A rare meeting between a Football League side and a non-league outfit takes place this weekend in the FA Cup with Maidstone United welcoming Stevenage to the Gallagher Stadium on Saturday afternoon.
89 places separate Stevenage and Maidstone ahead of this FA Cup battle, which includes three divisions. In fact, Maidstone are still registered as semi-professional and are down in the National League South after relegation from the National League last season where they were still semi-pro. As is normally the case in the non-league ranks, the lack of funding and inability to move to becoming a professional side keeps affecting Maidstone.
The club are coming into this one after putting up a solid fight in the first 25 games of the National League South season, and with the campaign just past the halfway stage over Christmas, they are sitting fourth and in with a solid shout of getting into the playoffs. Maidstone are also coming into this game with one of the best defensive records across the South and North National League divisions, letting in just 30 goals in 25 matches.
Form was quite topsy-turvy throughout December, however, as Maidstone only recently put to bed a four-game winless run that saw them knocked out of the FA Trophy to Barnet 4-0. They were also thrashed 5-1 by Worthing before a 1-0 home loss to Chippenham Town and a 1-1 draw with Tonbridge. Maidstone returned to the win column last time out on Monday, however, beating Tonbridge just days after the draw with an own goal and a finish from Sam Corrie.
This is also the third FA Cup game of the season already for Maidstone, having edged past Chesham United in the first round with a 2-0 victory where Devonte Aransibia and Havani Levi Micael Armantchi scored a goal each. They then ket with League Two's in-form Barrow in round two which saw Corrie get another goal before a finish from Bivesh Gurung.
Stevenage have slipped off the boil in recent weeks and dropped from second place in League One and down to seventh. This still sees the club with only six losses on the board, which is only bettered by Barsnely, Peterborough, Bolton Wanderers and Portsmouth. What's more, Stevenage are only outside of the playoff spots on goals difference, having let in 25 goals and scored 37 to put them six goals behind the Tykes.