Jacob levels cracker of a match

Football at Christmas seems to have converted even sceptics like Arsene Wenger and the three games I saw over the festive period demonstrated why, as they provided a more entertaining spectacle than you would usually expect of a Saturday afternoon at other times of the year.

The first two at Arsenal and Harrow (for Hendon v Wingate & Finchley) were characterised by unforced errors and indiscipline which in the former allowed QPR a sniff of a point in a game where they were woeful for 80 minutes, whilst in the latter Hendon were gifted the points as Wingate & Finchley's enterprising forward play was let down by sloppy defending. All in all I saw three red cards, four penalties (two scored, two saved) and seven goals, the pick of which was a delightful curling chip from outside the penalty area by Wingate & Finchley's Karl Oliyide. The best was saved til last though as Sunday's trip to Eastbourne to see the Magpies was rewarded with an outstanding game of football typified by opening attacking play. 2-2 was a fair result as although both teams could have won, any further score would have seen one snatch the three points to the other's chagrin.

All the action over the three games could have only been helped by the coincidence of Christmas with I'm sure players rushing around to see family and friends, if only over indulging a little, and the wet weather producing heavy pitches which must have sapped the energy further to open the play up more than is usual.

The final game down in Sussex was of course the second in three days for both clubs, with Drax managing his squad well to cover those not quite fit to go again. This involved Harry Pritchard coming in at left back, with Leon Solomon moving over to his preferred right back slot, allowing Devante McKain to replace Simon Downer in the centre of defence. In midfield Ashley Nicholls replaced Ryan Upward whilst Jacob Erskine got a rare run out upfront, replacing DJ Campbell. Finally Reece Tison-Lascaris came in on the left wing for Dave Tarpey.

Both managers set up their teams in an enterprising fashion, which from the kick off led to an open game which swung from end to end for ninety minutes. Overlapping full backs meant the home team practically defended with three at the back which was met smartly by United's 4-3-3 formation which saw Green and Tison-Lascaris pin the defence back, feeding off the powerful presence of Erskine at centre forward.

Fired up by a Boxing Day defeat at south coast rivals Whitehawk, Eastbourne drew first blood by taking the lead in the fourteenth minute. Will Britt managed to tip a Frankie Raymond shot over the bar but from the resulting corner on the left by Simon Johnson, Gavin McCallum headed in. However having seen signs of vulnerability already in the home defence, the goal only served to push United harder in search of an equaliser.
The pace of Tison-Lascaris was the chief worry for the home defence, and the winger went close to a goal when breaking clear only for goalkeeper Lewis Carey to deflect it wide for a corner, from which McKain had a header cleared off the line by Johnson. It was then Green's turn to go one on one but a hesistation to check for an offside flag saw the chance lost.
The equaliser finally came just after the half hour mark when a long kick forward by Britt caused chaos in the Borough box, Tison-Lascaris taking advantage of Carey going awol to whip in a ball across the face of the six yard box which Marvin Hamilton could only turn into his own net.
Despite the game returning to level terms the desire of both teams to attack was not quenched and a topsy turvy game continued with the second half essentially a replica of the first.
So it was that Eastbourne regained their lead within six minutes of the restart when Britt could only parry a shot from Dean Sinclair, McCallum sweeping home the loose ball. The Magpies were level again by the hour mark when a Tison-Lascris cross was powered in by the head of Erskine.
The big forward then almost won the game from Maidenhead as he manfully stood shoulder to shoulder with defender Matt Aldred, staying on his feet to unleash a powerful shot from distance which was pushed wide by a fully stretched Carey.
At the other end it was the tricky wing play of McCallum which was giving the United defence the most problems, to the extent that Sports boss Tommy Widdrington could afford to leave strikers Richard Pacquette and Kane Haysman on the bench. Still it was United who almost had the last word when deep into stoppage time substitute Lanre Azeez fired in shot from the right which was pushed behind by Carey. From the corner Maidenhead elected to keep the ball in the corner and the final whistle soon blew.
The outcome was fair to both teams with perhaps Maidenhead feeling they could have snatched the three points although Eastbourne enjoyed the lion's share of the play in the final third of the match.
The result once again reflected Maidenhead's resilience away from home, but any FA Trophy replay aside there will be no trips away from York Road until February, so its in SL6 that the Magpies must cash in and power up into the top half of the table.

