A sorry defeat to a resurgent Hitchin Town raised the worrying spectre of a third successive relegation battle for Maidenhead United on Tuesday night. In an eventful match, United took a rare lead but were unable to hold onto it in the face of sustained pressure from Hitchin who won the game three minutes from time.
The match began with the home team in effervescent form, buoyed up their weekend win at league leaders Bath City, keenly taking the game to the Magpies. The ball fizzed around the Maidenhead penalty area for the first ten minutes but with no attempts on goal forthcoming, United were able to play their way out of trouble with some useful moves down the right flank.
In the 21st minute Maidenhead knocked the wind out of Hitchin’s sails when a neat pass put Darti Brown through against the keeper Rob Beckwith. Brown pushed the ball past Beckwith who then caught the midfielder with a trailing arm to bring him crashing to the ground leaving the referee no option but to point to the spot. Dwane Lee then stepped up to bury the penalty kick sending the hapless Beckwith the wrong way with a shot to the keeper’s left.
As the half progressed, the referee began to struggle with a calf injury and despite receiving treatment decided he could not continue with five minutes to go to half time. With Hitchin making little effort to find a replacement, Maidenhead manager ran to the Magpies fans behind the goal and asked for a qualified volunteer. This led to an unexpected evening for Ian Murrill, who had made the short trip to support the Magpies from his home in Stevenage, as United director Peter Griffin is godfather to his two sons. After a lengthy delay the game was able to continue with Murrill on the line, the first half eventually finishing after 66 minutes had elapsed.
After the break Hitchin set about looking for an equaliser with renewed purpose and after a couple of near misses made it 1-1 in the 50th minute. A free kick on the left found its way to the other side of the penalty area where Ryan Frater applied a good finish to level the scores. Hitchin then continued to press for a second but Maidenhead weathered the storm and began to push forward again. However there was little invention in the final third to put the Hitchin goal under pressure and with the end in sight Hitchin started to seriously push for the winner. It came with just three minutes when yet again Maidenhead failed to defend a set piece. Hitchin launched a free kick from the right wing this time, substitute Scott Orphanou picking up the loose ball to strike a sweet shot into the net to leave Maidenhead manager Johnson Hippolyte still winless in the league after five matches.