We need a training venue to improve our play, says Hume

MAIDSTONE UNITED joint-manager Lloyd Hume says he is envious of his Dartford counterpart Tony Burman, writes Stephen McCartney.

The Stones suffered a 1-0 defeat in their first ever visit to Princes Park Stadium, when a rare mistake from goalkeeper Andy Walker presented Dartford striker Rob Haworth his 12^th goal of the season after 63 minutes.

Elliot Bradbrook, meanwhile, came within inches of scoring his sixth goal of the season in the 75^th minute, when his curling effort bounced agonisingly down off the underside of the crossbar.

Whilst the Darts are supported by their local council, who splashed out more than £6.5m on a 4,100 capacity stadium, the Stones remain homeless and have to find £740,000 themselves to return back home to the county town.

And Hume, speaking to www.kentishfootball.co.uk yesterday, urges Maidstone Borough Council to follow in the footsteps of Dartford and build the club a new stadium.

“I could go to any ground in our league and look with envious eyes, because we haven’t got one,” said Hume.

“The chairman’s working tirelessly to bring us back to Maidstone. I think that’s been publicly announced for the last four or five years. He’s been working for 10-15 years to do that.

“The reality is we’re in desperate need of a ground in town so we can get the level of support that Dartford have got. Until Dartford got this ground, their support was like every other club in our league.

“I’m sure if we went back to the county town, we would have a large number of supporters, which would bring a large gate through the door, which allows us bigger budgets and we can get some of the players that Dartford and Dover and clubs like that are actually vying for because at the moment, we can’t compete at all.”

Yet again, the Stones took plenty of support to Princes Park, and Hume, once again, urges those stay-away fans to watch the team play at Sittingbourne’s Bourne Park.

“I certainly enjoyed the fantastic facilities that they’ve got here and hopefully they’ll come along and support us like they do away from home - at home - because we dearly need that,” he said.

Maidstone United are due to welcome AFC Hornchurch to Bourne Park on Tuesday night, but with the big freeze returning, Hume revealed he faces yet another frustrating week to prepare his squad.

He said: “If it’s called off now we can play around our week, but the reality is now we won’t know until Tuesday lunchtime whether it’s going to be on or not.

“We train Monday evenings so if we can’t train Monday if means we haven’t trained Tuesday because we haven’t got the facilities to do that.

“We might get the lads in and take them on a run, but we need to do football at the moment. We’ve taken them on long road runs and we’ve worked hard off the pitch, but we need to get on a pitch and be able to pass the ball around.

“We need to get some set patterns of play because our level and quality of football has dropped drastically in the last eight weeks.

“The last time we played well was Dover away and we lost 3-0 and we created lots of chances and our last three games since then we’ve been poor. We’ve competed and fitness isn’t a problem, but quality certainly is at the moment.

“We haven’t played for two weeks, again it makes it really, really difficult. If everyone understands our predicament in terms of training grounds, that’s been hard for us as well.

“Dartford have the luxury of two training sessions every week and a 3G astro pitch where they can practice set-pieces, delivery and passing and that shows.

“All we’ve got at the moment is the ability to keep the lads fit.”

The Stones have slipped down two places to ninth in the Ryman Premier League pecking order following yesterday’s derby-day defeat.

Hume urges his side to bounce back against AFC Hornchurch, now one place above them, having beaten Essex rivals Canvey Island 1-0.

But Hume insists he hasn’t ruled out finishing in the play-off’s at the end of the season - they are currently five points adrift of fifth-placed side Carshalton Athletic.

“We need to bounce back quickly in terms of levels of performance and get some belief back in the side,” said Hume. “We’re a good footballing side - we’re not showing that.

“I’ve said all along, whether we come to Dartford and lose 10-0 - or win 10-0 - it’s not going to be the end of our play-off hopes - or theirs.

“We’re a good enough side to get into the play-off’s and we’ve got to believe that, push on, and get three points on Tuesday.”

Darts boss Burman knows all about the problems that Hume faces - he was in charge of the Darts when they shared Stonebridge Road and Thurrock’s Ship Lane.

“It’s just a credit to both clubs that we can pull in two thousand people and I thank all the Maidstone supporters who have come down and watch the game,” Burman told www.kentishfootball.co.uk.

“They’ve seen the new stadium and I hope they get their own one day and carry on like we have.”

Visit Maidstone United’s website: www.maidstoneunited.co.uk

Maidstone United v AFC Hornchurch
Ryman Premier League
Tuesday 3^rd February 2009
Kick Off 7:45pm
At Bourne Park, Central Park, Eurolink, Church Road, Sittingbourne, Kent ME10 3SB