Magpies come good after shaky start (01.11.05)

THE Magpies ultimately forced their way past a determined Windsor side on Tuesday evening in an uninspiring contest.
Despite missing ex Magpie centre-back pairing of Lee Kersey and Jamie Jarvis through injury, the Royalists tore into the Magpies from the off and took a deserved lead in the 12th minute, when Ryan Spencer picked up a loose ball and lashed a shot past Paul McCarthy from 25 yards.
This prompted United into action and the equaliser came just three minutes later when a Matt Glynn free-kick on the right found its way to the far post where Lee Newman was on hand to fire the ball home.
Newman played a similar poachers role to put Maidenhead in front on 33 minutes.
A speculative shot from Stephen Hughes proved too hot to handle for Keiron Drake in the Windsor goal and once again Newman was alive to pick up the scraps and bury the ball in the net with some aplomb.
The second half followed a similar pattern.
Windsor scored early on to level the scores when Paul Coyne powered a free-kick into the net from distance in the 53rd minute.
The Magpies were then forced to work hard to retake the lead, having to wait until the 70th minute when Dominic White had his shirt pulled in the area, Hughes making no mistake with the resulting penalty.
The highlight of the night came with five minutes to go when Abdul Saeed Osman scored the goal of the tie, with a mazy dribble through the Windsor defence before giving the hapless Drake no chance with his finish.
The contest ended in bizarre scenes when, after protracted discussions with the linesman, the referee decided to send United manager Carl Taylor from the dugout.