Devonshire to play a waiting game (20.02.03)

MAIDENHEAD United manager Alan Devonshire has moved to quell rumours that he would definitely leave York Road when chairman Roger Coombs retires at the end of the season.
The pair have formed a close working relationship over the past seven seasons, which has been instrumental in the Magpies’ cup and league successes.
Devonshire has always made it clear he would stay at the club as long as he could continue to develop the squad, and this week he claimed nothing had changed.
He said: “The only reason I would leave the club is if we can’t progress.
“I’ve built it up so much over the last seven seasons, I don’t want to walk away from it now.”
However, he did say that much depended on the appointment of a new chairman and the size of the budget available to him next season.
He said: “I have an open mind about it, so we’ll just have to wait and see who the new chairman is, what budget we have and what expectations we have.
“At the moment I’m just concerned about getting to the end of this season.”
Despite Saturday’s home defeat to high-flying Hendon, the Magpies can probably congratulate themselves on a job well done, although they might have nicked a draw with a strong second-half comeback.
Devonshire said: “It was a pretty even game. We had a few chances in the last 20 to 25 minutes and maybe we should have got a result. But Hendon are a good side and it was a difficult game.
“I think we were a bit short on sharpness but we got stronger as the game went on, which was quite pleasing.”

On Tuesday, United missed the opportunity to build on Saturday’s encouraging second-half performance, when their league clash with Bishop’s Stortford was called off due to a frozen pitch.

The Magpies travel to Grays Athletic on Saturday, seeking revenge for a 2-0 defeat at York Road.
Devonshire said: “It’s going to be a tough game. They were favourites to go up with Aldershot and Canvey at the start of the season.”