Magpies call for support ahead of Plate quarter-final tie with Cambridge United

Freya Meadows Tuson. Photo: McGuffin Media.

--

Maidenhead United Women will become the first senior Magpies side to play in the quarter final of a national cup competition in 20 years on Sunday when they host Cambridge United Women at York Road, and the team are hoping that the Maidenhead public will come out in good numbers to give them their support.

United have already defeated Selsey and Hayward’s Heath Town in the FA Women’s National League Plate to reach the last eight. The last time a Maidenhead side reached the equivalent stage of a national cup competition was in 2004 when John Dreyer’s Magpies were defeated by eventual FA Trophy finalists Canvey Island.

The match at York Road on Sunday will be a 2pm kick off and admission will be by cash-only at the turnstile, £5 for adults and £2 concessions. However, MUFC Gold Member card holders can gain free admission on presentation of their card. A limited number of printed programmes are available to purchase at the turnstile, priced £1.

United will be hoping to get a big crowd behind them as they face fellow Tier 4 outfit Cambridge. Ed Jackson-Norris’s side have been chasing club-records all season – they had a best-ever run to the Women’s FA Cup Second Round Proper before Christmas – and they look certain to set a new season goalscoring record for the team.

Jackson-Norris revealed: “We are aware of the magnitude of the occasion for the football club. That is something that really excites us. We are no strangers over the eighteen months or so that I’ve been here to doing things either for the first time for the women’s team or doing things that the club itself have not achieved for a while. We seem to be doing that and breaking records for ourselves fairly frequently.”

Cambridge United are midtable in the FAWNL Division 1 South East and the game looks on paper as if it should be a good close match-up. Ed admitted: “We are going into the game with no fear. We are five wins in seven. We have shown with our performance levels, generally speaking throughout the season but certainly recently, that we can compete with anybody and with the new additions we have made (Freya Meadows Tuson and Trinity Esprit) over the winter break we know that we have only gotten stronger.”

United’s campaign last term saw them camped in the relegation zone with only three points to their name at this time last year and with typical positivity Ed added: “In the second half of the last season we really clicked and found our stride and I think that could be the case again this season. In the first half of the season some of the performances were good and we had some really good results but now in the second half of the season I fully expect us to kick on.”

The manager had a message for the Maidenhead public: “Bring on Sunday! A home game which is always exciting. Hopefully we see a load of fans at York Road filling out the place and we’re confident that we’re going to give it a good go.”