AN ALTOGETHER MORE SPLENDID KIND OF LIFE - 2004-05

23 Seasons watching Maidenhead United

Part 11: 2004-05

It was bliss to be present at the dawn of the new Conference South era, as in a pleasing contrast to his first campaign at the club, John Dreyer’s team started the season in style.

On a beautiful sunny day at Park View Road, Maidenhead beat Welling 2-1 in a tightly contested match thanks to goals from the new strike partnership of Lawrence Yaku and summer signing Craig O’Connor.

By the end of August, United’s points total had already reached double figures giving rise to optimism that life at a higher level suited the Magpies.

As well as O’Connor, Dreyer had further augmented his squad with new blood by signing wingers Barrie Matthews and Jamie Cook, whilst young talents Chris Elsegood and Rod Saunders returned to York Road after a one year sabbatical.

Following the departure of Phil Wilson though, the key position of goalkeeper remained unfilled, with the replacement of the fragile Nick Hart with the hapless Michael Watkins leading to an appalling run of league form which led to Dreyer’s dismissal in November.

After a run of six matches without a win which spanned the length of September, morale was boosted with an FA Cup run. A tortuous three and a half hours of football against Kent League Whitstable was ended by a penalty shoot out in Maidenhead’s favour which set up a cracking local derby in the next round at York Road against Windsor and Eton.

The Magpies edged the tie by the odd goal in three to set up a final qualifying round match at old foes Aldershot Town. League form had not improved in the meantime, leading to a move to dismiss Dreyer in the lead up to the Cup tie which was halted when his team won three points for the first time in nine attempts, beating big spending Havant and Waterlooville at York Road thanks to a goal from the mercurial Cook (pictured right), on a memorable night for captain Brian Connor as he marked former Premier League star Dean Holdsworth out of the game.

United’s 33 year quest to return to the rounds proper of the FA Cup remained unfulfilled in a honourable failure at the Recreation Ground when Conference Aldershot won 2-1, any disappointment salved when the post match draw sent the Shots to Canvey Island.

Whilst the goalkeeper role now looked a little more solid thanks to the arrival of Australian Andy Goldman, the defence in front of him was weakened when Andy Jennings decided to leave following a head injury which led him to decide to focus on his teaching career at Eton, fearing the impact of a serious injury on his working life. His presence in the team over the last year or so was accompanied by the regular attendance at home matches of a group of his students who became known as The Eton Rifles (pictured top). I often wonder what became of them when they turned into Old Etonians, and whether a captain of industry or financial wizard might return to York Road to help ease Peter Griffin’s financial burden.

The world of work also had a detrimental impact on the Magpies attacking options as a promotion for London Underground’s Lawrence Yaku made it difficult for him tomake a timely arrival on matchdays.

None of this helped league form, and following heavy defeats at home to Cambridge and away to Grays, Chairman Jon Swan elected to dispense with the manager’s services. Sadly this was handled in a hamfisted way with Dreyer travelling to the next midweek match unaware of his fate, turning up to a County Cup tie at home to Burnham only to be ushered into the boardroom to be told he had the evening off. This was an unseemly way to dismiss the gentlemanly Dreyer, probably the friendliest manager I have encountered in my time at the club. Some said this meant he was too nice to succeed, so it was with some pride that I looked on at Wembley in 2015, as he stood on the touchline as assistant to Simon Grayson when Preston North End won the League One play off final.

Richie Goddard was on hand to step in as caretaker manager whilst a replacement for Dreyer was sought. Swan planned to entice Wealdstone’s Gordon Bartlett to take over, but after some thought Bartlett elected to stay with the Stones. With crowds plummeting below the 150 mark, the eventual appointment was the somewhat surprising figure of Windsor manager Dennis Greene.

Unlike Dreyer, Greene was not shy of asserting himself either in the local press or at the club. Bringing defender Lee Kersey and midfielder Guy Ekwalla with him up the A308, he immediately set about taking the by now bottom placed Magpies up the table with a six match unbeaten league run which included a 1-0 win at top placed Basingstoke.

A more important relationship was formed at this time when two local entrepreneurs knocked on the boardroom door and enquired whether the club might like some financial assistance. Peter Griffin and Stephen Loughrey agreed to a lucrative shirt sponsorship for the following season between the club and their Pharmalink business. As the saying goes it proved to be the start of a beautiful friendship!

