A Sketch for Winter

Glad I made a late decision to attend this game yesterday. In the first place an hour of bumping into people wearing novelty Christmas hats and jumpers was all I could take in Central London, but more importantly the game itself was great entertainment, and certainly more wholesome than spending the afternoon in the pub. So I found myself at 2 pm on a train crawling through the South London suburbs accompanied by the wistful guitar musings of Vini Reilly.

With the temperature warm enough to leave my long johns at home, the sun vied with the floodlights to light up a dank and sparsely attended Gander Green Lane. After a great end to last season, and backed by the heavyweight financial resources of manager Paul Doswell it seemed that this season's Conference South title race would be played out between Sutton and Eastleigh, but the Us form has dipped of late leaving them outside the play off places with presumably the sub par Borough Sports Ground crowd of 472 a consequence of deflated expectations.

In selecting his team Drax continued to juggle the squad with their varying levels of fitness, wisely opting to repeat his decision which worked so well at Eastbourne of opting for a back three (Mark Nisbet, Jacob Erskine and Devante McKain) with wing backs Les Thompson and Leon Solomon complementing Daniel Brown, Adrian Clifton and Danny Green in midfield, leaving Richard Pacquette and Michael Malcolm up front.

The extra man in central defence was certainly required in the opening stages of the game as Sutton started strongly, Jamie Slabber showing his intent to continue his role as a thorn in the Magpies' side with an early effort that was tipped round the post by Elvijs Putnins. 

Sutton's early dominance was confirmed in the twentieth minute when inevitably Slabber giving the home side the lead with his amber colleagues virtually queuing up to score. However this was not to prove the cue for a thrashing as Maidenhead played their way back into the game. Within four minutes of going behind Clifton took his time to pick his spot before firing through the defensive line to equalise.

Sutton continued to threaten, Slabber hitting the crossbar with a header just after the half hour mark, but Maidenhead were up for the fight with Pacquette back to his snarling best, bumping the goalkeeper over to leave the moral majority in the covered terrace on the far touchline baying for his blood.

Sutton skipper Jamie Stuart's response to this incident was to indicate that his goalie needed to lead with a combination of his elbow and knee in future so it was ironic that minutes later he found himself on the deck after an aerial challenge with Pacquette. The Referee correctly awarded a drop ball right in front of the covered terrace which sent the moaners into apoplexy, and yet if anything it was Maidenhead who had reason to complain as the game had been stopped with the Magpie attack in full flow.

The game now turned to resemble a boxing match of the footballing kind with both teams trading blows in front of goal in the last minutes ahead of the interval. Firstly Slabber rose salmon like at the far post, hanging in the air to head home at the far post, but any hastily rewritten team talks had to be rehashed once more as Pacquette equalised with the goal of the game.

Receiving the ball outside the penalty area, the striker hit the ball on the half volley. the strike dipping into the back of the net as Pacquette rushed off to collect the plaudits of the covered terrace.

The game changed after the break with Thompson being replaced by Harry Pritchard, and once Craig Dundas had returned the lead to Sutton within six minutes of the restart, the home team took a more conservative approach to the match, working hard to stifle any hope Maidenhead of getting back on level terms for a third time.

Drax's response was to pursue his recent Wengeresque predilection for wingers by introducing loan players Harry Grant and Josh Clarke into the fray, the former appearing for the last time, whilst the latter's debut was characterised by a pleasing tigerish approach to the game.

Despite a few set pieces Maidenhead failed to seriously trouble goalkeeper Tom Lovelock and so the result eventually ended as expected. So as I made my way back to the scenes of enforced fun in Central London, not much to ponder to the sound of the Durutti Column as Maidenhead continue to vie with Alexander Armstrong for the most Pointless appearances this season. 

The next three games will be vital for the club's prospects in 2014. With Barrow losing 6-0 at home yesterday, hopes must be high that United can continue to enjoy life away from the league with a third Trophy win in six weeks to progress to the last 16 of the competition. The team will certainly be well rested, travelling up on the Friday with an overnight stay up north ahead of the game. Furthermore the league games either side of this tie present ideal opportunities to get out of the bottom two with opposition in struggling Chelmsford and Tonbridge. The former though will be buoyant after two wins in two games following the wise appointment of Heybridge Swifts manager Mark Hawkes, whilst Maidenhead have lost all three games they have played at Tonbridge's Longmead ground.Time for the team to deliver on their promise of August.

