Neither side is worthy of a point (31.01.06)

PERHAPS the less said about Tuesday night’s goalless bore draw at York Road the better.
One point worth making is that Basingstoke Town were there for the taking.
However, with six out-and-out defenders and one holding midfielder in their starting line-up, the Magpies were incapable of taking them.
Having said that, those six defenders did their jobs very well, restricting the visitors to just two strikes on goal, both of which were hit straight at Scott Tarr.
Steve Dell and Ryan Parsons also looked useful when they got forward down the flanks.
Unfortunately, both had more pace than either of the strikers, so the final cross was almost always into an empty box.
Only in the last few minutes, when the pacey Yashwa Romeo replaced Craig Lewington, and Matt Glynn moved back into the hole behind the two strikers, did United finally gain a modicum of momentum.
But it was too little, too late.
In a dire first half, United’s only chance of note came in the first two minutes, when Dell accelerated past his opposite number and whipped in a low cross to the near post.
Stephen Hughes got the faintest of touches to deflect it goalwards, but Town’s keeper Stuart Searle was well placed to scoop the ball to his chest.
The next 40 minutes consisted of long lumps forward, long, tennis-style rallies in midfield and not much else.
Some life did creep into the game just before the break, when Tarr had to catch a snap shot from Ricci Dolan, and Joe Bruce had to hack the ball away as James Taylor moved in for the kill. But that was that.
The second half was little better, although it did warrant a few hastily scribbled notes, particularly in the last 15 minutes, when Romeo’s pace began to trouble the Basingstoke defence, and Glynn began spraying the ball around from midfield.
Before then, the pattern of play established in the first half continued unabated, with the welcome addition of the occasional free-kick and corner.
From one of these United almost took the lead, when Lewington skimmed the ball in to the six-yard box, where Hughes’ flick-on required a headed clearance off the line.
Ryan Ashe then went close, after the Basingstoke defence only half-cleared a free-kick and Chris Wild lifted the ball back into the box.
Nathan Bunce stuck out a boot and managed to flick it over his head for Ashe, whose outstretched foot was just inches short of poking the ball past the rooted keeper.
Glynn, playing in a bizarrely inappropriate striker’s role, then fired a volley straight into Searle’s arms, before Hughes lifted the ball over the bar from all of six yards, when scoring would have been considerably easier.
There was still time for Glynn to float a dangerous free-kick just past the post, but that was as good as it got.
A point is a point, and when you’re battling to survive relegation they all help.
However, as one distraught fan put it, this was a game where neither side deserved one.

Maidenhead United: Tarr, Dell, Parsons, Bunce, Wild, Porter, Bruce, Ashe, Hughes, Glynn, Lewington. Subs: Romeo (for Lewington, 75), Green, Bradshaw, Lunn, Stevenson.
Basingstoke Town: Searle, Molyneaux, Heath, Brown, Paterson, Surey, Ray, McKay, Dollan, Taylor, Cook. Subs: Funes, Smith, Hemmings, Wright, Bullivant.