Magpies knock on Wood

As always the Conference god of fixtures decreed that United's trip to Boreham Wood would be on a Monday night, but here the similarities with previous years ended. Usually what happens at Meadow Park is that the Magpies get a toehold in the game early on before comfortably succumbing to a superior Wood team in front of a crowd struggling to reach three figures. However tonight this was far from the case as Maidenhead did enough to win the game and even came close to rescuing a point after the home team had overturned the deficit. For once the official attendance of 256 felt accurate, with although it seems few locals coming out to see their team defend their position at the top of the table, the fact that it was one of the only games on attracting plenty of groundhoppers. For example at the station on the way back I met two season ticket holders from Leyton Orient, a group of seven Norwegians on a week's trip of English football grounds, in addition to the Bracknell fan I'd met in the ground.

Wood's position as front runners is testament to their tightly run operation. They are very much a football business with their own academy and well oiled links with professional clubs such as Arsenal, Reading and Luton. This has ensured a steady flow of talent into a small but effective squad with one loanee from  Lee Angol going on to score the vital equaliser. 

Good, but not as good as ours

As well as having playing staff of the requisite standard, the pitch has always been of top quality and this is now looked over by an impressive new stand which is almost as good as the one at York Road. Even though they have built it, still they don't come. Surely the missing piece in the Boreham Wood jigsaw is a support worthy of a club bidding to take their place in the Conference Premier. Perhaps the £13 entry (inclusive of a £2.50 programme which ran out before kick off) is a deterrent. With no concession for students there is one market segment lost. Certainly the town's population seem ripe for plucking from the bosom of the bigger clubs they doubtless follow giving the current climate surrounding pro clubs and value for money.

Still the welcome from all at the Wood is friendly enough, the barman kindly changing the channel at my request so we could watch the FA Cup draw, his customer service skills then being rewarded by the bloke behind me who offered "one for yourself" after ordering two coffees.

As expected the game began at a high tempo with both sides giving everything to win the game throughout. Both sides had chances to take the lead as the first half drew on. Adrian Clifton had a great chance to open the scoring for United but goalkeeper James Russell did not commit himself to the last second and was able to palm the shot wide. At the other end Will Britt made a good save from Junior Morias and then had Devante McKain to thank for clearing a Callum Reynolds effort off the line. 

With seven minutes to go to the break, Dave Tarpey received the ball in space on the left, ignoring claims of offside to fire the ball home in his trademark style to give Maidenhead the lead. Britt then earned his half time cup of tea by tipping a Matthew Whichelow long range shot over the bar.

Maidenhead started the second half determined to justify their lead and just ahead of the hour mark had a chance to double it as Clifton burst clear through the middle only to be denied once more by Russell. The swift wing play of Morias and Whichelow then started to wear United down. A couple of crosses across the face of the Maidenhead goal served notice that Wood were not going to settle for a defeat and with fourteen minutes remaining Angol converted one from Whichelow at close range to equalise. The goal was Angol's eleventh in fourteen appearances, a remarkable transformation given his uncertain spell at York Road a year ago.

Showing no side effects of playing two games in three days, Wood now pushed for a winner, Morias hitting the post and Ricky Shakes having a shot tipped wide by Britt. Maidenhead still harboured ideas of taking all three points though and it proved to be this ambition that was their undoing as from a Magpie corner, Wood counterattacked, the ball finding Morias on the left wing.  He just about stayed on his feet following a desperate challenge from Tarpey and then regained his composure to cut inside and score.

With three minutes remaining Maidenhead did all they could to rescue a deserved point from the game and deep into stoppage time Russell again proved his worth with a tremendous last ditch save from substitute Sam Barratt.

Maidenhead left the field then beaten but unbowed. They had matched the league leaders for ninety minutes and can consider themselves unfortunate to take nothing from the game. Wood on the other hand had shown with their persistently high quality attacking play that they are made of the stuff of champions. The highlights of the game would have been a great video to market their talents but I doubt if even the most loyal of supporters will pay the £4 requested to watch them.

Every Second Counts...

Following Saturday's sucker punch by Bath the immediate worry was whether the team would be able to pick themselves up for two midweek relegation six pointers. This did not prove to be a problem as the Magpies created enough chances to win both games but instead continued to fail to maintain concentration and latterly energy to the end, being punished with late goals in the 93rd and 89th minute which saw Boreham Wood and Gosport Borough snatch three points at the death.

Both defeats were hard to take as a mere spectator and one can only speculate about the impact on dressing room morale with essentially the bottom nine clubs relatively even and set to play roughly the final quarter of the season over the next six weeks.

Against Boreham Wood, Maidenhead appeared to initially miss Tyrell Miller-Rodney in the base of midfield, with Adrian Clifton moving back to cover the Brentford loan player, Reece Tison-Lascaris taking Clifton's forward role.There was little to choose between the two clubs in the first half, Harry Grant going closest to opening the scoring with a curling short which almost deceived goalkeeper James Russell.

After the break Boreham Wood tested Elvijs Putnins, the Latvian goalkeeper tipping a Graeme Montgomery shot over the bar, punching a Loick Pires shot away, before combining with Mark Niset to deny Kudus Oyenuga.

The last quarter of the game though was dominated by the Magpies with only a man of the match performance by Russell denying them the lead. Just past the hour mark Russell managed to get his fingertips to a Danny Green strike to deflect it past the post. Then with twenty minutes remaining Russell produced a superb reaction save to deny Grant from close range, then from the resulting corner tipped a Harry Pritchard effort onto the bar. In the last minute Grant had a great opportunity to win the game but couldn't apply a decent contact to the ball so as the game entered stoppage time it looked like the Magpies would have to settle for a point.

Frustratingly though with just seconds left on the clock a Putnins clearance was intercepted by Junior Morias and he ran clear to score and spark delirious scenes on the Boreham Wood bench.

This painful memory was somewhat soothed within three minutes of the start of Thursday's match against Gosport Borough, when Clifton, back in his advanced role thanks to the return of Miller-Rodney, finished from close range to score Maidenhead's first goal at York Road since Boxing Day. The goal naturally proved a real boost to the Magpies and they looked good for their lead in the opening stages of the game. Twice though they failed to take advantage of goalscoring opportunities when the Borough defence stopped in anticipation of an offside flag, the chance to play on seemingly as much a surprise to the Maidenhead players. With the pause causing the forward momentum lost, Grant and Tison-Lascaris squandered the chances and as the half drew on Gosport began to threaten.

Before the half time whistle blew Rory Williams shot over the bar when well placed, whilst United's loan full back Brett Longden had to clear another effort off the line.

In the second half Maidenhead showed plenty of forward intent but could not create a chance to consolidate their lead and a Gosport equaliser began to look inevitable. Borough were increasingly making inroads into the United penalty area with booming cross field balls either from open play or set pieces. These were often met by headers and it was in this fashion that Luke Bennett, who had only returned on loan from Poole the previous day, equalised with half an hour to go.

As the game went on the Magpies increasingly showed signs of fatigue in their third game in six days, and as the clock entered the closing minutes there was an inevitability about the final score which was settled in the final minute when Bennett scored his second brace of the week with a tremendous strike from the edge of the penalty area.

Three defeats of this nature in quick succession can only cast aspersions on Maidenhead's ability to retain their Conference South status. At best there was an opportunity to put daylight between the Magpies and the relegation zone and at worst three draws would have at least maintained the status quo. Instead United need to reboot their season once again to secure 16 points out of the last 36 available to have any confidence of staying out of the bottom three.