A stroll in the Meadow

Heading west out of Paddington in the Indian Summer sun, I contemplated a first ever trip to a County Cup tie in September. At last it seems the Berks & Bucks FA are moving towards my ideal of an early season tournament. Their website states that the semi finals will be played in January, surely meaning an end to the traditional final date of May Day Bank Holiday Monday, a time of year which is now filled with non league play offs.

On arrival at Loop Meadow though I was reminded of how the County FA is often arcane in its bureaucracy as it became clear that neither DJ Campbell or Louis Morrison-Derbyshire would be able to play as a seven day notice period is required for new registrations. This is in contrast of course with the FA Cup where DJ was able to play at little more than 24 hours notice. I understand that league forms can be signed up to midday on the day of the game! It seems that they are still using the pigeon post at County HQ which to be fair is somewhat remotely located in Faringdon, the quirk of the now redundant 1974 County Council boundaries, meaning that this address and indeed tonight's cup tie would be played in Oxfordshire.

Loop Meadow continues to be a curious ground. There is a maze of rooms and bars, which if you follow the correct path can end up with you entering the playing area for nothing, Barking style. To add to the air of magic, at first glance the kits used for last night's match looked like Arsenal home and away. Since my last visit they have place two tiny seated stands at opposing corners behind one goal, presumably to increase the seated capacity for ground grading reasons, whilst the covered standing behind the same goal is currently fenced off with some more building work apparent.

Didcot had risen to second in the Southern League Division One South & West on Saturday, and like our opponents in the previous cup tie at the weekend, Faversham Town offered much in the way of hard work, but ultimately were unable to threaten the Magpie goal. Thus with United again being gifted an opening first half goal, once Town ran out of steam, the goals were rattled in to give the score a rather lopsided look.

All things considered this was a pleasing outcome in view of the players Drax was able to rest. Traffic delays for Jacob Erskine meant Harry Pritchard continued in the left back slot, with Melchi Emmanuel-Williamson playing alongside Mark Nisbet in the centre of defence. Ryan Upward returned to the midfield to partner Ashley Nicholls, behind a full hand of wingers in Danny Green, Lanre Azeez, Tashan Adeyinka and Reece Tison-Lascaris.

The latter two players combined to open the scoring in the fifteenth minute. A cross from the left by Tison-Lascaris looked it would be comfortably collected by Didcot goalkeeper Alex Williams but he could not hold on to the ball which was scrambled into the net by Adeyinka.

This proved to be the only difference between the sides at the interval and the Didcot manager clearly got stuck into his team at half time as they came out fizzing with energy to enjoy their best spell of the match. They were unable to unduly trouble Elvijs Putnins and the introduction of Dave Tarpey with twenty five minutes left enabled the Magpies to go up a gear, creating countless chances of which three were taken in the last ten minutes.

Firstly an Azeez pass found Green in plenty of space in the penalty area, having time to pick his spot with a delightful finish. Good work by Jonathan Hippolyte again found Green, making it two goals in two minutes, before Hippolyte finished the scoring with the goal of the evening, firing home from just outside the penalty area.

An exciting end to the evening then but what it will lead to looks to be in some doubt as the page containing the draw details has changed radically. It appears that Wycombe Wanderers have withdrawn following the decision to fold their reserve team, whilst Reading having apparently returned to the competition are now nowhere to be seen. As of course MK Dons are not a real club, this leaves Maidenhead United as the biggest club in the competition, waiting for details of the quarterfinal draw, ties to be played by mid November.

Railwaymen shunt Magpies into FA Cup siding

FA Cup days have a palpable excitement which is largely missing from the rest of the season. The truly comprehensive national competition with its accompanying high hopes of future glory naturally holds emotions of deep disappointment in its locker for occasions like yesterday's trip to Didcot when Maidenhead failed to deliver a performance of sufficient quality to make it into the hat for Monday's draw.

This was Maidenhead's first visit to Loop Meadow, having made a couple of Cup trips to Didcot's old ground on the other side of the tracks in the 60s. The new ground, built on the Ladygrove development on reclaimed marshland, is a good little set up with the club's rise in the last decade from county league to senior level being reflected by the town itself which is growing fast. 

Despite leaving work in Southwark at 11.45 I was in the ground by half one, a quick trip from Paddington being followed by a short walk under a narrow bridge then through a park which presented an industrial view rather at odds with the town's setting in rural Berkshire (historic boundaries). Indeed the club presents a similarly odd brand with a badge containing an Arsenal style cannon to compliment a Gunners style strip of red shirts with white sleeves, a reference to a long closed local armaments factory in front of a railway wheel to reflect the history of the Great Western Railway which built the town and literally stares you in face throughout the ground.

Unfortunately the town's growing population does not seem very interested in its football club with today's crowd of 301 over one hundred in excess of any previous ones this season. Speaking to a longtime Didcot fan before the game, the feeling was this was due to people being spoiled by the constant success a few years back which culminated in winning the FA Vase, and so not being interested in the weekly grind of the superior but more challenging Southern League.

The team itself is improving fast, unbeaten in seven mainly cup matches, following the controversial exit of manager Dave Mudge. Facing a Maidenhead team on a three game losing streak with David Pratt and Harry Pritchard joining Michael Pook and Mark Nisbet on the unfit list, the stage was set for an upset.

The home team were clearly well up for the opportunity to break the club record for the furthest run in the FA Cup, tearing into United with gusto, their industry perhaps inspired by the marvellous array of transport  on view behind the Maidenhead goal, which included hot air balloons and trains ancient and modern. Maidenhead for their part were clearly struggling with a change of formation to 4-4-2 forced by Pritchard failing a late fitness test which led to Leon Solomon taking a role in left midfield whilst his counterpart on the right Martel Powell was unable to resist an instinct to carry the ball into the congested middle.

Still having survived a couple of early scares Maidenhead started to take the game to their hosts, Alex Wall putting the ball in the net twice only to be flagged offside twice, on the first to the bemusement of those standing on the sidelines The second was particularly frustrating as from my angle behind the goal, the Reece Tison-Lascaris shot appeared to have beaten the goalkeeper and be goal bound before Wall followed up to make sure.

Didcot then took advantage of Maidenhead's growing confidence which had seen the defensive line move up the pitch, a neat through ball from Brian Bowles finding Morgan Williams who, like Theo Walcott later in the day, ran clear and beat the keeper with a fine finish. Maidenhead responded instantly when Wall's effort was well saved by eccentric Brazilian keeper Marcos Bellolli-Perreira (wearing tights under his thigh high socks).

Half time led to little change in proceedings. Sure Maidenhead enjoyed the lion's share of the play, but lacked the wit and the patience to break down a determined Didcot side who continued to threaten to score on the break.

A "name on the Cup" moment then secured the lead with twenty five minutes left when with the goalkeeper beaten Wall shot from close range only for the ball to be stopped by the hand of defender Lee Henderson but either unseen or ignored by the well placed officials. Maidenhead then sought to up the tempo, a move which only served to heighten the tension, Henderson having the gall to call Solomon a cheat for taking a tumble in the penalty area. As the spot kick appeal was waved away Daniel Brown then crossed the line with his questioning of the decision to the referee, receiving a red card for dissent. This incident signalled the end of United's hopes of earning a replay, and reflected an afternoon when United failed to show the calm discipline to soak up and trump the endeavour of a team two divisions below them. Rather it was Maidenhead, unable to shrug off the slings and arrows of refereeing misfortune, who were deservedly beaten.