Elvijs dives way down to save Maidenhead

I really don't know what to make of yesterday. Farnborough should have completed taking six points off Maidenhead for the season on the balance of play and chances, even if you disregard the last minute save. Yet it wouldn't have surprised me if Maidenhead had completed a smash and grab victory against the odds on a eerie afternoon played out in front of the lowest crowd I have ever seen at Cherrywood Road (reportedly accurately as 250) and in the second half a beautiful sunset which captivated everyone where I was standing as Farnborough laid siege to the Maidenhead goal at the other end.

To be honest I could have happily stayed in the Prince of Wales all afternoon, a wonderful pub located amongst the town's seemingly endless suburban sprawl (where do people go shopping in these parts?). Two pints of Hophead went down very nicely and I was seriously contemplating the Dark Star Espresso Stout before duty called and we headed off to the match.

Walking completely unchallenged through the complimentary ticket entrance I emerged into the ground Mr. Benn style before shuffling across the face of the still not quite finished big stand to join the few who had travelled from Maidenhead under the covered terraced. Sadly we had to share this part of the ground with the local version of the Archbishop of Banterbury and his guffawing mates (sample quip when Reece Tison-Lascaris was receiving treatment "put him down").

Fortunately there was enough action for this to be only a minor irritation in a half which was characterised by individual defensive errors by Maidenhead United providing enough opportunities for Farnborough to have won the game by the interval.

By keeping two banks of four close together Farnborugh were able to suffocate most of Maidenhead's early attacking endeavours whilst by contrast the space afforded the home team in the middle helped them to force a number of errors as the United defence attempted to recover the situation.

Farnborough took the lead in the eighth minute. Some neat interplay on the left finished with a Michael Richens shot rattling the cross bar. A misplaced clearance by Ryan Upward saw possession return to Farnborough and Dan Bennett got in front of Simon Downer at the near post to head in Louis Theophanous' cross from the right.

Despite this setback Maidenhead began to get to grips with the opposition and once the midpoint of the half was reached they gave as good as they got and were unfortunate not to get a penalty when Ashley Nicholls went down following contact from a defender. This was quickly forgotten when a ball forward by Downer was met by an exchange of passes by Tison-Lascaris and Campbell, the latter scoring with an unstoppable shot from the edge of the penalty area.

Having got back on level terms, Maidenhead showed plenty of attacking threat, winning a series of corners, a Danny Green long shot exposing the poor handling of goalkeeper Dillon Barnes who fumbled the ball wide. However it was Farnborough who went closest to scoring a second before the interval. This was particularly true of a Duncan Culley header who capitalised on a clearance by Elvijs Putnins which was blocked at close range. With Putnins unable to clear the loose ball Culley headed goalward with Putnins somehow managing to scramble back an scrape the ball off the line. More of the same was to follow before half time, a loose pass from Devante McKain gave Harry Grant a chance which he put narrowly wide whilst when Downer was caught in possession Phil Page charged forward with the ball but couldn't quite take it round Putnins who was able to block his shot behind for a corner. The set piece saw Putnins make a flying one handed save from Page but the Latvian saved his best for the second half.

Johnson Hippolyte used half time to shore up the Maidenhead midfield by replacing Tison-Lascaris with Eddie Hutchison which certainly did the trick and had a Campbell effort soon after the restart not been cleared off the line by Lloyd Foot a classic smash and grab raid could have occurred. This made the next intervention of Putnins even more essential as he made the save of the match. A deep cross from the right hand touch line one was met by the head of Page, Putnins sinking like a stone to save the ball on the line.

This set the tone for the half as Farnborough continually tried and failed to find a way to score, whilst Maidenhead threatened the odd breakaway the best of which saw Green combine with Campbell to fire in a shot which Barnes could only Parry. 

With one minute left on the clock it seemed Farnborough had at last made the breakthrough when Theophanous went to ground under pressure from Leon Solomon but it appears that the weight of his rumoured £7,000 price tag was too much to bear as he was unable to give his penalty kick the necessary power and direction to beat Putnins who dived to his right and just about held on to the ball to seal his man of the match award.

So can't grumble with a point, but United really need to cash in on the run of home games coming up with just two points taken from the last fifteen, four of those games being away. 

There was time for a swift pint in the Thatched Cottage on the way back to the station as news filtered through of a series of tweets on the official Farnborough timeline which lacked class. At least we could ponder the karmic retribution of their blank Boxing Day thanks to Salisbury's demise, a just reward for the farce created by the Hampshire club at the start of the previous season which had led to a raft of unnecessary postponements.

