingly close to a goal in the first minute of stoppage time. Matt Jay delivered a fine cross from the right which Wright headed downwards, but the ball bounced up and off the face of the crossbar before going behind for a goal kick.
It was that sort of night for the home side.
CITY: Rice; White, Pugh, Bentley (Knowles, 74), Richards; Adelsbury, Green, Brett, Cooke (Afful 57), Jay, Wright. Subs (not used); Dawson, Mitchell, McHale.
Yellow cards: Cooke, Knowles.
MAIDSTONE UTD: Worgan (capt); Driver, Parry, Coyle, Mills; Karagiannis (Sweeney 75), Rogers, Healy, Taylor, Flisher, May (Dumaka 80). Subs (not used): Davies, Paxman, Godmon
Goals: Healy (27) 0-1, Flisher (56) 0-2.
Referee: Tim Wood (Gloucestershire)
Crowd: 1011

Truro City 1 Wealdstone 2

A City team surely unrecognisable from the one likely to start the home first leg of Wednesday's promotion semi-final against Maidstone United was unable to end their remarkable National League South season with a win.
All the action of a distinctly end of season affair came in the final 20 minutes, with the match seemingly heading to a 0-0 draw, with little of the excitement of the two teams' first meeting when City came back from 4-0 down to draw 4-4.
The deadlock was broken after 71 minutes with an amazing 45-yard lob from just inside the Wealdstone half by Les Afful which caught out stranded Wealdstone keeper Jonathan North.

But City's lead was short lived as within two minutes, much-travelled Wealdstone sub Jefferson Louis made it 1-1 with a low shot into the far corner after the ball had come back from the bar.
And with less than ten minutes left, City's Connor Riley-Lowe was perhaps harshly penalised for handball, as a close range cross struck him and Louis easily scored the penalty for what proved to be the winner.
It was a result though that did not really matter to a City side who had already clinched fourth in the league with the 0-0 draw at Havant & Waterlooville.
And with the play-offs very firmly in his mind manager Steve Tully rang the changes and even made his first appearance of the season himself at sweeper.
But there was an early blow for City when striker Craig Duff with an ankle problem and is set to miss the play-offs, leaving City short of options with top scorer Isaac Vassell struggling with a hamstring problem
The first half was something of a non-event in the late April sunshine with City reserve keeper Tom McHale the busier of the two keepers and with the teams sharing 31 draws between them in the league this season a 32nd was looking very probable.
McHale, who was standing-in for City's supporters' player of the season Martin Rice, again impressed at the start of the second half with a couple of smart stops.
However, he had no chance with either Wealdstone goal, with City just glad to get through the match with no more injury concerns, though they did finish the game with ten men as sub Matty Jay went off as a precuation.
Now the focus is solely on the first leg match against Maidstone at Treyew Road on Wednesday evening (7.45pm) with the players taking to the pitch after the games to practise penalties.
And that match is sure to be a much more high octane clash than this rather tepid match,
The second leg is at Maidstone on Sunday week, with the winners meeting either Ebbsfleet or Whitehhawk (who beat Hemel Hempstead 3-0) in the promotion final.
CITY: McHale; Pugh, Tully, Bentley (Richards 67); Mitchell, Knowles, Dawson, Cooke, Riley-Lowe; Duff (Jay 15), Afful (Wright 78). Subs (not used): Brett, White.
WEALDSTONE: North; Mcleod-Urquhart, Smith, Parker, (Louis h-t) Hamblin, Godfrey, Wright, Cadmore, Demetriou (Lucien 63, Davies, Binns (McGleish 83). Sub (not used): Ball.
Goals: Afful (71 ) 1-0, Louis (73) 1-1, Louis (82 pen) 1-2.
Referee: Adam Ricketts.
Crowd: 719.


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