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An early
goal from Chris Holland was the difference between two tightly matched
teams on a gloomy afternoon in Bath.
Both
teams tried to brighten the spectacle in an open game which nevertheless
provided little in the way of chances for either side.
Going
into the game on the back of four consecutive defeats, Johnson Hippolyte decided to give centre back Pat Sappleton his debut in favour of Mark Nisbet, and recalled captain Ashley Nicholls and Lee
Newman to the starting line up.
Hippolyte’s counterpart Adie Britton
had to deal with the consequences of a midweek flu which denied hime key players.
In addition he was forced to play veteran goalkeeper Steve Perrin as
regular custodian Paul Evans was suspended.
Bath
dominated the early stages with livewire striker Stuart Douglas proving to
be a real handful for the United defence. Indeed it was his seventh minute half
volley which led to the opportunity to create the only goal of the
game. Douglas’
effort was pushed behind at full stretch by Shane Gore, returning to the
Maidenhead number one shirt after a two game absence through injury. From the resulting Richard Evans corner Holland rose highest
to power home a header to put the Romans ahead.
As
the half wore on Maidenhead began to play themselves
back into the game whilst the Bath
fans concerned themselves with pompously deriding the match officials. The bobbly
surface hardly lent itself to a footballing
approach and United’s only effort of note in the first period was a
Dale Binns cross which was spilled behind by
Perrin.
Directly
after the break Maidenhead enjoyed their best passage of play as Newman and
Manny Williams linked up well. But
Newman and Nicholls were both unable to test Perrin with good chances and
once the keeper got away with a botched clearance as he recovered to thwart
Ben Surey’s effort, Bath began to take
control again.
However
when Douglas was withdrawn with eighteen
minutes remaining, Hippolyte sensed an
opportunity to commit more men forward, sacrificing defender Narada Bernard for midfielder Dave Clarke. This led to some late pressure for the
Magpies and they almost levelled the score with two minutes left when Sappleton unleashed a thunderbolt of a shot from twenty
yards. Unfortunately for United,
Perrin was able to spot the ball in poor light and tip it onto the crossbar
to ensure the three points remained in Somerset.
Romans: Perrin, Jones G,
Rollo, Coupe, Holland, Badman
(90+2 Rogers), Simpson, Connolly, Douglas (72 Edwards), Gilroy (89 Paul), Evans.
Unused subs: Jones S.
Goal: Holland 8.
Caution: Connolly 41.
Crowd: 531.
Magpies: Gore, Behzadi, Bernard (73 Clarke), Surey,
Sterling, Sappleton, Smith A, Nicholls Williams (59 Baptiste), Newman, Binns.
Unused subs: Smith T, Nisbet, Carter.
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