Maidenhead 0 Sutton 1

[johnnie1]

Internet connection in Ambleside is crap so there's a very good chance I won't be able to upload my podcast. I've put the notes on here however

Maidenhead are 16th in the Blue Square South, currently just 1 point from safety

They are the only team in the bottom 10 to have a positive goal difference

Their 59 goals scored is more than Sutton’s goal tally but Sutton have a stronger defence

They are 21st in the form table and have just 3 points from their last 6 games

Before their 2-0 home win to Havant and Waterlooville, in which Richard Pacquette scored both goals, they had lost 7 games in a row

They have won a game 8-0 this season against Truro and also won 6-0 away to Staines, accounting for a large proportion of their goals

They’d been looking at a mid-table position until their poor form and are now in a full on relegation battle

Alex Wall is their top scorer with 12 goals this season

Earlier this season Sutton drew 1-1 in the league and beat Maidenhead at York Road in the FA Trophy by 1 goal to nil

Their keyman is Harry Pritchard. The tricky left winger will be a big threat to the now solid looking Sutton defence and will be the main provider to Pacquette. He can also pop up with a few goals as well and has scored 5 this season

Suttons key man is Simon Downer. The defender is on fantastic form at the minute and seems to be the difference between a Sutton win or a Sutton loss. He will need to be solid again to stop Pritchard and Pacquette

Prediction – 1-0 Sutton win. Sutton's midfield will be the game winner here

Attendance 324

[johnnie1]

Uploaded now. Only took 2 days

[Del]

A win at Maidenhead would put us right back in play off contention.If Havant & Dorchester still feel they have a chance so must we.

[Stewart]

Maidenhead United looking to build on Havant success

www.maidenhead-advertiser.co.uk/S....ss-09042013.htm

Maidenhead United will be looking to make it back to back successes tonight (Tuesday) when they host Sutton United in the Conference South.

The Magpies ended a run of seven straight defeats when two goals from Richard Pacquette earned a 2-0 win over Havant & Waterlooville on Saturday.

The victory lifted them out of the drop zone and another three points tonight will go a long way to ensuring survival.

Boss Johnson Hippolyte said: "Saturday was a great win and was well deserved.

"The important think now is we build on it, we can't take our eye off the ball.

"It was a vital three points for us and it was a long time coming but we have to follow up, we have to keep picking up points."

Maidenhead United skipper Mark Nisbet, who went off injured after 20 minutes on Saturday, is the only player who featured at the weekend who will miss out tonight.

The defender was forced off with suspected ankle ligament damage and could be out for the rest of the season.

"We won't know until we assess it a bit more," said Hippolyte.

"But it looks like ankle ligaments so it could be anything from two to four weeks. It's bad news."

[Millsy]

Here's a link to the article, etiquette and all that

www.maidenhead-advertiser.co.uk/Sport/Football/Maidenhead-Utd-FC/Maidenhead-United-looking-to-build-on-Havant-success-09042013.htm

[Andy K]

Two things of note here

a) Shows that any team can beat another this season as is proved time and time again!
b) No mention of us from Hippolyte, and the description of the match on Saturday, a decent win against a good side (as we found out) is 8 words long.

[os]

The win tonight coupled with other results means that Sutton United cannot be mathmatically relagated. Dos said we would not be and the Gaffa was right and a number of previous posters were wrong

Good job I believed him and didn't top myself in October

[Amber Aleman]

As in the Trophy encounter at York Road in December, we edged a tight game 1-0. Dundo's penalty at the end of the first half settled matters after he'd just managed to cut the ball back from the line then been pushed.

For most of the match we knocked the ball around nicely, with Ali Fuseini an assured presence in midfield alongside the returning Rivs, but found it hard to break through a stubborn Maidenhead rearguard. Then in second half stoppage time we might have had three goals on the break, including a second penalty.

The hard-earned three points take us up to 9th, the highest we've been all season.

[Paul L]

Craig's penalty strike:

[pxh]

As was mentioned earlier, a very similar game to the FA Trophy match, the biggest difference being that one was allowed to bring beer onto the terraces on this occasion.

Some of the one-touch passing in the first half was very pleasing on the eye and Sutton were quick to gain back possession when a move broke down.

Second half saw Sutton attack more on the break, as Maidenhead tried to get something out of the game.

Really should have sewn the game up in the eight minutes of injury time when Leroy and Kevant Serbony tried to pass the ball into the net and Dean Sinclair was brought down by the Maidenhead goalkeeper.

