Devonshire 'gutted' for players after missed chances cost Magpies against Barnet

Shawn McCoulsky. Photo by Darren Woolley

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Maidenhead United manager Alan Devonshire looked a little lost for words after Saturday's unfortunate 2-1 defeat to Barnet at York Road.

United had lost a match they should really have taken one or three points from having created enough chances to pick up a result and build on their impressive mid-week win over Southend United.

However, their problem all season has been inconsistency and that ugly word in football parlance reared its head once again in the glorious spring sunshine over the weekend.

With Josh Kelly still recovering from a bout of COVID and only fit enough for a place on the bench, Shawn McCoulsky was brought in by Devonshire to lead the Magpies line. His performance was as exciting as it was exasperating with the forward netting late on to give the home side a glimmer of hope but also wasting big, big chances to earn the Magpies what would have been a deserved share of the spoils.

In the first half, with the sides locked at 0-0, he smashed a very presentable opportunity against the crossbar. Had that gone in Maidenhead might very well have built on their encouraging result against the Shrimpers but, as it was, they conceded goals to Adam Marriott and Reece Grego-Cox and were left chasing the game as the contest entered its final stages. Despite this they should still have stolen a point from 2-0 down with McCoulsky missing a gilt-edged chance in the dying embers.

Pressing for a leveller in injury-time and buoyed by his finish a few minutes earlier from Kelly's cutback, McCoulsky must have had a rush-of-blood-to-the-head as he spurned a chance at point blank range, firing over when it looked easier to score.

Reflecting on a strange afternoon and performance from his side Devonshire said: “I’m still [mulling over it]. It was a very strange game; the conditions weren’t great. and the pitch was bobbly, but we should have got a draw today. I’m gutted.

“Yeah. I’m just a bit gutted with it. We had a good result on Tuesday, so I knew we’d be tired and that.

“But we deserved something from the game in the end, but we didn’t get it”. “I just feel for them (the players).

He (Shawn McCoulsky) has missed a chance that should have gone in the back of the net. But listen, we move on and go again.”

Devonshire refused to comment on the performance of the match officials, but the game punctuated by the constant sound of the whistle while yellow cards were also brandished left, right and centre.

Having fallen behind, the stop-start nature of the match hardly helped the Magpies' cause.

Devonshire added: “I don’t want to say too much, I don’t want to get into trouble. You can decide on that.”

They'll now look to put it behind them and look ahead to Saturday's trip to Solihull Moors, while they're also set to play their rearranged fixture at Wealdstone on Tuesday night. In both games they'll be looking to make amends for two of their most disappointing displays of the season, the 4-0 defeat to Moors at York Road in mid-December and the 2-0 home defeat to the Stones earlier this month.

Saturday's results leave the Magpies 18th in the National League table, just a point behind the Stones, but their gap to the bottom three has been cut to 14 points following King's Lynn Town's recent revival.

The Linnets are unlikely to catch the Magpies with nine games left to play but they have won two of their last three games and are on a run of just two defeats in seven.