Maidenhead United dig in to topple Cards and claim third home win of the season

Photo credit: Maidenhead United

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Maidenhead United 1, Woking 0

Having struggled for goals in their last few matches, Maidenhead United crucially got the only goal in this one as Emile Acquah tapped home Ashley Nathaniel-George's second half cross to give the hosts a much-needed victory.

There's no doubting Woking were the better side on the balance of play - and on chances created - but they failed to put the ball in the back of the net, and because of this, their manager Darren Sarll felt the Magpies deserved to win the game.

Maidenhead came into this game struggling for form and a little low on confidence, having scored just one goal in a run of five matches without a win. Their opponents meanwhile looked buoyant off the back of a 3-0 midweek win over Oldham Athletic.

They poured forward in the first half and only a combination of poor finishing, bad luck and determined Maidenhead defending prevented them from taking a deserved lead.

Tyreke Johnson saw an early shot deflected just wide of the post, while James Daly's header from a corner in the 23rd minute smashed against the inside of the post and Maidenhead were able to clear.

The best chance fell to Jermaine Anderson just after the half-hour, but he somehow managed to screw his shot wide from close range after being teed up by Padraig Amond. In contrast, Maidenhead created next to nothing in the first 45 minutes playing up the hill at York Road but were more offensively minded side in the second half. Cole Kpekawa served notice of this as he spun in an early cross from the left that was begging to turned home.

It signalled a change of mindset and, although Woking remained the more dangerous side, Maidenhead were a threat on the break thereafter.

Just before the hour mark Woking saw two good chances come and go. First Kyran Lofthouse sent a shot wide after spinning well in the area before Amond lifted Daly's cross over the bar from close range after the visitors had capitalised on a mistake from substitute Temi Eweka.

They'd live to regret those missed chances as Maidenhead took the lead with 15 minutes to play. Koby Arthur worked the ball out wide for Nathaniel-George who beat his man and sent in a low cross that Acquah turned home unmarked almost on the goal line.

York Road erupted and then willed the home side to hang on as Woking pressed forward in the closing stages, however, the Cards’ offensive play became increasingly ragged and desperate.

Eweka made one an excellent block from Ricky Korboa in the closing stages, but the home side saw out the game reasonably comfortably for a third home win of the season.

Magpies assistant boss Ryan Peters said: “We had a solid base. That’s an Alan Devonshire team. We’ve now got creative players coming in and they’ve created that moment of brilliance, that’s allowed us to score. We now need to keep that solid base and add in a few more chances to score a few more goals, but I thought we were well worthy of our win today.”

Cards boss Darren Sarll added: “It doesn’t matter how many chances your team creates, and it doesn’t matter how little your opponent creates, it’s about your conversion rate. Anyone in the ground will know we could have been two or three goals up in the first 30 minutes, but we weren’t, and Maidenhead created one very good chance in the game and took it. They thoroughly deserve to win the game based on that alone.”

“We got the win, three points and a clean sheet, all good!”

Zico Asare reflects on a strong defensive performance in this afternoon’s victory over Woking. #WeAreMaidenhead pic.twitter.com/aZew7fiAuf

— Maidenhead United (@MUFCYorkRoad) September 17, 2022

Teams:
Maidenhead United (4-3-3): Gyollai 7’; Asare 8’, De Havilland 8’, Massey 8’, Kpekawa 8’; Ferdinand 8’, Upward 9’, Esan 7’; Nathaniel-George 8’, Arthur 7’, Acquah 8’. Subs not used: Odutayo, Clifton.

Woking (4-4-2): Ross 7’; Casey 7’ (Korboa 78’), Cuthbert 7’, Wilkinson 7’, Moss 7’; Daly 8’, Kellerman 7’ (Voskins 70’), Johnson 7’ (Lofthouse 56’ 6’), Ince 7’; Anderson 6’, Amond 6’. Subs not used: Roles, McNerney.