Jusqu'a la fin

A suitable low key end to the season on May Day Bank Holiday Monday at the Berks & Bucks Senior Invitation Cup Final. There was a real end of term feel as the players and officials gathered at the Holiday Inn Maidenhead for the traditional pre cup final meal (English breakfast). The blazing sun more suitable for cricket was another reminder that it was time to lay the football season to rest although the coach tried its best to create last day drama by almost breaking down en route. The driver decided to ignore the usual route to Chesham along the M40 and through Beaconsfield, instead going right through the middle of Wycombe. After one hill too many it gave up the ghost as the engine overheated but just about managed to crawl to the Meadow.

A healthy sprinkling of Magpies made it to the game but a crowd of 336 was probably smaller than that which would have gone to the original venue of Burnham and pale in comparison to the 2,000 crowd at the Kent Senior Cup Final on the same day. Still I'd forgotten what a great setting Chesham is for a football match surrounded by the rolling Chiltern hills with its facilities just right for a game of this stature.

An innovative selection by both managers led to an entertaining first half which ended all square after Wycombe scored twice in the first ten minutes through Murtagh and Bloomfield then Ashley Smith drove the Magpies forward to equalise.

The second half was something of a damp squib with I guess both teams all played out and it came as something of a relief when the referee played enough injury time to allow Wycombe to score a penalty to win the game.

It was then back to Stripes for the end of season awards, again not helped by the change of final venue. After an unprecedented apology from Drax for the general performance of the first team over the course of the season it turned into the Ashley Nicholls show as he picked up all the major awards. This was quite deserved as his consistency has been remarkable. Without his dynamic presence in the team at virtually every game I very much doubt that relegation would have been avoided. Unfortunately he's leaving to continue his academic career in Exeter but surely goes not just with all the awards but also the accolade of the club's most intelligent footballer. Hopefully one day he'll return to the squad as Dr. Nicholls, a first for the Magpies?

Always different, always the same

Staines - horrible name, lovely place. Taking a leisurely evening stroll along the Thames en route to Wheatsheaf Park I contemplated the thought that I was at last going to a Maidenhead United game in positive expectation. Winning breeds confidence in everybody, whether they be players, coaching staff, directors or supporters and it was wonderful to arrive at a game where every Magpie had a smile on their face. The reward for the optimism was to be a late winner courtesy of a Ashley Smith never mind the quality check the scoreline finish two minutes from time, delivering the three points which looked certain in the first half once Alex Wall had given United the lead with a bullet header but apparently were lost when Staines took charge after the break, equalising through Warren Harris and seeming most like to score again before Maidenhead ended the game the stronger.

All in all a good day's work which began when I travelled to Ealing library on behalf of Mark Smith who is putting the finishing touches to his book which will cover 140 years of the York Road club's history. I was searching for details of Maidenhead's encounters with Hanwell in the first decade of the twentieth century. Unfortunately there was little to add to the information Mark already had. Maidenhead won all the games under review but quite the opposite was true of my afternoon assignment at Hounslow library.

Here in the Middlesex Chronicle I found news of a Hounslow team that regularly beat Maidenhead but when for example Maidenhead turned up with only eight players and missed a penalty as they did in 1905 its hardly surprising!

What's striking about the research are the parallels with today, for example comments about the spirit the in which the game was played and the quality of the play. Above all though its good to have a reminder of how little has changed as is shown by the news that a game at York Road saw the home team lose the toss to face a glaring sun and having to play up a slope. 

At Staines it depends on where you look, wandering up from the river I imagine I'm taking in a scene similar to that seen by many over the decades until I arrive at the ground and find their impressive but incongruous health club come main stand plonked next to a ground hemmed in by houses. 

Then the game itself saw the usual mixture of goals, misses, fouls and questionable refereeing decisions all producing the usual reactions from the excitable crowd. That's football always the same script, rarely the same  outcome.

Piping Mad

Yesterday's game at York Road was somewhat overshadowed by the midweek theft of the club's hot water system which not only threatened to add to the long list of postponements caused by the bad weather but also added a hefty bill to add to the financial problems caused by the loss of revenue from lucrative games against the likes of Farnborough and Woking which were casualties of the winter weather recently.

A shame as the game was entertaining one, Thurrock finishing on top thanks to their usual up tempo approach and clinical finishing.  David Olima scored the pick of the goals with his late strike for the Essex club's third which  sealed the points, but the other two were also notable for being well worked goals created by man of the match Matt Bodkin.  At the other end Joe Woolley made a crucial save from Marcus Rose when the score was one nil, which following an Ashley Smith shot which hit the crossbar proved sufficient to keep his team's lead and withstand the Magpies comeback with a penalty from Kieron St. Aimie.

All credit to the new Thurrock management team for turning the club around with three straight wins following the departure of Greg Lincoln after thirteen goals were shipped over the New Year weekend.  Maidenhead meanwhile are left with a County Cup game on Tuesday night to revive their fortunes.

Unholy Saints

Maidenhead paid for their good fortune on New Years Day with some good saves, bad officiating and a lack of killer instinct in front of goal leading to another winning opportunity being passed up.  Add in some hefty challenges from St. Albans and you have a frustrating afternoon.

This was a shame as a trip to Clarence Park is usually one to be relished.  The swift journey north on the train sped past Hendon's old Claremont Road ground with its impressive floodlight pylons.  This led to reminiscences of a time when trips to Hendon and St. Albans which came with Isthmian Premier Division status were a mere pipedream for the Magpies.  Now Hendon subsist in a groundshare whilst St. Albans nervously await the outcome of an FA financial enquiry which may cost vital points in their battle against relegation.

They retain one player of quality in goalkeeper Paul Bastock and his two first half saves from Alex Wall certainly had a key influence on the result.  The Saints goal came within a minute of centre back Marcus Rose being replaced for United which may have had something to do with Inih Effiong breaking the offside trap to score.  From then on there was plenty of goalmouth incident with St. Albans' overly physical determination to win at home for the first time this season leaving its mark on Ashley Smith amongst others and reflecting manager Steve Castle's career as a bustling midfielder.