True Britt shows True Grit

One of the major attractions of sport whether you are participant or spectator is the way in which it tests character. As a chiefly escapist pursuit it provides a relatively safe environment for a participant to lose themselves and see if they fight or flee when challenged under pressure. The spectator is left to play the role of chorus, as supporter to keep the participant going or to play a pantomime role putting him off.

Football sees this taken to the extreme where the final whistle usually signals merely the end of the beginning as rolling news and social media squeeze hours if not days of coverage out of any incident in which a player is shown to be fallible. 

Within the squad it's the goalkeeper who runs the greatest risk of being made to look at fault due to his mistakes most likely leading to a goal for the opposition. Thus the greats in this position tend to be known for their courage, composure and individuality.

Maidenhead United's Will Britt clearly is thought by many to have a big future in the professional game. He won the FA Youth Cup with Norwich (beating Chelsea in the final) and was subsequently snapped up by Premier League Southampton. His performances since arriving at York Road were consistent in that  they regularly showed signs of a talent that was above that commonly seen at Conference South level, particularly his flying saves and athletic blocks. Then he had a shocker last week against Ebbsfleet United.

In a game which saw Ebbsfleet slightly in the ascendancy but little improved from the outfit which the Magpies took four points from last season, the first half look set to finish goalless until with six minutes remaining a Daryl McMahon free kick from the right hand touchline wormed its way unimpeded inside Britt's near post. Then ironically with only six minutes gone of the second half Anthony Cook ran clear, only for Britt to hesitate in coming out to challenge him, ultimately electing to remain inside his penalty area and bring Cook down with the inevitable result a red card.

With Drax deciding not to name a sub keeper it was left to captain Mark Nisbet to step up and take the number 1 shirt, almost saving Billy Bricknell's penalty. The central defender then let a Chris Sessegnon cross slip through his hands for a third goal, astonishingly incurring the wrath of a long time specatator who berated the centre back for his goalkeeping skills, before Matt Godden completed the scoring to end a day to forget for the Magpies.

Due to the two week hiatus for suspensions to become effective at this level Britt was back between the sticks yesterday for the visit of Poole Town in the FA Trophy. Poole currently lead the Southern League but given the hard job they made of dispatching the woeful Staines Town it didn't feel like the tie had the makings of an upset despite United's poor recent league form. Nevertheless nothing could be left to chance so it was time to dig out my lucky black and white woolly hat to make sure.

Travelling up with the Dolphins was Maidenhead United's stalwart supporter Dave Popejoy, who since moving down to the south coast had joined Town's back room team in time for their charge from the Wessex League to the top of the Southern.

With Devante McKain and Leon Solomon fit again, Jacob Erskine and Bobby Behzadi returned to the bench, allowing Simon Downer to move back to his more usual role in the centre of defence. Ryan Upward replaced a flu ridden Eddie Hutchinson in midfield, whilst Reece Tison-Lascaris replaced an injured Adrian Clifton playing off the shoulder of front man DJ Campbell. The rare inclusion of Tison-Lascaris was a ploy to expose the two towering Poole centre backs, however it wasn't until the striker was substituted that United scored twice, late in the second half to win the tie. 

The opening stages saw both sides attacking with purpose, Poole perhaps marginally shading the play although they were lucky not to concede a penalty in the eleventh minute when Lewis Tallack clearly pushed over Dave Tarpey in the penalty area. This was an exaggerated two handed push, not one of Alan Shearer's coming togethers, or a Diego Da Costa bump into you then fall over, but the referee ignored the incident and the game continued.

As the half drew on Maidenhead posed the biggest threat to the deadlcok with Town goalkeeper Nick Hutchings making saves of increasing difficulty from DJ Campbell, Ryan Upward and Danny Green. Thus it was frustrating that having weathered the early Poole storm, Maidenhead went into the break one goal down when Jack Moloney capitalised on some lax defending with two minutes to go to half time and poked the ball inside Britt's near post. If Poole had been playing in red rather than a rather awful mauve change affair, it would have clearly been a case of deja vu for Maidenhead United given the similar situation seven days earlier.

After the break though Maidenhead showed renewed purpose and Tarpey almost went clear on goal only to be brought down, the Poole defender lucky to stay on the pitch as the foul came before Tarpey could flick the ball into space to present the referee with an open and shut case. Green drew another good save from Hutchings from the resulting free kick but the focus of the game swiftly switched to the other end as Poole dominated and did everything but extend their lead.

Initially this was due to the woodwork when a Luke Roberts shot hit the post then Marvin Brooks hit the crossbar after he was first to the loose ball. Green then cleared off the line but it was Britt who stole the show with a string of saves to keep United in the tie and restore his reputation.