On the pitch another Australian in Reading’s Adam Federici solved the goalkeeping problem for the rest of the season, his clean sheet in a 4-0 over fellow strugglers Carshalton at York Road in mid February suggesting the relegation battle might be a successful one. This failed to be a springboard to further wins although an outstanding smash and grab raid at promotion chasing Cambridge City in March thanks to a Lewis Cook goal kept hopes alive.

On Easter Monday a 4-1 humbling at bottom placed Redbridge suggested the writing was on the wall, the pressure starting to show as Greene (pictured left) made some ill judged comments to a journalist which alienated supporters.

This meant virtually every match in April was win or bust. The month started well with the double completed over Welling and a first ever win at Thurrock’s Ship Lane.

Pharmalink then threw their commercial weight behind a campaign with the Maidenhead Advertiser to boost the York Road crowd for the final two crunch home matches. The people of Maidenhead responded in kind with over 500 turning up to see Lewes beaten followed by over 600 for the visit of champions Grays Athletic. A valiant performance was not enough to stop the Essex team leaving with all three points to set up another final day showdown.

This came in the form of a straight shootout at Newport County, with the winner guaranteed to escape relegation. A four figure crowd at Spytty Park saw the Exiles ease into a two goal lead thanks to Welsh international Jason Bowen, and although O’Connor pulled a goal back in the second half from the penalty spot, there only ever looked like being one winner.

The final whistle signalled that desperate sinking feeling that only relegation brings. Newport Chairman Chris Blight offered me his profound sympathy in the boardroom, whilst in the club house Friar Tuck and a Beefeater took Greene to task over his failure to keep United up.

On the return coach journey to Berkshire, treasurer Paul Carney confided the dire state of the club’s finances, confessing a step down to the Hellenic League might be a more sensible option than a return to the Isthmian.

One club had already had had enough though as the inevitable Hornchurch bubble burst, their Billericay style financial model collapsing as their larger than life benefactor Uncle Urchin disappeared with the cupboard left bare. This meant Maidenhead won the inaugural AGM Cup, accepting the offer to remain in the Conference South due to a reprieve offered by the fiscally crippled Hornchurch’s request for demotion.

Thus the season closed in a strange atmosphere at Brian Connor’s testimonial (pictured right).  Any sense of relief at living to fight another day in the Conference South being tempered by the realisation that another season of struggle was in prospect.

With thanks to Mark Smith’s book One For Sorrow Two For Joy for the statistical content of this series.

To read more about this season visit www.mufcheritage.com

Floody Hell

I was grateful enough to watch some live football yesterday after suffering a drought of twelve days for various reasons, but to see Maidenhead United achieve their biggest away league win for over 30 years made it a match to stick in the memory.

After a morning reading about endless postponements coupled with messages of assurance that the Staines Town pitch was perfectly playable (with the caveat, "at the moment"), I set out at 1 pm fully expecting to make a wasted journey.

This feeling grew on arrival in the town when I found my usual route to Wheatsheaf Park along the Thames path flooded out (right). Then approaching the ground a judiciously placed temporary flood sign outside the entrance to Wheatsheaf Park seemed to confirm my worst fears (top). As stewards huddled under any cover they could find I made my way into the ground and was pleasantly surprised to see a fine looking pitch, a tangible gain from the Swans decision to exile themselves from their own ground for a few years in the 90s, the new surface light years away from the dust bowl of old.

So to kick off, and for me a chance to run my eye over the three new Magpie signings brought into give the team a more solid look. With Mark Nisbet absent with a cold, and Daniel Brown suspended, one of the new men, Patrick Kanyuka, was given the captain's armband in only his third start on his return to the club he had only left in November.

Beneath broken clouds the match kicked off, with the tone of the game set by the formations adopted by either side. As they say in boxing, styles make fights, and the way Staines set themselves up played right into the hands of the Magpies with a solid back four fronted by central midfield pair Michael Pook and Joe Taibiri snuffing out the threat of the Staines front three. More importantly Drax's decision to play two out and out wingers gave United a competitive advantage throughout as Staines' centralised midfield three meant Harry Pritchard and Chris Flood had no need to protect their full back or face being penned back by an opposing wide midfielder. Meanwhile man of the match Alex Wall gave his best performance to date as a lone centre forward, calling to mind Craig O'Connor's immaculate display in another memorable away win, at Cambridge City in 2005.

