MAIDSTONE PRODUCED ONE of the great FA Cup upsets after Sam Corne downed Ipswich with a 66th-minute winner.
Corne had been the hero in round three against Stevenage and further etched his name into Stones folklore with a fine second-half finish to send George Elokobi’s National League South side into the fifth round of the competition.
Stones were indebted to goalkeeper Lucas Covolan, who made a string of saves before Lamar Reynolds excellent 43rd-minute lob dared the 4,472-travelling fans from Kent to dream.
Jeremy Sarmiento levelled for Ipswich at the start of the second half, but the Championship club were toppled when Corne rifled home with 24 minutes left at Portman Road to continue the fairytale run of the sixth-tier side.
Maidstone had banked £231,375 (€270,677) in prize money on their way to the fourth round and while they had already knocked out League Two and League One opposition, Ipswich were a step up in class.
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Town boss Kieran McKenna made 10 changes from Monday’s draw at fellow promotion hopefuls Leicester, but it was still one-way traffic early on. Former Ireland U21 international Jack Taylor played the full game for Ipswich, contributing an assist, while Marcus Harness was an unused substitute.
The non-league outfit astonishingly took the lead with 43 minutes played: Maidstone broke from a corner and Sole produced a wonderful lofted pass through to Reynolds, who collected and sumptuously scooped over Christian Walton with his left foot from 18 yards to spark pandemonium.
Ipswich hit back in the 56th minute. After Stones centre-back Paul Appiah had a pass intercepted, the hosts punished the visitors’ out-of-position defence with Taylor finding Sarmiento, who curled into the corner for his second goal since arriving on loan this month.
All eyes were now on if the fairytale run of sixth-tier Maidstone would crash to juddering halt but third-round hero Corne had other ideas.
It was Sarmiento who gave away possession to Reynolds by the halfway line and Stones scorer turned creator with a pass into Corne, who impressively held off Edmundson and rifled home from 12-yards with 24 minutes left.
Maidstone held on, and progressed into the fifth round. The story continues.
