Captain Kirk leads Weston to boldly go

Maidenhead United v Weston-super-mare had become an utterly predictable fixture, with a fourth goalless draw in five York Road meetings only being averted by a stoppage time Lee Barney winner last season. This was largely due to Weston adopting a typically Southern League attitude of thou shalt not pass with Maidenhead lacking the guile to break down a ten man defence.

Having surprised many last season by effectively transplanting a Bridgwater team into the Alliance South from the lower reaches of the Southern League, Craig Laird now looks to shaping up his team for a tilt at the play offs. The sheer lack of height in the Seagulls line up suggested that the hoof to the trees philosophy had disappeared and so it was proved as they ran out 3-1 winners.

For their part Maidenhead were missing midfielders Craig Taylor and Will Hendry, with a lack of suitable replacements leading to the Magpies fielding a very attacking line up, with a predictably disjointed look. However with United in fine form with thirteen points from the last five games, the first half was a tight affair with both sides showing much attacking intent without end product. The exception to this was Weston captain Ben Kirk's startling strike from distance to break the deadlock midway through the first half. Kirk hobbled off injured before the interval but had set the game up nicely for his team.

After the restart Weston had a good claim for a penalty turned down which cancelled out two half claims earlier on by Maidenhead and seemed to have sealed the points when Jamie Price finished off a neat free kick in the 63rd minute.

Maidenhead struck back quickly though when Manny Williams capitalised on a collision between the Weston goalkeeper and a defender to apply a sweet finish to score. The diminutive striker should then have completed the comeback when Martel Powell supplied him with a pass inside the penalty area but Williams put his effort into the side netting.

Still there was plenty of time left with the referee rightly taking into account the Weston time wasting antics, particularly from the hectoring Kane Ingram. The man in the middle did not help himself by being all too ready to engage in conversation during the game but by indicating a minimum of seven minutes stoppage time ensured that the Somerset gamesmanship was accounted for. Drax threw on Nevin Saroya as a target man with time on the watch and although the keeper was beaten forcing a Weston defender to head off the line Maidenhead could not conjure up the equaliser so it was annoyingly Ingram who had the last word by scoring from a breakaway attack.