| Own goal leads to safe Trophy passage for Magpies (15.10.07) |
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MAIDENHEAD UNITED 2 (1) |
ST ALBANS CITY 0 |
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Saint Albans' captain Lee Clarke was cast in
the role of sinner on Saturday turning the ball into his own net to
launch a comfortable win for Maidenhead. Prior to the game United manager Johnson Hippolyte swung his selection axe following Tuesday night's defeat against Bromley, relegating Louis Wells, Grant Cooper and Ashley Smith to the bench in favour of Chico Ramos, Lee Kersey and Serge Makofo. In addition to new loan signing John Hastings in place of the injured Errol Telemaque, all the replacements took full advantage of a starting place to make a significant contribution to the victory. The Magpies took an early lead in somewhat fortuitous circumstances, a corner from the left being flicked on by the boot of Mark Nisbet at the near post. This sparked chaos in the six yard box, Clarke attempting to clear the ball with both feet but only succeeding in shanking the ball past his helpless goalkeeper into the net. Spurred on by this early boost, Maidenhead dominated the early stages of the game, but despite some good moves were unable to score the crucial second goal. As the half wore on St Albans came back strongly, Gary Elphick bringing out the best in goalkeeper Ramos just after the half hour mark, the Portuguese keeper making a brave double save at the feet of his opponent. Both St Albans strikers, Clarke and Paul Armstrong then spurned good chances to score before the break, meekly hitting their efforts straight at Ramos. The second half began as a scrappy affair but Maidenhead slowly turned the screw on their opponents, the strong running of man of the match Makofo regularly piercing the Saints defence like a knife running through butter. It was from one such run with fifteen minutes left that made victory certain. Makofo surged down the right wing, and then neatly clipped the ball back from the byline to Hastings. The Dons striker mishit his shot, but Manny Williams arrived on cue to tap the loose ball over the line from close range. |
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Magpies: Ramos, Nisbet, Benjamin, Lee,
Sterling, Kersey, Brown Da, Daly, Williams (86 James), Makofo (84
Smith). Unused subs: Cooper, Fyfield, Wells. |