Bad Moon Rising

I've never seen Maidenhead beat Farnborough. I've managed to miss the few Magpie victories in recent years, and even though the visitors arrived at York Road on the back of a 5-0 defeat, the red moon shining like a beacon in the east for me did not suggest an omen of delight for the Stripes.

A quick glance at the opposition forum ahead of the game yielded little in the way of information tonight but an astonishing glimpse into their finances which to my untutored eye seemed to suggest they were £3 million in debt, and having repaid a lump sum of £10,000 to gain re-entry into the Conference South a year ago, had continued to pay down the debt at a grand total of £1 a month. Clearly one to watch in next summer's AGM Cup.

Maidenhead started the game in a similar mood to which they finished the one at Staines three days beforehand. However this time they found an implacable barrier to taking the lead in the form of on loan Leyton Orient goalkeeper, and ultimate man of the match Charlie Grainger. 

Follow the Hound

With eighteen minutes gone, Grainger denied the Magpies two full debutants in quick succession. Firstly he pushed a Tashan Adeyinka shot round the post, and then from the resulting corner tipped a Ryan Upward header onto the crossbar. Soon after Upward again went close with Grainger parrying his shot. Maidenhead continued to have the upper hand, with Mark Nisbet having an effort cleared off the line within two minutes of the restart after half time.

A substitution on the hour mark paid dividends for Farnborough as Dan Bennett came off the bench to fire home a loose ball after a Phil Page shot was blocked. 'Boro were then able to effectively stifle Maidenhead's attacking efforts and indeed for the remainder of the game looked most likely to score with Fey Okenbarmie drawing a couple of fine saves from Elvijs Putnins. 

One factor in the Magpies lack of threat was the substitution of effervescent Upward who suffered concussion following a blow to the head. This was part of a triple switch with twenty minutes left which had little effect on the game.

Deep into stoppage time a chance for an equaliser finally came when a ball into the box found Danny Green in space. The winger patiently waited to place his header wide of Grainger only for the keeper to keep his focus and pull off another excellent save to preserve his team's lead an ensured they took three points home.