'We're in a bad space': Peters eyes FA Trophy reboot after Magpies lose at home to Torquay

Josh Popoola. Photo: Darren Woolley

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Ryan Peters felt Maidenhead United made visitors Torquay United look ‘a little bit better than they actually are’ in Saturday’s 2-1 defeat at York Road.

The Gulls swooped in to take all three points from the Magpies in their own back yard thanks to a thunderbolt strike late in the first half from Callum Dolan and Will de Havilland’s unfortunate own goal midway through the second half.

Liam Dulson managed to grab a late consolation for the home side, after running onto a long ball from Matt Robinson that was helped on by substitute Corie Andrews, but Maidenhead had been largely second best to a side that went third in the National League South table off the back of their second straight league win.

In contrast, Maidenhead slipped further in the table to 14th after their sixth league game without a win - five of them defeats.

Peters felt the Magpies gave the Gulls a fairly easy ride at York Road on Saturday, failing to turn their defence on enough occasions to put them under any real pressure until they threw caution to the wind in the closing stages and grabbed a goal back through Dulson’s strike.

Prior to that they’d barely managed to create an effort on goal and that will trouble the Magpies’ management team as much as anything as they look ahead to Saturday’s FA Trophy tie at National League North side Leamington.

Highlights from yesterday's defeat at York Road are now available online

Watch here https://t.co/Muc941sIZi

— Maidenhead United (@MUFCYorkRoad) November 9, 2025

“We’re really disappointed,” he said. “They played really fluid football, and they are a good side.

“But I think we made them look a little better than they are. We never really managed to get our passing game going to get them turned.

“We’re in a bit of a bad space now. We’ve gone on a run of six wins, and we know we can do it again, but we’ve got to change our fortunes quickly.

“When things were going well, half a chance was going in. Right now, we’re getting some decent chances that aren’t going in and some half chances that are also not going in at this moment in time. I’m sure that will come back but for the time being it’s about finding a way to be hard to beat.”

“We just need that one goal, maybe even a scrappy goal and it could change our fortunes. But in both boxes, both offensively and defensively, we’re struggling.”

Maidenhead have flip-flopped between indifferent form at the start of the season, excellent form during their six-game winning streak and now poor form, with five defeats in their last six matches. That inconsistency has left them 14th in the division with a promotion challenge looking less likely with every passing game.

“I’m not necessarily making excuses here,” he added. “In that run of six games where we went unbeaten, we had a settled side. Everybody knew where the ball would be going. Because of the injuries that we’ve had and the change in personnel, we’re just landing on things a little bit later than we should be doing.

“Because of that we’ve not been in the right positions to put the ball in the net or keep it out. But we should be able to keep the ball out of the net. Some of the goals that are going in are uncharacteristically poor.

“You can point at the opposition and say they’re good sides, but if you don’t beat these teams you don’t go up. And if you lose the number of games we’ve been losing you can’t make the play-offs. We played Chelmsford and we beat them and they’re a good side. But we have played some good sides when we should have done better.”

Looking ahead to Saturday’s FA Trophy tie, Peters added: “We can forget about the league for a second. We can park that. It’s another competition and a trophy and we’ll try and put our best foot forward.”