BLAIR'S BACK FOR A FRESH ASSAULT

ARON Blair played his full part in a National League South play-off final classic last season and now he wants another slice of glory with Maidstone United.

- JOHN LYONS

The 25-year-old scored Braintree Town’s second goal in their stunning 4-3 extra-time victory at Worthing last season. As he prepares to visit Boreham Wood in this afternoon’s Step 2 showpiece, he knows what it takes to triumph when it matters most.

“That was one of my best experiences in football,” said the striker, who netted 20 goals for the unfancied Iron last term.

“It was a great advert for Non-League football. It was back and forth and, being part of it, I was just thinking ‘what’s going on?’. When Reggie Lambe scored our fourth, I thought ‘surely they can’t score again?’.

“Fortunately we made it through, even though we’d also played extra-time in our previous two games.”

If Braintree did it the hard way, then Maidstone are following in their footsteps. The seventh-placed finishers took the scalp of Worthing, who came fourth, in a 2-0 Eliminator success and followed it up with a dramatic 2-1 semi-final victory against third-placed Eastbourne Borough.

In the latter, Blair proved the hero with a 90th-minute winner for a Stones side down to ten men following Charlie Seaman’s dismissal for two yellow cards with eight minutes left.