Peters: 'We owe the fans a performance at Maidstone after FA Cup defeat to Faversham'

Miles Welch-Hayes. Photo: Ian Longthorne

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Assistant boss Ryan Peters says Maidenhead United’s players owe their supporters an improved performance at Maidstone United following Saturday’s surprise FA Cup exit at the hands of step four side Faversham Town at York Road.

The Magpies came into the clash full of confidence off the back of four straight league wins - results that had lifted the club to fifth in the National League South table.

However, despite bossing their Isthmian League South East rivals for much of the game - both before and after Tashi-Jay Kwaiye had poked the Lilywhites in front from Kieron Campbell’s shot in the 42nd minute - they couldn’t find a way through their defences.

In fairness to the visitors, they stood tall in the face of almost constant pressure in the first half and refused to buckle when it seemed certain their defences would be breached and then trampled all over.

United had their chances, but they weren’t ruthless in front of goal, with goalkeeper Roshan Greensall saving the visitors on several occasions - and clawing two attempts from Matt Robinson and Kai Yearn off the goal line in the second half. And when the Magpies did manage to play their way through and set up opportunities, they were wasteful, with Corie Andrews miss-kicking a glorious chance early in the first half. The woodwork also came to their aid on a couple of occasions.

“I thought we put in a good shift off the back of four games. But we lacked a bit of quality, which is strange because we’ve been scoring goals,” said Peters after the final whistle.

“At times we attacked well, and we were just looking for that last pass or shot and it just wasn’t there. First 12 minutes of the game we counter attacked three or four times, but it just didn’t go for us. Second half we hit the crossbar and the post; it just didn’t happen for us.

“I still think the finishing should have been better. We shouldn’t have given the goalkeeper a chance and if you look at the Bath game we didn’t give their goalkeeper a chance.

“They’ve done well to defend our box and make sure we couldn’t score, but we couldn’t do the same down at our end. We can talk about the players we didn’t have available today and there are a few, but we still need to be a lot better.

“I don’t think we can rely on the offside flag going up for their goal. We should have defended the situation better. We manage to half clear the corner, and it comes from the second phase.

“There’s an element where we should have done better (with Faversham’s goal).

“That’s the beauty of the game. And the longer it goes on without taking a chance, the more frustrated everyone gets. We just needed a scruffy goal to go in and we might have had two or three. But we couldn’t get that and it’s frustrating.

“The focus switches back to the league now and we’re four unbeaten in that.”

Having survived a barrage of pressure in the opening 40 minutes, the visitors then broke and scored with their very first attack, Kwaiye alert to tap the ball home from Campbell’s shot after the Magpies had half-cleared a corner kick.

It felt like a wake-up call for the Magpies to be more ruthless and clinical when chances came their way, but they didn’t heed it, and opportunities continued to go begging throughout the second period.

Faversham to their credit, also improved and would have killed off the Magpies challenge earlier with better finishing of their own.

Peters shared the fans’ frustration at the end and told them to expect a better display from their side at Maidstone on Saturday. He added that while it’s nice to know Maidenhead won the league the last time they bowed out of the competition at this stage (to Staines in 2016) it wasn’t much of a consolation for him or the players.

“It’s frustrating because we’ve been on a good run, but we park that and move on,” Peters added.

“Maidstone are a big side. They were there or there abouts last season, so we know it’s going to be a tough game. We now owe the fans a performance. We owe the fans some goals and we’re raring to go.”

“As much as we wanted a cup run, if this exit then inspires us to go and do what we did in 2017 we’ll take that. But right now, everyone is just a little bit frustrated.”