No doubt, the referee will be a talking point for some but what can one expect at this level? He awarded a penalty that the vast majority of refs would give short shrift (forward nearly off the pitch keeping a ball in play that the defender was trying to shield out of play) but ignored one that seemed more obvious.

Finally, it was good to see Wayne Shaw back in action tonight, The way that he was first to attack the sandwiches at the back of the club bar, post match, showed that he'd lost none of his agility.

[johnnie1]

Pretty pleased about that result, for the first time I got the score right in my podcast. Playoffs can be reached now I think

[garethl]

Nice that we have put together a run and people are even talking about play offs. Still highly unlikely I would say, 6 points is a massive gap with 5 to play and we'd have to win all our games I would have thought to be in with even a chance. Credit to the players and management for putting some results together and let's hope we can finish on a high, would be good to have a final . . . oh for those 3 points we gave up against Truro now (I guess most sides could/would say that about one game or another).

[Andy K]

Not the best performance last night, but we got the result we wanted. Dundas' penalty to me was one, but mainly because Dundo bought it. He got himself in a position where their player brought him down with frustration. Good to see their keeper trying to psych out Dundo and utterly failing to do so

1-0 a fair result, and Maidenhead defended well and gave Tom a bit of work to do.

As for our play off hopes, it would be nice, but really it's out of our hands now. We need to rely on other results going our way, especially as we only face a team higher than us once in our remaining 5 games. Welling will win the title if Salisbury lose and they win. But with Salisbury at Billericay and Welling at home to in form Weston, it's possible more than probable. All our remaining games are winnable, which includes the Salisbury game by which point I expect them to be safely in a play off spot so may well be keeping their eye on those games. Who knows, with the right sort of run, we may end up playing Salisbury the following week too!

Just one more thing - the Maidenhead fans. Obviously they upset a few of our fans, but what exactly did they say that we wouldn't have said? Some of the things I heard from that end were things that would come out of Sutton's fans mouths e.g. "Off Off Off" after a bad challenge.

[baboonfish]

Talk of the play offs would be much more rife it is wasnt for Eastleigh and WSM hitting form. i cant see BOTH slipping up, although BW look dead and buried since our win, and Chelmsford have probably blown it too unless they can find form fast. What the hell is going on with Dover, they win 3-0 at Chelmsford then lose 5-0 at home to Basingstoke, but they have probably done enough already. Just highlights the fact that nobody in this division bar possibly Welling (even they will probably struggle) will be good enough to compete in the conference and I would wager big bucks that whoever wins the playoffs will come straight back down (hopefully with the Us going the other way). I really can see us being one of the top sides next season, but if we were to scrape into the play offs and win them this year I dont think it would do us any favours as it would be too soon.

Its interesting at the bottom too, I see Scrivs got sent off in a defeat that puts a huge dent in Billericay's hopes of staying up. Above that it is very tight and any two from 7 sides are going to be relegated.

[markf]

In answer to AK's question about their fans, I don't remember U's fans starting chants of "Can you hear the Sutton sing" when there has been no provocation and some of the other crap they came out with. Having ago at skip for reacting after Pacquette had clearly caught him on the head. There wasn't a bad challenge in the match (with the exception of the one by their 9). Downer clearly won the ball & was in control and if that was excessive force then we may as well all give up & go play tennis. Fortunately, Mr Rock agreed. So again, an over reaction by their lot.

yeah, we may have called some of that too but after they started their pathetic chants at us in the first half, I lost any sympathy with them.

I have to say I had some sympathy with Magpies players last night. They worked hard, played some good stuff at times and showed the right attitude towards the game (unlike WSM a couple of weeks back).

I thought we deserved the win though, with some excellent endeavour, good passing & movement & really should have added a 2nd & third in the closing mins. Kevant & Leroy with a little bit of "after you Claude" at one point, a couple of great saves by their 'keeper and God only knows why we didn't get a second pen. It was so blatant, it was ridiculous.

As for our pen, it was right in front of me & KBB. Dundo kept it in and kept his feet & while the contact by the Magpie's player was not massive it was enough. I was about to shout pen but the ref's whistle beat me to it. Anyone who thinks Dundo did not have the ball nor was he control of it, I'm afraid is very wrong.

Another good team performance from 1 to 11 plus the three subs. Really enjoyed the match last night with some fast attacking from both sides.

As for Magpies, for their players & Drax, I hope they stay up but for some of their fans, not all(the bloke in the club shop was a knowledgable fella), I really couldn't give a stuff.