Boss mourns lost chance (07.10.05)

FANS and officials were in high spirits as they celebrated Maidenhead United’s battling draw with Weymouth on Saturday.
However, despite an encouraging performance from his players, Magpies manager Carl Taylor seemed surprisingly subdued.
After the game, he said: ”I was a bit disappointed considering all the chances we had, but by the end of the game we were happy to get a draw.
“We felt we could beat them, and at half-time the players believed that a bit more. But it wasn’t to be.”
Nonetheless, Taylor did acknowledge that the game had represented a step forward, adding: ”I think we proved to everyone we’re on the right road.”
One notable area of improvement was at the back, meaning Weymouth were reduced to taking pot shots for long periods of the game.
Discussing the defensive performance, Taylor said: “They’re young and athletic, and as long as they concentrate and don’t make too many mistakes we’re fine.”
But midweek training also played it’s part, as he explained: “All we had done last week in training was overload the defence, so their thought process sharpened up and they didn’t have to worry too much about particular situations.
“And most of those situations came about on Saturday.”
Taylor’s training tactics also paid off for keeper Paul McCarthy, whose fluffed clearance left him one-on-one with Chukki Eribenne.”
Taylor explained: “The funny thing is, on Thursday we had six attacking just Paul in goal. It was to get him to relax and only think about the ball. And when the shot comes, just be positive.
“And in that situation that’s just what he did.”
On Tuesday night the Magpies welcomed Ryman Division 2 outfit Flackwell Heath to York Road for a friendly, giving Taylor a chance to watch a few of the squad players in action.
The Heathens gave a good account of themselves in the first half and took a 1-0 lead courtesy of a Gordon Hill strike.
But Taylor threw on the big guns after the break and soon levelled the scores through Stephen Hughes.
Taylor said: “There were players who hadn’t had a chance to show me anything yet, so I put them all out in the first half.
“It didn’t go the best and we went 1-0 down.
“We want to keep things positive, so I wasn’t going to have that, even in a friendly.
“So I brought out some of the big guns to dictate the pace in the second half and we got back level.”
On the subject of big guns, Taylor announced that a former ‘player of the season’ at York Road, Ryan Ashe, was set to sign a new deal with the Magpies last night (Thursday).
With no game this weekend, Taylor is planning a three-hour training session on Saturday, followed by another friendly on Tuesday night, with Brook House likely to be the Magpies’ opponents.
Taylor said: “They should give us a decent test.”

A WING AND A PRAYER: Magpies boss Carl Taylor prays for divine intervention during Saturday’s draw at home to Weymouth. Ref:90301/2