Magpies draw a blank in dreary Hendon defeat (30.08.03)

IN EASILY their worst display of the season, United slumped to a dismal 1-0 defeat at the hands of Hendon at York Road on Saturday.
Once again, over complicating play in front of goal was the culprit, denying United many genuine shooting opportunities, as they patiently probed for weaknesses rather than tearing open a hole and firing the ball through it.
That said, the game intitally promised a lot more than it ultimately delivered, as an intriguing midfield battle began to develop.
Unfortunately, that is where the game stayed for the remainder of the match, with neither side causing too many problems for the opposing defence.
Consequently, virtually all of the Mapgies’ first-half chances came from free-kicks.
The best of these came on 20 minutes, when Martyn Lee lined up a set-piece and flashed the ball across the face of goal for Michael Currie, whose goal-bound header was cleared for a corner.
Several less effective efforts followed, but none really threatened to break the deadlock.
At the other end, however, there were a few clear-cut opportunities for the visitors, with the hapless – and almost perpetually offside – Martin Randall firing yards over the top with the goal at his mercy on 36 minutes, then missing a tap in from two yards out just minutes later.
With the half in injury time, Lee finaly forced Dave King into a save at his near post, with a snap shot from well outside the area.
United emerged for the second half with renewed vigour and might have nicked a lead within a minute of the restart, if the unmarked Yaku had just managed to steer his close-range header under the bar.
The game briefly opened up after this, with Lee drawing a save at one end, and Connor heading over his own bar under pressure a few minutes later at the other.
Kelvin McIntosh might condsider himself unlucky not to have won a penalty on the hour, when he appeared to be tripped on a rare incursion into the Hendon box. Unfortunately, the referee was unimpressed and waved play on.
And then came the killer blow, when a seemingly innocuous downfield punt bounced over Gareth Paxton and straight into the path of Eugene Ofori, who raced away from the defence and steered the ball past the isolated keeper and into the back of the net.
With United unable, or unwilling, to respond, it was game over, as the Magpies drew yet another blank.

Maidenhead United: Wilson, Sanders, Connor, Paxton, Durrant, McIntosh, Williams, Currie, Yaku, Lee, Farley. Subs: Gray, Cruse (for Paxton 73), Dreyer, Ashe (for Williams, 73), Hart.
Hendon: King, Evans, Duncan, Cooper, Butler, Cook, Bates, Forbes, Crace, Ofori, Cousins, Subs: Randall (for Crace, 12), Hunt, Alves (for Randall, 85), Thornton, Binns (for Cousins, 66).