Maidenhead United will 'write off' Daggers result and recharge for Altrincham

Josh Kelly and Emile Acquah in action against King’s Lynn on Saturday. Photo: Alan Palmer.

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Alan Devonshire admits Maidenhead United weren't good enough on the night as their five-match unbeaten run in the National League was ended by the Daggers, but he's hoping his players can write it off and recharge in time for this week's home games against Altrincham and Wealdstone.

Devonshire was disappointed by his side's response to falling behind in Tuesday's 3-0 defeat, but after losing just once in 10 matches prior to the trip to East London he wasn't about to go overboard on the criticism.

Outside of the top clubs vying for promotion, Maidenhead have been one of the league's form sides since the turn of the year and Saturday's magnificent 4-1 win at second bottom King's Lynn Town lifted them above a raft of rivals to 15th in the league.

Perhaps more crucially, it also took them 12 points clear of the drop zone, still with games in hand on many of the sides in and around them and, while the focus remains on avoiding the drop, Devonshire's looking for the Magpies to finish as high as they possibly can.

“Listen, I'm just disappointed.” he said. “They had three shots in the first half, and they scored three goals.

“I'm disappointed with the way we defended and reacted to going behind.

“We didn’t play great. We started off ok, we had a few balls going into the box and we put them under pressure, but after that they scored the first goal, and we weren’t very good.

“There was a lot of traffic (going to the game) last night which didn't help. A few of the boys got to the ground late because of that so, our preparation wasn't great, but that's no excuse.

“We were poor on the night, especially first half and they were better than us so we can't have any complaints really. Our performance wasn't good enough on the night.

“We’re going to just write it off and recharge for Saturday.”

While the Magpies came unstuck after falling behind to the Daggers on Tuesday, they held their nerve after doing the same at King's Lynn Town on Saturday.

“Listen, we went there, they had to win,” added Devonshire. “They went 1-0 up as well so we had to come from behind, but when we scored the third goal, we were very comfortable.

“We saw the game out well and, at the end of the day, we've picked up three points from six which I'd have probably settled for before the games.

“If we carry on like that until the end of the season, winning one and losing one, I'll be happy with that.

“We’ll aim as high as we can but it’s the old cliché of taking one game at a time. We’ve got to try and get on another good run.”

A couple of wins this week in their home games with Altrincham on Saturday and Wealdstone on Tuesday night would go a long way to achieving a healthy mid-table finish, however, Devonshire is wary of the dangers posed by Altrincham - a team like Maidenhead who are punching well above their weight in the division.

They, like the Magpies, have also suffered a loss of form through injuries to key players but with those players now returning to the starting line-up, their form is starting to improve.

On Saturday, they deservedly beat Dagenham 3-0 at home, so the United boss knows he'll need a response from his players if they're to pick up all three points.

“Like us they've had a lot of injuries,” he said.

“When they had their bad run, they had a lot of their key players out, but they're all coming back now.

“When you’re a small club in this league and you have four or five of your best players out at the same time it hurts you.

“The clubs are similar in stature, so it’s going to be tough. They beat Dagenham 3-0 on Saturday and we lost to them last night, and they deservedly beat them as well.

“But apart from the top teams. who have been on a roll for a long time, I think we are (one of the league's form teams). So, we’ve got to get back as quick as possible and react to the poor performance on Tuesday.

“I felt sorry for Josh Kelly at Dagenham. The whole team didn't play well so he was feeding off scraps.

“But we now play Altrincham and Wealdstone and hopefully he can get back on the goalscoring charts again.”