Well beaten by Woking last night even though the score was only 1-0. They looked a class apart from Maidenhead and I would imagine it would have been clear to a neutral which team which was aspiring to the play offs and which was battling relegation.
Garry Hill seems to have invigorated Woking and with the incentive of last season's play off final disappointment they look a really good bet for promotion.
As for Maidenhead on the positive side the players continue to work hard to remain in contention for points but every defeat must sap the confidence that little bit further. This is nothing like Carl Taylor's relegation season when twice as much money produced heavy defeats week in week out, nevertheless the corner that needs to be turned is still nowhere to be found.
Matters have been made worse by Mark Nisbet's dismissal. With him on the pitch the defence looked capable of holding firm, he will now presumably receive a three match ban starting in a fortnight inconveniently timed to coincide with fellow defender Jamal Fyfield's return to York at the end of his loan.
The fixture list is also taking a bizarre turn, six out of the next seven league fixtures are at home (there are also two other home games during this period), followed by four away games. As with the 1997/98 it could well be that two late seasons games against Hampton could well seal the fate of both clubs although this time relegation rather than promotion is at stake.
An odd postscript (which ironically prevented one) was the referee's decision to reduce the stoppage time to 100 seconds after initially indicating five minutes which seemed reasonable given a half which included five substitutions, a protracted goal celebration and foul/handbags/double sending off incident which itself must have taken two minutes to sort out. Still as one Woking fan pointed out the extra time could have increased the score to 2-0 and made United's goal difference even worse!
I also spent some time yesterday at the Hammersmith and Fulham archive doing some research for Mark Smith's latest edition of Maidenhead United's history. I was specifically looking for details of Maidenhead's games against Shepherd's Bush at the turn of the twentieth century. Maidenhead were regular visitors to West London at this time and at least one of the games was played at Loftus Road, presumably on the same site as the current QPR ground. I was really lucky to find this information as the centre will be permanently closed next week as part of the cultural vandalism being wreaked on the borough by the local council whose shock doctrine philosophy views even David Cameron with suspicion as a dangerous pinko liberal.
4 comments:
" This is nothing like Carl Taylor's relegation season when twice as much money produced heavy defeats week in week out "
Unusual for you to talk about budgets, Steve.
I would imagine that - pre 'global financial crisis' - the average wage in the Conf South during Taylor's spell in charge was considerably higher than the current average wage. Some would argue that the standard was also much higher then, than it is now.
Also, I note that the amount Drax is paid in relation to Carl is not mentioned. You will obviously know more than I, but I suspect Hippolyte gets at least twice as much as Taylor did.
As it is, our final record after ‘that’ season with Carl was as follows -
P 42 W 8 D 9 L 25 F 49 A 99 GD -50 PTS 31
Using admittedly basic calculation, here’s how we would end up this season if we were continue as we have (bear in mind that a decent proportion of our points came in the very first month of the season) –
P 42 W 9 D 11 L 22 F 44 A 72 GD -28 PTS 38
Neither are much to be proud of, I'm sure you'd agree.
Several times I've seen it implied, if not stated outright, by you recently that, basically, all we need to do is cut out individual errors and the results will come. Although this may be true, surely there is only so many times you can write it?
I still don't think we will go down (although I haven't been to any games since Cinderford away). Do you think we will?
If the worst were to happen (and St Albans winning an appeal against their 10 point deduction would obviously increase our chances of finishing bottom, let alone being relegated), then presumably this would be the first time in generations that a Chairman at York Road had presided over two relegations during his/her tenure?
I don't understand why you think anyone could argue that standards have fallen in recent years. Consider the fact that all but one (Lewes) of the teams that have been promoted in the last three seasons (Eastbourne, Bath, Wimbledon, Newport, HAYU)have held their own in the division above despite being at great disadvantage in that they are semi pro teams in a division that is two thirds or more full time.
Likewise with the exception of Wimbledon teams that have come up with big support and the finance that comes with it (Chelmsford, Dover, Dartford, Farnborough) haven't exactly set the division alight.
The point about relegation is a false canard as the club didn't play in divisions where relegation was possible until the 80s and even since then have finished in relegation positions twice but been reprieved in addition to the two times we were actually relegated.
As for what will happen to us this season well the future is unwritten. At the moment we are not in as bad a situation as 87, 05, 06 or even 08.
Regarding my reports I'll continue to describe events as I see them, even it does as you say lead to repetition. It doesn't make it more or less true. Anyway you're welcome to come along and make your own mind up.
" Consider the fact that all but one (Lewes) of the teams that have been promoted in the last three seasons (Eastbourne, Bath, Wimbledon, Newport, HAYU)have held their own in the division above despite being at great disadvantage in that they are semi pro teams in a division that is two thirds or more full time "
Doesn’t this back-up my argument rather than yours, bearing in mind that all bar Wimbledon were playing in the Conference South in 2005/06?
For example, our final two games of that season were a 6-2 home defeat to Eastbourne and a 3-0 loss at Histon, both teams who were subsequently promoted to – and have remained in – the higher division.
Weymouth won the division that season. Their line-up when they beat us 4-0 at their place in Feb 2006 reads as follows -
Matthews, Tully (Wilkinson, 81), Parker, O'Brien, Bound, Harris (Downer 81), Elam, Smith, Nade, O'Connor (Jackson, 60), McGrath. Unused subs: Eribenne, Clark.
Jason Matthews, Steve Tully, Roy O’Brien, Matt Bound, Simon Downer, Lee Elam, Ben Smith, Raphael Nade, Craig O’Connor, Chukki Eribenne all names that I recognise; top players at that time and/or ones that would go on to better things (and I’ve probably missed some of the others)
Now I haven’t seen Braintree Town (or whoever is top of the Conf South at the moment) this season but they’ll have done very well to be able to put out a better side than that.
Not at all, the standard must be consistent if teams are regularly leaving the division and holding their own at a higher level.
Weymouth's team was a good one, but not as good as Wimbledon or Newport. Braintree are currently eleven points clear so look well placed to go up. They are certainly more of an effective side than Weymouth, so all things being equal I would expect them to do OK next season in the division above.
Post a Comment