Magpies’ circus rolls into Histon (29.04.06)

HISTON coasted into a play-off spot with an easy victory over a ragged Maidenhead United team in front of a bumper crowd at The Glassworld Stadium on Saturday.
With a car load of players pitching up in Ipswich rather than Histon, United manager Carl Taylor was forced to field a scratch 11, which gave a debut to coach Matt Gore.
From the opening whistle Histon went for the kill and took only 13 seconds to hit the target, Adrian Cambridge having a dip from distance which Francisco Ramos was forced to tip around the post.
This set the pattern for the game, with the Maidenhead goal resembling the Alamo, as Histon set up camp outside it and peppered it with shots at will.
The opening goal arrived on the quarter-hour mark, when a penetrating run down the left by Erkan Okay ended with a cut-back to Matthew Haniver, who drove the ball home.
Surprisingly this was the only goal of the half, Drew Roberts coming closest to adding to the score when he drilled a shot onto the underside of the cross bar.
Due to a mixture of good saves from Ramos, missed opportunities from Histon and sheer good luck, Maidenhead continued to hold their hosts to a one-goal lead for 20 minutes of the second half.
Ironically this all changed when the late-coming players arrived, Gore’s substitution immediately leading to a goal when Cambridge’s free-kick on the right was met by the head of Neil Kennedy.
Cambridge finally got on the scoresheet himself with 11 minutes remaining, when he nodded a goal in from point blank range, from a Roberts cross.
With the result beyond doubt, the Maidenhead fans focused on the possibility of a club record 100th league goal being conceded.
This seemed to be a formality with five minutes left when Roberts won a penalty.
However Ramos read Roberts’ kick correctly, diving to his right to push the ball away to safety.

ACROBATS: Both players go tumbling during a challenge at the Glassworld Stadium on Saturday.

Histon: Key, Jackman, Okay, Hipperson (for Roberts, 19), Mitchell-King, A Cambridge, Haniver, Andrews (for Knight-Percival, 80), Bloomfield, Kennedy (for I Cambridge, 73), Barker. Unused subs: Coulson, Davies.
Maidenhead United: Ramos (for Stevenson, 88), White, Parsons, Dell, Kwakye (for Wild, 64), Partridge, Graham, Romeo, Roach, Osman, Gore (for Bradshaw, 64).