City fall foul of United backlash (16.09.03)

UNITED made it three wins on the spin on Tuesday night, with a deserved 2-1 away win at highly-fancied St Albans City.
On the back of two consecutive victories and brim full of confidence, this was easily United’s best performance of the season.
Not only did they proffer an entertaining brand of attacking, flowing football, they also produced some determined and effective defending when the chips were down in the second half.
Both sides looked to attack from the whistle and the Magpies created the first scoring opportunity after just 10 minutes.
Phil Gray laid a neat ball into the path of Craig Farley, whose crisply struck shot forced the home keeper Wilmot into a good save.
Minutes later, Saints almost took the lead, when a free-kick from Murray was chested down by Martin into the path of Castle, whose deflected shot drew the best out of Nick Hart.
The Magpies always looked more positive going forward down the flanks and, when Mark Boyce finished a strong run on the half hour with a good cross, Farley was on hand to fire in a shot, which Seeby was forced to block.
The closest the home side came to scoring was from a free-kick just outside the area.
Former Magpies favourite Matty Glynn stood over the ball and caught the defence cold by taking the kick early, before the wall had been organised.
Fortunately, Nick Hart was well aware of the danger Glynn poses and saved easily.
Some good attacking football finally reaped the inevitable reward on 39 minutes, when Lawrence Yaku chased and collected a long ball and laid it back to Brendon Gallen, who sent in a good deep cross to the far post.
Phil Gray did well to head the ball back across goal, where Ryan Ashe hooked the ball in from six yards.
Maidenhead were certainly in charge but some indecision in the defence allowed Martin to break clear, but his attempted chip over Hart was too firm and the ball sailed harmlessly over the bar.
Maidenhead should have gone in at the break further ahead, after Yaku outran the defence to reach a long ball from Jennings in the last minute of the half.
Going one-on-one with Wilmot, the striker was caught in two minds and ended up firing a shot wide of the upright.
The early part of the second half saw end to end football, with both teams having scoring opportunities.
As the half wore on, the home side increased the pressure, seeking an equaliser, and the Magpies’ defence was put under a lot of pressure.
However, the back four worked very hard, supported by the midfield, and denied the Saints the space they needed in front of goal.
With 20 minutes to go, the ball was lifted into the area by Wraight and, with defenders and attackers both challenging, the ball bounced around like a pinball before being cleared.
Five minutes later, Graham went on a clever run, beating three defenders before firing into the side netting.
Maidenhead were now restricted to attacking on the break but regularly found the offside trap a little too effective.
With five minutes to go, Steve Sanders took a free-kick, Yaku collected and fired in a shot which was blocked by Murray using a hand, only for the appeal for a penalty to be turned down by the referee. But justice was finally done in injury time, when Andy Jennings’ clearance reached Gray, who cleverly set Lee free in space.
The midfielder ran on into the area before cutting the ball back into the path of Yaku, who stroked the ball home past Wilmot before performing his trademark cartwheel.
There was still time for one last piece of action, when, right from the restart, the ball was played into the Maidenhead penalty area. 
The whole of the defence played statues waiting for an expected off-side decision, but none was forthcoming and Nic McDonnell simply walked the ball into the net.

Maidenhead United: Hart, Sanders, Connor, Ashe, Jennings, Gallen, Boyce, Gray, Yaku, Lee, Farley. Subs: Durrant, Dreyer, Paxton, Currie, Wilson.
St Albans City: Wilmot, Gledhill, Murray, Seeby, Brown, Deacon, Glynn, Castle, Martin, McDonnell and Tomlinson. Subs: Wraight (for Deacon, 59), Graham (for Glynn, 59), De Souza (for Martin, 69), White.