Devonshire's simple message for Maidenhead United ahead of Guiseley test – 'Never play like that again'

THE lesson for Maidenhead United players to learn from Saturday’s defeat at Chester FC is a simple one, says Alan Devonshire – ‘never play like that again’. 

The manager admitted he was scratching his head to explain away such an insipid display, when the Magpies have generally competed in every game they’ve played this season.

The visitors fell behind early, to Ryan Astles’ goal, and that hardly helped, but their lack of a response against Marcus Bignot’s men was more of a concern for Devonshire.

And he knows that if they don’t regroup, and get their act together, there’ll be further pain against the likes of Guiseley and Torquay United this week, two other clubs who’ve recently brought in new managers.

Guiseley are first up at York Road today (Saturday), and Devonshire is expecting a response. But he also knows Paul Cox’s side, who’ve drawn their last four matches against good teams, will give the Magpies a run for their money.

“They’ve got threats, major threats,” he said. “They’ve drawn all of their matches since Paul Cox went there, and against decent sides too. So we know it’s going to be difficult. Torquay have also got a new manager in (former Bath City boss Gary Owers) and he’s bringing new players in so that one will be tough on Tuesday. But we’ll concentrate on Saturday first.

“Saturday was poor. I’ve no excuses. It’s one of those where you’re scratching your head about it. Perhaps it’s that we played three tough games in a week, but we were just poor, second best all round.

“The lesson from Saturday is not to play like that again. We’ve worked on a few things in training because we don’t want another performance like that. But we’ve got two tough games coming up against sides with new managers, and we know what Chester did to us with a new manager. Sometimes you can play these teams at the wrong time in a season.”

The Magpies are still searching for a new striker to replace the goals of Dave Tarpey, but ‘the right one ain’t come up yet’, said Devonshire.

“Yes we need a striker, but it’s got to be someone who’ll make a difference. Until we find him we’ll go with what we’ve got.

“But I want a response from the players. For themselves, and the supporters who made the trip up to Chester. I felt for those supporters.”