Sutton United put on a real show on the day that the club’s hall of fame was launched.

Several members of Sutton’s previous championship winning squads plus John Rains and Barrie Williams, the previous two managers to guide the club to that honour, saw the class of 2011 move a step closer to the Ryman Premier League title in emphatic style on Saturday.

United could even afford to miss a first-minute penalty but once Darren Ebsworth’s superb 24th minute free kick had put them in front, the outcome was never in doubt.

Richard Jolley’s return after a successful loan spell at Wealdstone, where he had bagged two hat-tricks including one against Maidstone, saw him score twice more and hit the top of the division’s goalscoring list for the campaign, a list he has headed in three of the past five seasons.

United were awarded a penalty after 18 seconds but, having been bundled over by Reis Boyle, Craig Dundas stepped up in the absence of the suspended Andy Forbes only to see his weak penalty pushed out by Andy Walker.

The keeper also blocked Dundas’s follow-up before Karl Murray scrambled the ball against the post and Maidstone eventually cleared.

Soon afterwards, Tommy Kavanagh volleyed wastefully over from a fine Leroy Griffiths cross following a long clearance by Kevin Scriven.

Fears that it might be a frustrating afternoon were heightened when Alex Fisher missed a glorious chance for the visitors when he mis-kicked Ronayne Marsh Brown’s cross wide at the near post.

Kavanagh went close again with a rather better effort, thumping a shot just wide from 20 yards after Ebsworth’s corner had been headed out.

The breakthrough then came when Colin Richmond was penalised for a foul on Griffiths just over 30 yards out.

Ebsworth’s free kick, struck with power, was blocked by Fisher with his arm as he jumped up, earning the Maidstone player a booking and Ebsworth another ten yards.

This time he went for subtlety and produced a delivery that would have pleased any free-kick expert at any level, curled over the ‘wall’ and in to the top left hand corner of the net.

Seven minutes later, his growing dead-ball prowess produced a second, a perfectly delivered corner glanced on at the near post by Dundas and hammered in from close range by Jolly.

The second half might have been a different prospect had Scriven not made a good save from a Jay Saunders header just before the interval.

Saunders had escaped the Sutton defence to meet Richmond’s cross in a position from which he should have done better.

But, in the event, United came out strongly after the break and within 20 minutes had ended the game as a contest.

Dundas should have scored just three minutes in, put through by the excellent Kennedy Adjei but unable to beat Walker as the keeper came out.

Eight minutes later his headed flick to a long pass sent Jolly through an equally big gap in the middle of the Maidstone defence, and this time Walker was left helpless by a crisp and confident shot.

He was picking the ball out of his net again within five minutes, Jolly laying a Dundas pass delightfully in to the path of Griffiths, whose finish was even more emphatic, and only saved himself from having to do it again two minutes later by acrobatically tipping over another well-struck effort from Kavanagh.

At that point any score looked possible for United, but they were immediately slowed when a horrible mix-up between Karim El-Salahi and Scriven when the keeper came unnecessarily outside his penalty area to clear left substitute Gary Wharton with an open goal.

The speed with which Wharton followed the ball in to the net and ran it back to the centre circle suggested Maidstone sensed a comeback, but although Paul Doswell became temporarily agitated on the touchline as his team briefly seemed to lose focus, the afternoon soon returned to its previous course and U’s kept the pressure on the Maidstone defence.

Several promising positions came to nothing due to a wayward final pass or an inability to stay onside, but in the closing seconds the relentless harrying proved too much for Boyle, whose backpass to Walker was hopelessly underhit and allowed Griffiths to square the ball unselfishly across goal and give substitute Bradley Woods-Garness a tap-in.

Sutton: K Scriven, S Downer (sub B Woods-Garness 61), D Ebsworth, K Murray, K El-Salahi, S Page, T Kavanagh, K Adjei, C Dundas, R Jolly (sub F Orilonishe 74), L Griffiths. Subs n/u S McKimm, A Bray, W Shaw. Goals: Ebsworth (24), Jolly(31, 56), Griffiths(61), Woods-Garness(89). Booked: Downer (42-persistent infringement).

Maidstone: A Walker, N Paul, R Marsh-Brown, J Saunders, C Abraham, R Boyle, M Phillips(sub S Glover 65), C Richmond (sub S Johnson 72), T Whitnell (sub G Wharton 51), D Hockton, A Fisher. Subs n/u T Mills, L Harvey. Goal: Wharton(64). Booked: Fisher(23-deliberate handball).

Referee: T Mason (Sidcup) Attendance: 622.