Maidenhead took the lead within the first five minutes of the match, a Flood cross from the right being met by the salmon like leap of Pritchard to head into the back of the net. From this point on United never looked back but survived a couple of testing spells from their hosts before scoring again. Both spells centred on set pieces, the first saw three successive corners defended, the second challenge came from a free kick. On both occasions, Kanyuka's ability to get his head to the ball at the right time, and Taibiri's calm distribution was enough to alleviate the pressure and set up a counter attack. The second of these just ahead of the half hour mark produced a corner and the second Maidenhead goal, this time it was Pritchard's turn to deliver the cross which swung over to the far post where Flood was free to head home.

With Maidenhead now in their pomp they scored their third goal six minutes ahead of the break to seal the win. It proved to be the goal of the game, Harry Pritchard drifting inside with the ball from his left wing position before unleashing a screaming drive with his right foot from twenty yards that flew into the back of the net, which must have impressed the watching former Magpie managerial duo Alan Devonshire and Carl Taylor.

Job done then, now the most serious opponent was the weather with the second half beginning in torrential rain. Maidenhead continued to dominate, Alex Wall seeing his free kick being pushed over the bar by goalkeeper Jack Turner eight minutes after the restart. Wall then won the most significant battle of the day when pacy centre back Jerel Ifil was sent off for persistent foul play despite several warnings from match referee Ash Degnarain.

With over half an hour still to play there was only going to be one conclusion to the match even though a second torrential shower did raise the spectre of an abandonment. The introduction of fresh legs gave Maidenhead fresh impetus and so the Staines goal came under increasing pressure, veteran Swan Scott Taylor clearing off his line to prevent an own goal whilst Turner again foiled Wall with a superb reaction save.

The pressure finally told in the dying minutes, David Pratt collecting a defence splitting pass from Flood to make it four, then making it two goals in three minutes by netting the rebound after a Kanyuka header was saved by Turner.

Deep into stoppage time, Wall finally got his reward for a tireless performance having again been denied by the resilient Turner from a free kick, and then seeing a long shot spilled, the striker collected a pass from Paul Semakula and at last beat Turner with virtually the last kick of the game.

A great Christmas present then for everyone at Maidenhead United with the return of early season form in devastating fashion on an afternoon where everything went right for the Magpies. Certainly everyone will be looking for the name of Degnarain on the officials list, with his aggregate score for the season now standing at 14-0 in United's favour, the referee having been in charge of the annihilation of Truro City at York Road back in September.

Newport's Blight

Was sad to hear last week that Newport Chairman Chris Blight had decided to stand down after he received abusive phone calls at home.

Regardless of the issue which had evidently stirred up so much acrimony its a sad day when someone as fundamentally decent as Chris finds themselves hounded out of the game. Having visited many non league boardrooms the overriding memory is one of exchanging pleasantries with opposite numbers, with one party doing so through gritted teeth after the game. Three encounters with Chris stand out though.

I first met him in April 2005 in the final day relegation shoot out at Spytty Park between Newport and the Magpies, with the winner staying up at the expense of the loser. Newport won comfortably having raced into a 2 goal league courtesy of Jason Bowen with Maidenhead offering nothing in reply except a late consolation penalty from Craig O'Connor. At the final whistle the ground was a bleak place to be for the Magpies surrounded by celebrating Exiles but my salient post match memory was Chris individually shaking the hand of everyone in the boardroom associated with Maidenhead United, offering his sincere commiserations at our relegation when inside he must have been itching to celebrate.

Three seasons later Newport was the scene of our first away trip back in the Conference South following promotion from the Southern League. The game ended in a 1-1 draw and our first ever point at Spytty Park but was spoiled for some of the travelling Magpies by the behaviour of some of the Newport fans and the subsequent lack of a response by stewards. An email from one of those affected following the game produced a swift response from Blight, an apology being bolstered by condemnatory comments in the next match programme.

Maidenhead's final game to date against Newport was towards the end of Exiles Conference South Championship winning season. They had just secured the title when we arrived in April 2010 and celebrated with a comprehensive 4-1 win although Sam Collins' consolation was the goal of the game, a preview of his long distance strike in the Berks & Bucks Senior Cup Final a month later. Before the game Chris regaled us with an anecdote about the club's title celebrations at the famous Celtic Manor hotel the previous weekend. He revealed that as he got into a taxi in the small hours he accused the driver of fiddling the fare as the meter already read £4, only for the weary driver to respond "that is the clock sir, the time is 4 am"!

A true football man, I hope Chris feels able to continue to attend County games as they move to Rodney Parade which might just provide the boost to help them regain their Football League status.