A happy trip to Hampshire has prompted me to end my winter break from this blog to report on a decent day out to the south coast which fairly represented the football I have seen so far from Maidenhead United in 2015 with a draw which ended with both teams feeling they may have taken all three points and therefore perhaps being the best result all told.
Thus a sequence continued which began on New Years Day when a fantastic finish by DJ Campbell (now training with the Nottinghamshire branch of the Magpies) from a cross whipped in at pace from Adrian Clifton (whose driving influence in the midfield has been much missed since he has been sidelined with a knee injury) gave Maidenhead an early lead over tenants Hayes and Yeading. HAYU fought back to earn a point as did Bath City a few days later when they held onto a one goal deficit in the face of a first half onslaught from the Magpies before turning the tables after the break.
A pulsating FA Trophy tie saw the number of goals scored doubled but still shared as super subs David Tarpey and Reece Tison-Lascaris turned a potential defeat into victory before 10 man Farnborough scored a last gasp equaliser. A potentially historic board meeting meant I didn't have to suffer the replay defeat but misery followed at the weekend with a comprehensive defeat at York Road at the hands of struggling Bishop's Stortford.
The weather intervened to break up the relentless stream of matches at HQ interrupted by what was now becoming a very familiar result this time in fractious circumstances in a tetchy draw with St. Albans characterised by two ill disciplined dismissals which sadly led to the departure from the club of Tison-Lascaris.
A odd game at Basingstoke saw sloppy defending in the opening stages at the Camrose see United concede two goals to make the two well worked goals scored at the other end, as a third sealed the points for the home team, a 3-3 draw only being prevented by a string of good saves by the home keeper, his woodwork doing the job when he was beaten.
IIlness meant I didn't see the County Cup semi-final win over Chesham. No news yet on the final date or venue although I understand Amy Lane is the appropriate favourite to host the game against Bedfordshire based Aylesbury United, depending on the Generals play off fortunes. It appears a falling out with the Chairboys means the game won't be at Wycombe. Personally I would like the game to be played at Marlow in a repeat of the 1997 Isthmian Full Members Cup Final.
Three points were won for the first time in 2015 last weekend, in an exciting game against Chelmsford City where a superlative performance from Ashley Timms meant the Clarets were unable to turn their dominance into goals whilst his opposite number's inability to hold on to a couple of shots meant Maidenhead were able to pick the pocket of the visitors.
I was gladly sitting in a warm pub in Cornwall when the Magpies were humbled 3-0 at York Road by Basingstoke in midweek, a result which left United in a thoroughly disappointing 17th position. Unlike previous seasons the quality of bottom markers Farnborough and Staines is such that the relegation places may well be set in stone with perhaps only homeless HAYU offering hope of an escape thus as Drax was quoted as saying in the Advertiser recently we may well continue plodding along to the end of the season with a County Cup final to finish rather as used to happen at the start the century.
As long as Saturdays are like yesterday I'll settle for that after a decade of promotion and relegation fights as both teams contested a decent game on a sticky surface, the final score of 1-1 carrying on the 2015 trend of draws which hitherto had been at York Road.
An easy journey down to Westleigh Park, with the only distress coming when a solo Magpie came into view, saw me met by the sight of the new Pub, naturally called the Westleigh which has been developed out of the existing clubhouse. Sited next to a large housing estate and industrial estate this seems to be a sensible move to provide a steady stream of revenue for a club, ably managed off the pitch by ex Hampshire wicketkeeper Adrian Aymes, and on it by Lee Bradbury, with the Hawks for once making a sustained attempt at promotion after so many seasons flattering to deceive. They'd not been helped by a troublesome playing surface due to drainage problems which had commonly led to a fixture pile up. The purchase of a £25,000 pitch cover to ensure the FA Cup tie against Preston North End would be screened on TV in November, was continuing to pay dividends, yesterday's game going ahead against a background of postponements across the non league programme in the south of England.
Havant & Waterlooville must win the title of the biggest transformation since the Conference South started in 2004. All four sides have been redeveloped, along now with the new pub. Innovation has now even extended to an A6 sized programme which accurately fits the description of pocket sized.
Maidenhead took to the pitch in rather different shape to which they had started the year starting with goalkeeper Ashley Timms. In front of a defence of Van Der Hyde, Nisbet, Downer and Solomon, sat new signing David Hunt in a midfield holding role. Hunt's arrival had prompted a couple of admiring messages from sources at two of his former clubs in Oxford and Orient, with his home in the St. Marks area of the town perhaps enabling the Magpies to sign him from under the noses of Conference front runners Barnet with whom Hunt had been playing for on loan from the Us.
Hunt's presence at the base of midfield gave more freedom to Upward and Nicholls to go forward to complement wingers Green and Tarpey, and lone striker Strutton.
Havant took the early initiative, dominating the early stages, but a patient approach which saw the central defenders remain very deep throughout saw the absence of the high tempo which had seen Chelmsford threaten to blow Maidenhead away seven days previously. Thus Timms was not unduly troubled and increasingly Green and Tarpey began to utilise the space in front of the home defence.
This ultimately led to the game's opening goal but Maidenhead had already showed they had a goal in them as early as the twelfth minute when Tarpey's corner was headed down by Strutton to Nisbet whose shot was cleared off the line by Warren Cummings. The attempt lifted the spirits of the Magpies behind the goal which were also helped by a bizarre rant by the goalkeeper following the corner as he screamed offside at the linesman oblivious to the fact that his teammate Cummings on the line made this an impossibility.
Tarpey gave notice he was going to continue his excellent scoring record, only being defeated by the sticky surface when well placed. He then cashed in nine minutes ahead of the interval when a trademark mazy run through the midfield by Green was finished by a beautifully weighted pass to Tarpey's whose shot delightfully nutmegged the goalkeeper en route to the back of the net. This was much to the delight of a local transvestite who was keen to lend his support to United.
The second half started in similar fashion to the first with Havant taking the upper hand. This time their pressure led to a goal as the hour mark approached when a cross to the far post was met unchallenged by the head of Daniel Blanchett to score.
At this point I was expecting Havant to go for the jugular but they continued with their measured approach to the game, Maidenhead happily taking the opportunity to get on the front foot to create the chances to restore their lead. This came closest with fourteen minutes remaining when Upward unselfishly squared the ball to Tarpey on the penalty spot. The left winger took care to take the pace off the ball to avoid a reaction save by the keeper but as the ball bounced over the prone custodian he managed to get something on the ball and divert it over the crossbar.
The departure of Leon Solomon for a second yellow card then gave Havant fresh impetus with the entry onto the field of play of JJ Hooper leading me to fear he would continue his goalscoring run against United which started last season with Farnborough. That he didn't was down to an amazing one handed reaction save by Timms to save his back heeled volley in the 87th minute. Maidenhead then saw out the game for another draw founded on the security Hunt gave the team in front of the defence ensuring the quality of Tarpey's strike was worthy of point at least.
