| Roy Bannister (02.04.08) |
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DORCHESTER TOWN 2 (0) |
MAIDENHEAD UNITED 1 (1) |
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A very sterile first half saw the Home side
start very brightly without threatening Chris Tardif's goal, whereas
Maidenhead did actually have some attempts at the Home Goal through
Darti Brown, Jack Bradshaw and 2 from Richard Pacquette, both of the latter should have brought more than they did. The first opportunity for our new signing saw a good 1-2 with Manny Williams seeing Pacquette with space in the Dorchester area, only for a shot on the turn whistling over the Bar with Chico Ramos unlikely to get close. The second came after Chico charged out to the edge of the box and make a Pig's Ear of his clearance, but Pacquette's clipped volley sailed over from 20 yards. The second half saw Dorchester out of the blocks quickly and menacingly, and Maidenhead on the back foot, not for the first time in recent weeks, and their early aggression was rewarded, however not without a twist. Grant Cooper was cautioned within a minute of the Restart for his first illegal challenge, a high boot, but within a further minute Darti Brown was caught in similar fashion, resulting in our midfielder being firstly injured without any resulting Free Kick, but also in Maidenhead conceding a corner. Brown was still remonstrating with Mr. Comley, the Referee. before the corner, and was booked for his continued protestations. It is possible that this disturbed the concentration of the Maidenhead defenders at the corner, this was only partially cleared, and the resulting ball was fired into the box, where an opportunistic strike of the head by Dorchester's centre forward Jones Awuah saw the ball fly into the net. Shortly after, a continuingly argumentative Brown was substituted, presumably to prevent him being sent off, and was replaced by Lee Newman as Johnson Hippolyte gambled on three strikers in the search for an equaliser. The additional presence up front started to cause problems for the Home defence and Maidenhead were rewarded in the 81st minute, when Newman found Manny Williams some 20 yards from goal but the Magpies' leading scorer produced a fine shot which nestled nicely inside Ramos' right hand post, the former Maidenhead stopper having no chance. At this point there appeared to be only one winner as first Newman forced Ramos into a fine save, before becoming something of a villain when shooting into the side netting when Williams and Pacquette both appeared to be better placed in the penalty box had the ball been played across. The match, however, was decided on a poor decision by both the Referee and the linesman. A hopeful ball was played out of the Home defence to the right wing where Grant Cooper and a Dorchester forward chased the ball, Cooper was tugged "groundwards" by the Home player and, in falling, pulled the player down with him. The linesman, and the Referee, who endured probably one of his more disappointing nights, decided that Cooper's challenge warranted a free kick, a decision which should clearly have been given in Cooper's benefit. The resultant kick, given as 90 minutes ticked by, was partially cleared by the Maidenhead defence but was returned by the same player, and fell kindly to Dorchester's number 5, Patrece Liburd, who made no mistake from 10 yards. There was a further period of stoppage time played but ultimately the final action had already been played, and the final whistle left Maidenhead with a mountain to climb if they are to maintain their Conference South status. |
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Magpies: Tardif, Bradshaw (James), Nisbet,
Cooper, Sterling, Smith, Clarke (Hinds), Brown (Newman), Lee,
Williams, Pacquette. Unused Subs: Bernard, Hudson |