Devonshire says he won't allow Maidenhead United's season to fizzle out

Josh Kelly. Photo by Darren Woolley

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As poor as they were, Alan Devonshire wasn’t about to hammer his players after Tuesday's lacklustre 2-0 defeat to Wealdstone at York Road.

The Magpies were a pale imitation of the energetic side which took the scalps of Bromley, Chesterfield, Halifax Town and Boreham Wood in recent months, with fatigue setting in after playing six games in three weeks.

They weren’t awful in the first half and moved the ball well at times, creating overlaps and opportunities they couldn’t quite capitalise on.

However, from the moment Jack Cook stretched to volley Aaron Henry’s free-kick past stand-in keeper Harry Palmer the game was up.

The Stones added a second through Rhys Browne to confirm their second half superiority and the Magpies trudged off at the end knowing they hadn’t reached the levels Devonshire expects from them.

Had Dan Sparkes found the back of the net from a close range volley in the first half, or Ryan Upward’s strike on the stroke of half-time gone under the bar rather than just over it, it might have been a different story.

However, without the likes of Will De Havilland, Charlee Adams, Remy Clerima and Sam Barratt – and with goalkeeper Dan Gyollai pulling up injured in the pre-game warm-up – United were made to look pretty ordinary by one of the teams that are in and around them in the table.

The accusation that the side raises its game for the big teams but can’t do the same for those at the bottom of the National League table is one that’s been levelled at them more than once this season, and Devonshire will be keen for his side to show that's not the case when they visit 19th placed Woking on Saturday.

“We were just poor tonight,” he said.

“But what do you expect, we had the keeper get injured before the game.

“We’ve also got a few out but there’s no excuses at the end of the day.

“We’ve lost, defended poorly for both of their goals and we didn't create a lot. I don’t know if we're tired or what, I don’t know.”

United have now gone three games without scoring and they laboured to break down their resilient visitors on Tuesday night, much like they did in Saturday’s goalless draw with Altrincham. Too often the final ball was found wanting and, when they did unlock the Stones’ defence, their finishing was inaccurate or wasteful.

For much of the game it looked like another goalless draw was on the cards, but the United defence switched off on a couple of occasions and Palmer was left to pick the ball out of the net on an otherwise encouraging debut for the stand-in keeper.

“There was nothing in the game until their free-kick,” said Devonshire.

“Had we scored first, I think we might have won it, but it is what it is.

“I’m not going to be too hard on them. I’m disappointed, very disappointed but, at the end of the day, we’ve just got to roll our sleeves up now and go to Woking on Saturday.

“We’ve then got a week's rest after that and I’m looking forward to that to be fair.”

He added: “I think teams are doing that to us a bit more now (sitting back and inviting the Magpies on). They're showing us a bit more respect, but we've got to find a way past them, and we didn’t create a lot.

“At the end of the day, we’ve got to pass the ball better. We did it at times and got the ball wide, but then you’ve got to put a decent cross in.

“We had too many crosses that were blocked, or weren’t put in early enough, but listen, I’m not going to be too harsh on them. It’s a bad performance. We didn’t play great on Saturday, but we got a point. It looked like it was going to go the same way tonight, really, but listen, good luck to them and we move on.”

Tuesday’s defeat leaves the Magpies 13 points clear of the drop zone but, with 13 matches to play including home games with Barnet, Weymouth and Aldershot, Devonshire’s determined the season doesn't fizzle out.

“We were missing some key players tonight, and I’ll be glad when they're back, but we can't make excuses,” he added. “Woking are a big strong side and have a new manager as well but listen it’s up to us. We’ve got plenty of games left and we’ve got to play better than that. We've got to make sure the season doesn't fizzle out.”