Meanwhile at the other end Maidenhead set about levelling the score. The Bell Street End were most vocal in the denunciation of Drax's decision to replace Tison-Lascaris with Tashan Adeyinka, but the manager proved he knew what he was doing when a driving run from the substitute was only half cleared to McKain who drilled his shot from outside the penalty area over the heads of the defence but under the crossbar.

As the Bell Street End apologised with a round of "Johnson give us a wave" Maidenhead then had a stroke of luck when Harrison Gilkes, who had showed flashes of his father Michael's talent on the left wing, stretched a bit too far and had to go off with a hamstring injury. His absence was ruthlessly exploited by Drax who switched Tarpey onto the right, with substitute Sam Barratt a more than able deputy on the left. With one minute of normal time remaining Campbell got his head to a long ball forward to direct it into the right channel where Tarpey was waiting to collect it, steaming into the area and firing the ball home in trademark fashion. 

Appropriately though it was Britt who sealed the win with an acrobatic save to deny James Whisken an equaliser deep into injury time. 

Thus Britt proved his character with a man of the match performance in a game which also showed that the best time to judge a manager is at the end of the 90 minutes although of course it was my lucky hat which deserves the most credit.

The Saints aren't coming

Travelling up to Scotland to see the Who start what is billed as their farewell tour I used my free Saturday afternoon to take in the local game where I was staying in Perth. Fortunately this was the date of the Scottish Cup when the top division clubs join the competition and holders St. Johnstone would begin their defence of the trophy won for the first time in a May with a home tie against Ross County.

A long queue for the bus to the ground suggested that the multitudes of Perth would be returning to salute their cup heroes, however most of the passengers alighted in the neighbouring suburb of Tulloch before we reached the ring road and headed across the car park towards the bright lights of McDiarmid Park. 

Even having left the city centre as late as 2.15 there was plenty of time to join the short queue to pay my reduced £20 admission, pick up a £2 programme, a mince bridie and a bovril before I found a free seat on the popular side ready to greet the teams as they rather incongruously emerged to the sound of Neil Diamond singing Sweet Caroline.

With a gaggle of away fans corralled in the far corner of the main stand, and both ends totally closed to specatators it was rather an inauspicious occasion to commence the defence of such an august achievement, but one which was sadly expected following an earlier conversation on my train journey north. A father and son had spotted me reading the Arsenal v Borussia Dortmund programme and were full of questions about the game with follow ups about the general state of affairs in N5. This reflected a fascination with football north of the border which is every bit as natural as that in England. However it appears the Premier League now predominates to even the detriment of the once great equivalent in Scotland. On investigation the pair had enjoyed odd trips south of the border to the likes of Old Trafford but today would be going to Perth only to see a promotional Coca-Cola truck. A small window on a problem which appears to translate on the pitch in terms of young talent with perhaps Wales now ahead of the Scots in international terms thanks to their clubs involvement in the Premier League,
My theory was given further credence in a entertaining game which lacked quality, the star of both teams owing their career to English clubs, supplementing many of their team mates with Football League experience on their CV.
However with St Johnstone racing into a two goal lead before I had finished my Bovril, it initially looked like a walk in the park for the Saintees. Michael O'Halloran opened the scoring when he picked up the ball after it ran loose from a James McFadden free kick. The linesman raised his flag when the ball hit the back of the net but this was waved away by the referee. McFadden then showed his class to double the score with a shot from distance.
At this point the County defence was in disarray, partly due to playing Wolves loanee Jamie Reckord at left back when he was clearly more comfortable in a more advanced role but any thoughts of a rout faded as the away team clawed their way back into the game and started to expose St. Johnstone's own defensive shortcomings.
A goal now seemed likely at either end, but fortunately for the sake of my entertainment St. Johnstone didn't convert one of many chances that came their way before half time. The teams returned after the interval to the much more appropriate sound of Skids and the end to end game continued.

Midway through the second half Ross County pulled a goal back with the move of the match. The referee judiciously played an advantage after an eye watering tackle on Liam Boyce, Ross moving the ball forward with speed to find Jake Jervis up front who topped off the move with a fine finish.
Both teams now went all out to score, with the lion's share of the chances falling to St. Johnstone who spurned a number of one on ones before deservedly running out 2-1 winners. Sadly only just over two thousand people watched the game, a Conference level crowd for one of the top teams in the land. Those that did go were largely passive (one woman sat a few rows ahead of me spent the game knitting) and its clear that Scottish football is badly in need of a shot in the arm to restore it to its former glories.