Maidstone United 1 Dover Athletic 0 match report: Captain Sam Corne gives Stones victory in National League South Kent derby

Skipper Sam Corne scored the winner on his return to the starting XI as Maidstone beat Dover in the Boxing Day derby.

Corne, starting a league game for the first time in six matches after nursing an ankle injury, headed home the only goal midway through the second half.

He went on to make a crucial goalline block to deny Whites centre-back Jalen Jones a late equaliser in front of a crowd of 2,830 at the Gallagher Stadium.

Maidstone made most of the first-half running in their first Boxing Day home game since beating Margate 4-0 in 2013.

That didn’t translate into chances with Dover, who caused early panic in the Stones box from a George Wilkinson corner, defending in numbers .

Whites dealt well with crosses coming into the box, notably Jones, who won a series of headers.

For Maidstone John Gilbert sent a half-volley narrowly wide after the ball dropped his way from a Riley Court corner midway through the first half.

Court dragged wide after picking up possession centrally and Deon Moore, who did much of his best work pulling out wide, sent a header into the side-netting from Corne’s cross.

The hosts’ best moment of the half came shortly before the break when Antony Papadopoulos struck the post from 20 yards after creating space for the shot.

Court saw his deflected strike go narrowly wide after pinching possession driving forward early in the second half.

He then teed up Papadopoulos, who fired over from the edge of the box.

Maidstone threatened again, this time on the counter, as Moore collected Papadopoulos’ pass down the left and ran at the Dover defence but the finish didn’t match as Mitch Walker made a comfortable save.

The Stones’ persistence was rewarded with the opening goal in the 64th minute.

Moore popped up on