Kitson urges Maidenhead United Women to make their progress 'count'

Maidenhead United Women have made tremendous progress this season under new management team Dave Kitson and Sean Hillier, but former Premier League player Kitson now wants it to count for something substantial in terms of silverware.

United are on course for their best ever finish and points tally in the FA Women’s National League Division 1 South West table with six matches to play, and are also through to the final of the Berks & Bucks Senior Cup, where they will take on league rivals Ascot United at Beaconsfield Town’s Holloways Park ground on Sunday, March 15 (2pm kick-off).

As fate would have it, they’ll also take on Ascot in a league game at the Racecourse Ground this Sunday where one of the two teams will have the opportunity to lay down a marker ahead of the county cup final.

Looking ahead to both clashes this week, the Magpies manager says this squad of players is good enough to make what they’ve done so far ‘count’.

They defeated perennial finalists Milton Keynes Dons on penalties to reach the final having also got the better of Penn & Tylers Green 2-0 in the earlier rounds.

Ascot - who sit just a few points behind Maidenhead in the league table - defeated New Bradwell St Peter FC Ladies and Abingdon United to reach the final.

“I’m pleased that we’re showing progress, but it’s got to count for something,” said Kitson, who made 145 appearances for Reading and played for the Royals in the Premier League.

“Ultimately at first team level. It’s different in the junior teams and performance teams.

“But at first team level it’s about winning. Yes, we want to build and improve and make the changes that will take time, but we want to win as well.

“We need to make it count. We are clearly good enough to win every game that we play. There’s no doubt about that. And we’re only going to get stronger next season and the season after that.

“The girls are desperate to win. It’s a game that we can’t wait to play. This is what it’s all about. It’s what we’ve been building towards.

“But we know that Ascot are a very strong team, a very sound team. They’ve been together a long time, are brilliantly coached.

“They have a lot of traits that I recognise as core strengths and that’s why they’re in the final. It’s going to be difficult.”

Over the past few years, the club has been working hard to shed it’s ‘plucky underdog’ tag to become winners, and this they’ve done in each of their last two seasons, winning the Combined Counties League Cup and the Berks & Bucks Senior Cup.

Having beaten Newport Pagnell Town 3-1 in last year’s final, Maidenhead go into next week’s final as holders and - given their respective positions in the table - slight favourites.

“We’re not the plucky underdogs anymore,” said Kitson. “We’re a team that goes out and embraces the pressure.

“I think you can get a little bit carried away with this.

“Bodø/Glimt can turn up and beat Inter Milan because of the way their play is simplified for them.

“They have one way of playing and that means they don’t have to worry about the shape of the opposition or who the opposition are individually. It doesn’t matter to them.

“They’ll turn up and play the way they play, and they’ll have a good chance. So, my point is that do we want to do something different in the league game to the cup game, no. of course we don’t. We’re comfortable in the way we play.

“We’ll play both games in the way Maidenhead play. We want that to be good enough to win and we don’t want to think too much about the opposition and what they do.”

He added: “I hope Ascot bring a lot of fans; I hope we’ll bring a lot of fans.

“I want as many people as possible to come and watch women’s football. And I say the same thing every week. If you have never seen a game of women’s football, I promise you, it will surprise you. I promise the quality will be infinitely better than you expected.

“Don’t ever think that the women don’t care as much as the men. If anything, it’s the other way around. Just come along, it might change your life.

Irrespective of what happens in the final on March 15, Maidenhead are on course for their most successful league campaign ever under Kitson and Hillier.

“We are one point shy of equalling our biggest points tally in the club’s history and we have six games to go,” he said.

“There are some difficult games in there.

“But the challenge to the girls is, do you want to fall over the line, and I know the answer is they want to sprint over the line. They want to lay down a marker and then try and beat it next year because that’s our mentality now and that’s how far we’ve come.”