Dorchester Town v Maidenhead United

Confusion rains in Dorchester (15.03.08)

DORCHESTER TOWN 1 (1)

MAIDENHEAD UNITED 1 (1)

Match Abandoned after 86 minutes
Torrential rain, which began just before kick off and continued pretty much unabated throughout the afternoon, was the key influence on the game yesterday.
The condition of the pitch gradually deteriorated throughout the game and by the second half had reached a farcical state with the ball unable to travel more than a few feet along the ground. This meant although the abandonment was understandable it was frustrating to get so near to ending the game with a fair result, frustration that will be compounded if a replay is ordered.
Maidenhead started the game brightly but it was the home team that first went close to scoring. In the eighth minute a Jon Docker shot was pushed wide by debutant Chris Tardif in the United goal. Two minutes later Maidenhead took the lead when Manny Williams managed to fend off the attentions of a Dorchester defender keen on swapping shirts already. Williams got to the byline on the left hand side of the penalty area and crossed to the far post where Carl Wilson-Denis headed the ball over the line. Maidenhead went onto dominate the half but as conditions worsened it was the physically stronger Dorchester who began to threaten as half time drew near. With seven minutes remaining until the interval, Dorchester won a free kick on the edge of the penalty area and Docker stepped up to lift the ball over the wall and into the left hand corner of the net to equalise.
Maidenhead almost recaptured the lead three minutes into the second half when a deflected Williams effort beat Dorchester keeper Chico Ramos, only for a defender to clear off the line. It now became clear that a goal would probably come from a stray pass or slip up and Tardif was called into action a couple of times when Docker and Jones Awuah took advantage of such a mistake, but ultimately the only winner was going to be the awful weather.

Town: Ramos, Cumming, Smeeton, Clay, Liburd, O'Brien, Gleeson, Rowe (80 Browne), Awuah, Docker, Eastham (66 Forbes). Unused subs: Jermyn, Mitchell, Khalil.
Goal: Docker 38. Caution: Gleeson 68. Crowd: 331.
United: Tardif, Bradshaw (60 Lee), Bernard, Clarke, Nisbet, Sterling, Smith, Hinds, Williams (84 Newman), Wilson-Denis, Hamsher (62 Daly). Unused subs: Sealy, Hudson.
Goal: Wilson-Denis 10. Caution: Bernard 74.