Deja U

A disappointing follow up to Saturday's win over Havant as in a similar match to December's FA Trophy tie, Sutton comprehensively beat the Magpies 1-0.

Maidenhead continued with their five at the back formation which was so successful on Saturday but in contrast played into Sutton's hands last night as by conceding all but the penalty area, Maidenhead allowed Sutton to demonstrate the benefit of their extra morning training with the Us higher tempo meaning they dominated the first half.

With the central midfield duo of Daniel Brown and Michael Pook in danger of treading on the centre backs toes in what often appeared to be a 5-2-2-1 formation, Sutton struggled to find a way through the black and white defensive wall. Still they got closer as the half drew on, Sam Rents forcing Billy Lumley to tip his long shot over the bar after twenty three minutes, whilst the Us got the ball in the net four minutes ahead of the break only for the referee to chalk it off.

Just when thoughts started to drift into the realms of job done for the first half though Sutton were gifted the lead with a soft penalty when Craig Dundas was bundled over by Rhys Paul whilst shepherding the ball out for a goal kick. In stoppage time Dundas stepped up to take the kick himself to give Sutton a lead which reflected their domination of the game but was one to be rued by the Magpies having kept a clean sheet for forty five minutes.

After the break Maidenhead showed more attacking purpose which continued when substitutes Harry Pritchard and Reece Tison-Lascaris joined the fray. The Magpies had little to show for it, coming closest to an equaliser when a corner was pushed off the line by Sutton goalkeeper Tom Lovelock.

A Maidenhead corner heads goalward

Maidenhead's hopes of a point continued to diminished when Tison-Lascaris was carried off on a stretcher and despite some frenetic activity in the penalty area at the beginning of the long stoppage time created by the injury, it was clear that the game was up for the Magpies. Indeed it was Sutton who should have increased their lead, missing a sitter and being denied by Lumley before the referee blew the final whistle.

The result leaves Maidenhead deep in relegation trouble needing four points from the next two games to relieve the pressure on what looks likely to be a desperate final week of the season with two visits to Essex.

Frozen

Another cup match, another sub standard performance from Maidenhead United to leave the Magpie fans as frozen as the pitch at the final whistle. The scoreline may have only been 1-0 but it could have been a lot more with the Magpies offering little or no hope of even salvaging a replay. Once again David Pratt was absent from a key Cup tie and his replacement in the lone forward role Alex Wall was left to chase hopeless causes all night as the ball was fruitlessly pumped high and long in his direction, a tactic which was meat and drink to a Suttton defence well marshalled by Simon Downer. Thus attacking wingers Lee Barney and Harry Pritchard saw little of the ball leaving most of the play to take place in the Maidenhead half with the Magpies clearing off the line, and Jesse Joronen pushing a shot wide from the impressive Stefan Payne before Sutton took a deserved lead. Harry Ottaway was the scorer, applying a deft touch to a cross from Simon Rents which split the Maidenhead defence.

For their part Maidenhead had one good chance, a Wall drive being parried by goalkeeper Kevin Scrivens, whilst the Magpies were forced to rearrange their defence when Joe Crook departed injured just before the goal, James Regis coming on, which led to captain Mark Nisbet moving forward into the midfield with neither Daniel Brown on Bobby Behzadi on the bench.

One consolation of the half time scoreline was that Maidenhead were still in the game with the powerful weapons of Reece Tison-Lascaris and Pratt on the bench. Yet their introduction midway through the half did little to raise hopes of a goal and Sutton ran out comfortable winners. Both sides came close to scoring on one occasion, Nisbet having a header cleared off the line by Stuart, whilst Joronen made a last ditch save to deny Craig Dundas, however even with four minutes of stoppage time the end result was in little doubt, leaving Maidenhead with only their league future to play for this season. The two games to be played before Sutton United return on 22nd December need to yield points to keep the Magpies' heads above the relegation mire.