Magpies caught in reverse gear (16.11.02)

MAIDENHEAD United were embarrassingly bad on Saturday, losing to a team they had comfortably beaten a month ago and who were yet to win away from home.
What made matters worse for the Magpies was that they faced a team who were one-dimensional in their play and only just above average themselves.
In a dismal game, in front of a dismal crowd of just 177, the Magpies failed to shine in any department.
Not a single player enhanced their reputation, and indeed a few did their image some damage.
The only difference between the teams was the visitors’ desire to win, and to their credit their hassling and workmanlike efforts bore fruit.
Having, by most people’s reckoning, played well without any luck recently, the Magpies must have been hoping to find some rare home form and put Ford to the sword for the second time this season.
Admittedly they were slightly hamstrung from the start.
Lawrence Yaku was unavailable, and Chris Elsegood had to be helped off inside the first five minutes with an injury.
To add insult to injury, reserve keeper Nicky Hart only lasted 45 minutes when he had to be substituted for a broken hand which occured during Ford’s first goal.
His replacement between the posts was substitute Mark Nicholls – a player who would have surely found himself on the pitch in an attacking role not long after the break.
However these injuries should not be used as the sole reason for Maidenhead’s disappointing demise.
As is often the case at York Road, the Magpies seemed content to sit back, often having nine men behind the ball, and then lumped the ball forward to the overwhelmed Ibraheem Adeoye and Adrian Allen.
The wing-backs rarely ventured forward and the midfield trio have had little opportunity to be constructive. At the back there was some shockingly basic errors – lack of back post marking being a particular favourite – as three of Ford’s goals came from headers.
The spectacle as a whole was made worse by the fact that Ford played the ball forward in a similar no-nonsense manner; however their less skilful players seemed to enjoy this.
Ford looked like they could play no other way, the Magpies can, but chose not to.
The match did not really have any interest until Ford bagged their first goal on 35 minutes, ironically after a sustained period of Maidenhead pressure.
A long ball was popped over the top for Alex Fiddes to run on to and he just got his head to the ball before he and the oncoming Hart collided.
The ball rolled agonisingly into the goal, and after five minutes of both players being tended to by the physios, Fiddes hobbled off, and Hart was booked for his pains.
To make matters worse on the stroke of half-timeJohn O’Sullivan nabbed the second when he rose highest to get on the end of a cross from Mervyn Adams.
An O’Sulliavn header at the back post on 73 mnutes, and a virtual tap-in from John Buffong, after a dummy from Adams, sealed the win for the visitors who probably could not believe their luck.
The Magpies threw centre half Steve Croxford, and also finally Andy Cook, up front for most of the second half, but this tactic smacked of desperation and did little but make the Magpies appear confused about how they should be playing the game.
It was not surpising therefore that the Magpies did not have a single worthwhile shot on target all game.

Maidenhead United: Hart, Boyce, Jeffrey, Kelly, Croxford, Elsegood, Ashe, Adeoye, Allen, Glynn, Morley. Subs: Connor (for Elsegood, 4), Nicholls (for Hart, 46), Cook (for Kelly, 46), Channell (not used).
Ford United: Newell, Collis, Kimble, Woodards, Bourgeois, Fiddes, Buffong, O’Sullivan, Bejada, Poole, Adams. Subs: Whyte (for Fiddes, 44), Halle (for Poole, 81), Harvey (for Bejada, 85), Hackett, Watson (not used).