Maidenhead United will look to harness the momentum of back-to-back league wins

Ryan Peters says Maidenhead United will look to ‘bottle’ their experiences this Easter weekend after claiming back-to-back league wins over Aldershot Town and Eastleigh.

The Magpies went into the weekend on the brink of the relegation zone, however, very different – but equally important – victories over the Shots and Spitfires has moved them five points clear of the bottom four with four matches to play.

On Friday afternoon, they pulverised an out-of-sorts Aldershot side 4-0, with the visitors reduced to nine men in the second half. While on Monday, they came from two goals down to win a league match for the first time in nearly 30 years as the Spitfires were chewed up and spat out by a fabulous second half display.

Goals from Nwabuokei in the fourth minute and Chris Maguire in the 16th had given the Spitfires a measure of control at the Silverlink Stadium, and with Kidderminster Harriers winning 3-1 at champions Chesterfield, it looked like United would find themselves back within a couple of points of the drop zone. However, a stirring fightback was started by Will de Havilland in the 52nd minute while an own goal from Eastleigh’s Atangana – after good work from Jayden Mitchell-Lawson, and a header from Shawn McCoulsky in the 82nd minute completed a remarkable 3-2 victory.

When McCoulsky’s header hit the back of the net, the players were mobbed by their travelling supporters – including chairman Peter Griffin – who celebrated a win that should go a long way towards ensuring their National League survival.

We know we’re not the biggest club in this division but you have to love game-winning goal celebrations when even your chairman is involved*

*for the comedians among you, no that’s not our entire away support.. pic.twitter.com/4OAVglWGlX

— Murdo Macleod (@MurdoMacleod6) April 1, 2024

The last time a Magpies side had come from two goals down to win a league match was back in the 1994/95 season, when Billericay Town were beaten 5-3. 

After the final whistle, Peters thanked the fans for sticking by the side in the first half and carrying them to victory in the second.

He said: “If you look back to Friday’s game, we went 2-0 up and took our chances well, but this was the polar opposite. We gave this team a two-goal head start, and it took us to half-time to really get it right.

“Conditions played a part, but we were fantastic second half.

“We had no idea why we changed from what worked so well on Friday. But it was a case of forgetting that first half, getting back to what worked so well for us on Friday. We did that in the second half and created chance, after chance after chance. And at the very end we were throwing our bodies on the line to make sure no more goals went in.

“We’re pleased because our last couple of away games we’ve ended up seeing four goals scored against us. We wanted to make sure that didn’t happen again. Look, we have the belief in the squad. The table is tight but as long as we keep performing the way we have been in recent games, I’m sure we’ll get safe as quick as possible.

“I want to mention the fans quickly. I said something on Friday that wasn’t meant as a diss. It was more about the energy that they’re able to generate for us at home. But what you saw was our crowd coming to Eastleigh and generating that same energy here. Coming out at 2-0 down, the waves of energy they were giving us just helped us to go on and score those goals.

“They were absolutely fantastic. When Aldershot were 2-0 down on Friday, I heard boos. We didn’t get that. We got incredible applause; they were trying to will us on and second half they were fantastic.”

Maidenhead play the first of three home games against Barnet on Saturday, with Hartlepool United (April 9) and Gateshead (April 13) to follow the Bees to York Road in the coming weeks.

“We had smiles on our faces on Friday,” added Peters. “It was meant to carry us into the first half today. It didn’t, but we’ve still got smiles on our faces and we’re looking to bottle up these experiences to make sure we can use it in training and in games. We’ve now got a lot of home games and a lot of fans can come and see us play, so we want to finish this season on a high.”