New striker Abrahams spearheads impressive attacking display against Altrincham

Tristan Abrahams

--

Maidenhead United announced the signing of striker Tristan Abrahams in the build up to Saturday's clash with Altrincham and, while the forward failed to get a goal on debut at the J.Davidson Stadium, he more than played his part in an excellent away display.

The 25-year-old striker comes to York Road with good pedigree, having come through Leyton Orient's academy before joining Norwich City in 2017. He has made several appearances in the EFL and National League after spells with Newport County, Carlisle United and Grimsby Town. Most recently he's played for Eastleigh in the National League and joins the club from Welling United.

Having fallen to within a point of the relegation zone after four straight league defeats, the Magpies travelled to Altrincham short on confidence and having lacked much of a goal threat in their most recent defeats to Oldham Athletic and Southend United.

However, Alan Devonshire sides often respond best when the chips are down, and they did so once again to beat a team challenging for the play-offs 3-1 on their own patch.

Abrahams went straight into the starting line-up, and he was involved in the visitors' opening goal. Charlee Adams free-kick was headed out to Reece Smith who arrowed the ball back into the six-yard box where Abrahams and Kane Ferdinand were lurking, neither could divert it home, but the ball spun kindly for Kevin Lokko to hammer home his second goal in as many games.

Abrahams then dummied an excellent ball from Remy Clerima, allowing it to run through for Smith to confidently tuck home Maidenhead's second before half-time.

Having come from behind to lead 2-1 at the interval, the Magpies then stretched their lead in the early stages of the second half when Remy Clerima rose well to loop home a header from Adams' corner. Clerima was named in the Vanarama team of the weekend for his performance, and his presence in the final weeks of the season appears vital if the Magpies are going to collect the points they need to stay in the division.

Here are the 3️⃣ goals that sealed the 3️⃣ points on the road at the weekend pic.twitter.com/DGjW5dB5wu

— Maidenhead United (@MUFCYorkRoad) February 26, 2024

It was the first time the Magpies had come from behind to win in the league this season, and to do so on the road at a top half side like Altrincham felt particularly special for assistant boss Ryan Peters.

Speaking to Maidenhead press officer Grace Scott after the final whistle. he said: “This is a bogey team for us. We've struggled against them away from home. I thought it was a really great performance against a team who will make the play-offs in my opinion.

“They're a good side and we had to be at our best after a sticky patch, but I thought we did really well today.

“Confidence might have been a little bit lower than it usually is, but morale was still high. We've got a great group of individuals who rally around each other when things are not going well.

“The pitch isn't great, but the grit and determination to get over the line was good to see and we're going to need that for the next 10 games or so.

“We've got to take it one game at a time. We need the points wherever we can pick them up. This league is so tight, we want to get as far away from that zone as we can, and the only way to do that is to perform the way that we did for 90 minutes today.”

The addition of Abrahams also looks to have been timely, with the Magpies offering more of an attacking threat throughout this clash. It may be early to judge him after one performance, but Devonshire and co will hope he can share the goalscoring burden over the next 10 games with the likes of Tobi Sho-Silva, Chanka Zimba and Shawn McCoulsky.

“We need to share the goals around the team and maybe our front five haven't necessarily been in a rich vein of form in front of goal,” added Peters.

“We've brought in a little more firepower (in Abrahams) to help. Reece is back in the goal scorers, Loks (Kevin Lokko) now has a few as well. We're going to need people to chip in with goals so the more firepower the better.

“When it gets hard, and it did get hard at times today, when the pitch is heavy and the legs get heavy, they were roaring us on throughout the game and right at the end, they were still singing songs, that's what we need and we're going to need them for the next 10 games.”

Saturday's win lifts the Magpies to 15th in the table, four points off the drop zone and the club's decision to pull out of tomorrow night's Berks & Bucks Senior Cup quarterfinal clash against Milton Keynes Dons means they now have a full week to prepare for Saturday's trip to 19th placed AFC Fylde. It is though, the third time in as many seasons that the Magpies have withdrawn from the county cup competition.