Maidenhead came down to earth with a bump on Tuesday night with a defeat by the odd goal in five at bottom of the table Cheshunt.  The league match, United’s first for over a month, could hardly have been played in more inauspicious circumstances in comparison to the glorious occasion on Friday, a dimly lit ground with spartan facilities which had the feel of a park pitch.  The hosts started the game at a gallop, eager to make up for recent poor form buy buoyed up by an encouraging performance in South Wales at the weekend when promotion chasing Merthyr Tydfil had to wait for the final minute to score the winning goal.  Cheshunt drew first blood when Darrell Cox beat goal keeper Chico Ramos only for his shot to cannon back into play off the unusual square posts.  This warning was soon followed by the opening goal when Lee Allen played in Cox with a defence splitting pass.  This time Cox made no mistake with his shot to hit the target.  This insult spurred the Magpies into action, Richard Witt going close when he cut in from the right and fired in a testing shot.   The equaliser came in the 35^th minute when Lee Newman latched onto a long ball forward, nimbly beat the last defender with quick feet, then beat the keeper from a tight angle on the left side of the penalty area.

Maidenhead started the second half brightly when Lee Newman squared the ball back to O'Connor whose fierce shot from the edge of the box was cleared off the line by the Cheshunt defender with the keeper beaten.  This bright start was more of a false dawn as the game reverted to a scrappy affair with the Magpies seeing lots of the ball but unable to translate these into chances let alone goals.   Cheshunt seemed content to Maidenhead have the ball in areas where they could do little damage and concentrate of attacking on the break with a very direct style of play.    These tactics paid off in the 74th minute when Bobby Highton was able slot the ball past Ramos to give Cheshunt the lead.   Maidenhead came close to levelling four minutes later when Witt played the ball through the crowded defence to Newman, whose shot beat Peat in the Cheshunt goal but was cleared by a defender straight to Osman whose shot was well saved by the Cheshunt keeper.

On 81 minutes, Cheshunt secured the points when a Maidenhead attack broke down and play was cleverly switched from right to left for Obeng to hammer home from the edge of the area.    In the last minute of stoppage time, Stephen Hughes, who had earlier replaced Dean Clarke was upended in the box.  The big striker picked himself up and coolly slotted the ball home.  However it was to be too little, too late as there was barely time to take kick off before the referee blew for time to bring Maidenhead's 8 game unbeaten run to an end.

Ambers: Peat, Peddie (Fenton D 67), Deane, Fenton A, Wattley, Hicks, Allen, Highton, Cox, Clark, Obeng.  Unused subs: Cato, Norman, Parry, Kalli.  Goals: Cox 29, Highton 74, Obeng 81. Gate 135

Magpies: Ramos, Johnson, Smith, Lee, Sterling, Hughes R, Witt, Osman, O’Connor, Newman, Clarke Dw .  Unused subs: Gorman, Preddie.  Goals: Newman L 35, Hughes S 90 pen.