Clerima felt the Magpies showed good character to fight back for point at Chesham

Remy Clerima helped Maidenhead put in a solid defensive display at Chesham. Credit: MUFC

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What Maidenhead United lacked in quality on Saturday they made up for with defensive discipline and character as came from behind in the second half to claim a point at The Meadow.

Defender Remy Clerima and interim boss Ryan Peters both accepted the Magpies hadn’t reached the levels expected of them, with the visitors lacking their usual guile and tempo in attack.

But they did produce the game’s one true moment of quality when Liam Dulson fired in a 74th minute equaliser from the edge of the area.

Asher Yearwood sent the ball into the middle for Josh Umerah and Josh Popoola to recycle for Dulson who arrowed the ball past Ben Goode from the edge of the box.

Some brilliant build up from the back before Liam Dulson smashed in his ninth of the season on Saturday pic.twitter.com/PNIT24OSiZ

— Maidenhead United (@MUFCYorkRoad) January 26, 2026

The first half was largely forgettable for the 914 in attendance. Chesham got in behind a couple of times, with Clerima getting in a desperate last-ditch challenge to deflect Samson Esan’s shot over the bar, and Jordi Van Stappershoef denying Karl Oliyide as he raced onto a ball around the corner from defence.

The home side did though get their noses in front in the 43rd minute when Mitchell Weiss managed to deflect in Samson Esan’s wayward shot from the edge of the box. Peters felt there was a suspicion of offside about the goal, but it stood and the home side had a precious lead to protect in the second half.

Chesham didn’t quite manage to do that thanks to the perseverance of the Magpies and on a day when the visitors were short of their best, they managed to earn themselves a deserved point.

Clerima said: “For me, for what we’re trying to achieve, we should come out of this with three points. Conceding the goal in the first half didn’t help us but we showed character to come back and score a goal, and away from home we take a point regardless.

“Yeah, it was 50/50 in the first half, and they got that extra luck to score that goal. We should have done better defensively regardless, but what we did to come back and make it 1-1, that shows character and it should give us confidence going forward for the rest of the season

“It’s always hard, when we were playing against 10 men, you know they’re going to sit back and drop. It makes it harder for us to find the extra quality at the end. Today we didn’t manage to break through but on another day I’m sure we will.”

The Magpies had a couple of late chances to win the game, after Chesham’s captain Callum Adebiyi had been sent off for aiming a kick at prostrate Dulson close to the corner flag.

Jayden Mitchell-Lawson’s header from the resulting free kick flashed wide of the back post and Clerima felt Magpies attackers were caught on their heels a little as the ball bounced past them.

“We should have followed it in at the back, and we thought that was going to be the one,” he said.

“But we should have been switched on and follow every ball into the box. We finished short today, but on another day, we put that one into the back of the net and we come away with three points.”

The Magpies don’t have long to stew on this performance and result. They’re back in action against an inconsistent AFC Totton at York Road tomorrow (Tuesday). Saturday’s draw leaves them ninth in the table, three points off the play-off places.

“Had we won today I think it would have put us in the play-offs,” added Clerima.

“Unfortunately, we didn’t but at least we haven’t lost. The play-offs is the minimum we want to set ourselves as a goal.

“We look forward to Tuesday night. We’re looking to keep our standards up on Tuesday and will be going for three points and nothing less.

“There’s a lot of games coming, so it’s going to be intense, but we want to take as many points as we can in this run because it will make all the difference.”