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A
late penalty save from Shane Gore helped the Magpies to a fourth
consecutive Blue Square South win at York Road against Dorchester Town.
With
a blustery wind swirling around the ground giving cold comfort to the spectators,
it was not a day for the faint hearted, but the players did their best to
serve up some action in a game full of incident.
Electing
to kick with the wind and the slope in the first half Dorchester
unsurprisingly started stronger Ryan Moss forcing Gore into a full stretch
save in the eighth minute. However
it was Maidenhead who took the lead just after a quarter of an hour when
new signing Rocky Baptiste capitalised on a lapse
in concentration from Town keeper Gareth Stewart. Baptiste poked
the ball clear of Stewart’s grasp to an expectant Richard Pacquette at the far post. With an open goal at his mercy Pacquette made a hash of the shot but fortunately Bobby
Behzadi was following up to power the ball home.
The
goal buoyed up United and but for the profligacy of the normally shot sure Pacquette, may well have been home and dry by half
time. Instead Gore was again called upon to save well from a Tom Mitchell
long shot, and a goal line clearance on the stroke of half time from a Town
defender from a Pacquette header ensured the lead
remained at just one goal at the interval.
Within
ninety seconds of the restart Dorchester
were handed a life line when Gore missed his punch clear. The ball fell to Nick Crittenden and
somehow found its way into the back of the net, a soft effort eluding two
United defenders.
Despite
this unlucky break Maidenhead only got stronger during the second
half. With the conditions now in
their favour they regularly charged forward, the winning goal coming in the
64th minute. A delightful
through ball by Ashley Nicholls was met by a perfectly timed run from Pacquette who this time made no mistake with his finish
to score his eighth goal of the season.
Dorchester were once again given
a chance to equalise though when Behzadi brought
down Mitchell in the penalty area with seven minutes left. Fortunately Gore atoned for his earlier
area by saving Moss’s spot kick, and in the time remaining Maidenhead
did everything but increase their lead. An electric cameo from sub Jermaine Hinds led
to two superb saves from Stewart, whilst Pacquette
could well have finished with a hat trick.
United: Gore, Smith T, Bernard, Behzadi (85 Hinds), Sterling, Nisbet,
Smith A, Nicholls, Pacquette, Baptiste
(85 Tyriaki), Binns.
Unused subs: Fyfield,
Carter
Goals: Behzadi 16, Pacquette 64.
Caution: Pacquette
71.
Town: Stewart, Jermyn (79 Bowles), Smeeton, Clay (72 Mudge), Liburd, Hill, Crittenden, Mitchell, Moss, Fogdon, Nicholson.
Unused subs: Gleeson, Marsh-Brown, Coward.
Goal: Crittenden 47.
Cautions: Moss 27, Crittenden 51, Nicholson
60, Jermyn 79.
Crowd: 343.
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