Resolute Magpies earn valuable point at Worthing after De Havilland red card

Photo credit: MUFC

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Ryan Peters has asked for Maidenhead United’s players to ‘be comfortable being uncomfortable’ as they seek to reel off the results and performances needed for the Magpies to finish in the National League South play-offs.

Tuesday’s goalless draw away to third placed Worthing perfectly encapsulated that as the visitors managed to endure a challenging final 30 minutes after their captain Will de Havilland was sent off for a second bookable offence.

Again, the Magpies weren’t perfect, but they were disciplined defensively and Worthing couldn’t find a way past them, despite having a man advantage for the final stages.

The Magpies might also have nicked all three points, having had a couple of ‘glorious’ chances in the first half to take the lead.

A point away at Worthing also isn’t one to be sniffed at. These are opponents who have lost just once at the Sussex Transport Community Stadium all season and comfortably overcame neighbours Slough Town and rivals Torquay United and Chesham United on their last three appearances on their own patch.

Peters was proud of the result and performance but results elsewhere on Tuesday went largely against them, knocking them back to seventh, now six points behind second placed Hornchurch.

Speaking with Shay Bottomley after the final whistle, Peters said: “I’m incredibly proud of these boys. We knew it was going to be tough with 11 men.

“To go down to 10 men with half an hour to go was tough, but they stuck to their guns and defended well. We could have nicked it in the end but I’m incredibly proud.

“They’ve got the best home record in the league, so we knew it was going to be tough. They’ve also got some top goal scorers in their team. I thought we could have imposed ourselves on them a little bit more in the first half. I thought we gave them a little bit too much respect.

“Nevertheless, we had three glorious opportunities to have gone at least 2-0 up.

“We probably didn’t come out with as much impetus as I’d have liked us to have had. But once Will gets sent off it becomes a lot harder. I couldn’t be any prouder of the boys for their defensive efforts.”

“We’d seen what they had to offer (at half-time) and I still felt we could go up a gear or two.

“It was now our chance to go and impose ourselves on them, but it didn’t work out that way.  And when it doesn’t work out that way you must be as resolute as you can. If you can’t win, don’t lose and we haven’t lost today.

“At that point, I didn’t care that we’d lost a man. If you can’t win, come away with some points. They will defend and put their bodies on the line. They did that every single time. Now, the next game becomes vital to make sure we stay in the play-off hunt because other results haven’t necessarily gone our way. But it’s a really good point.”

On Saturday they travel to bottom of the table Eastbourne Borough, looking to avoid the sloppiness which crept into their play the last time they took on the team propping up the division.

Three matches ago, Chippenham Town edged them out 1-0 after the Magpies delivered a desperately poor away display. Peters will hope they’ve got that sort of performance out of their system.

And after Saturday, six of their remaining nine matches will be at York Road where they’ve been strong of late.

“Sometimes those games (Chippenham) happen,” said Peters.  “We’d rather they didn’t. This has given us the belief that we can defend and use it as a platform to go on and hopefully not lose another game for the rest of the season. There’s going to be turns in these last few games and we’ve got to make sure we’re in and amongst it.

“Saturday will be a tough game. We’ll have to make changes again. But if we can take anything from this performance it’s that we can defend and be hard to beat. So, it’s going to be imperative that we keep a clean sheet and that will allow us to win.”