Maidenhead United’s thrilling finish can’t make up for slow start against Ebbsfleet

Photo credit: Darren Woolley

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Maidenhead United didn’t start well enough against promotion rivals Ebbsfleet United on Tuesday evening and ultimately that was what set them on the road to a disappointing and damaging 3-2 defeat.

They finished the game like a juggernaut, obliterating everything in their path while scoring twice in second half stoppage time - but sadly, it was too little, too late to pull off what would have been a comeback for the ages.

They started the game slowly, allowing Ebbsfleet to set the tempo and too frantic in possession when they did manage to steal the ball back from their opponents. They lacked the calmness that has characterised their recent home displays and were generally second best to an Ebbsfleet team who appeared to be right up for the game.

 Therefore it was no surprise when the visitors scored on the half-hour mark, Josh Coley getting his head on the end of an inviting cross to nod the ball past Jordi Van Stappershoef and that’s the way things remained until half-time, when Ryan Peters and Aaron O’Brien finally got the chance to talk some sense into their players.

Their second half performance was noticeably better from the get-go, Josh Umerah and Jayden Mitchell-Lawson going close within seconds of the restart. But the goal their dominance and control deserved never arrived. Instead, Ebbsfleet broke downfield through the elusive Coley and he fed Toby Edser to fire home clinically to make it 2-0. A third, very harsh, penalty goal followed when a cross bounced off the arm of substitute Owen Cochrane at close quarters and substitute Kwesi Appiah fired home.

Game over. Or so we all thought. Five minutes of stoppage time felt like an ordeal Maidenhead fans could do without. Yet instead, it turned out to be an absorbing spell as the Magpies very nearly salvaged an unlikely point.

First Liam Dulson fired home on the angle, low and hard into the bottom corner to make it 3-1 before Matt Robinson capitalised on Fleet’s shaky defending to sweep home United’s second moments later - his first goal at home this season.

A first York Road goal for @MattRobinson231

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Manny Onariase had the chance to rescue a draw, arriving at the back post to head goalwards, but Matt Hall saved well and spared his side the indignity of throwing away a three-goal lead in stoppage time.

Afterwards, assistant manager O’Brien was in two minds over the performance.

“We didn’t start brightly enough, and they got the first goal,” he said.

“We’re not happy with the manner of that. We didn’t stop the cross, didn’t get out well enough to the short throw in.

“We tweaked a few things at half-time, and I thought we started the second half superbly. We almost scored with 20 seconds, a great ball from Owen.

“We looked like we’re the team in control. But one counterattack and possibly a foul on our player, but I’d need to watch it back and they score out of nothing to make it 2-0.

“That’s one of the things they’re very good at. They’re very clinical. It was the same at their place when we felt we were in control for 60 minutes, but they went and scored out of nowhere.

“They’ve got the players in their team who can do that to you. It’s difficult to take, because second half I felt we performed well. But when you give yourselves a mountain to climb, it’s difficult.

“We almost got something right at the end, but I’m proud of the players and their character and resilience to say, ‘we’re not out of this yet’. I think that shows great character from the boys and they’re going to need that in the coming days.”

United might have fallen short of their best for a lot of Tuesday’s matches, but they never gave up, never threw in the white towel - even when most of their supporters just wanted to hear the final whistle with their side 3-0 down. They kept fighting to the bitter end and were very nearly rewarded for that belief.

 It should serve them well for the run in, and their next three matches are all at York Road, starting with league leaders Dorking Wanderers on Saturday.  Win that and Maidenhead will strengthen their hold on a play-off place that was loosened by Tuesday’s defeat.

“We’ve got to roll our sleeves up and go again Saturday. It’s going to be a difficult game against Dorking,” said O’Brien.

“We lost 1-0 to Dorking early in the season. That tonight is only our second loss in 10. We don’t get too high when we win and we don’t get too low when we lose.

“We’ll brush this off and go again. We’ve done that quite well since Ryan and I have come in.

“We’ve bounced back from our losses, and we’ve got to do that again Saturday. We know it’s going to be tough; every game will be tough because everyone is fighting for different things. We’ve just got to remind ourselves that we’re in control of what we need to do.

“We’re still in the play-offs and if we win on Saturday we’ll stay in there and then we can regroup next week. We have three home games on the bounce still. Win those and everything will look a bit rosier.”