‘The best goal he’ll ever score and it’s chalked off’
For long periods of Saturday’s 1-1 draw with Solihull Moors it looked like Nathan Blissett would be the Magpies match winner.
The imposing striker swept the ball home from a corner kick after Moors’ keeper Ryan Boot spilled James Comley’s corner mid-way through the first half, and there was anger and disbelief on the Magpies bench a few minutes later when the striker had a wonderful second goal chalked off due to a handball in the build-up. Jamie Ward drilled the home side level with seven minutes to play to deny the visitors all three points and afterwards assistant boss Ryan Peters was left to reflect on what might have been.
“We did think it should have been a goal there and then,” said Peters. “From the angle we were at it looked as if he’d forced the defender into dangling a leg out and then he’s absolutely rifled the ball into the corner of the net. It’s one of the best goals Nathan’s ever going to score and, for me, for it to be chalked off, we were up in arms about it there and then.
“But the fact that he didn’t complain about it that much would suggest the ball probably did hit his arm, whether he intentionally meant to do it or not, so it was probably the right decision in the end.”
This was up there with Blissett’s best displays for the Magpies this season. He led the line superbly throughout and helped the side create the chances which on another day would surely have brought them three points.
One of those chances fell to fullback George Wells, who smashed a deflected effort off the crossbar in the second half when the Magpies were leading 1-0.
“What an effort that would have been,” added Peters. “He’s been really good for us this season, Wellsy. A marauding run and then he’s able to get a shot off like that at the end. It shows the quality that he has. He’s always going to test goalkeepers with that sort of ability.
“I don’t think he’s been out of his depth at all for us this season. When you look at our first three games it was the team that wasn’t gelling, it wasn’t to do with
Wellsy. From a league point of view it’s maybe a step up in terms of speed from where he was (Slough Town), but in terms of quality, he’s always had that.
“He’s a magician when it comes to technical ability and he’s not looked out of place at all. He’s been one of our better players and we’re really happy with him.”
Peters was hoping the Magpies would build on the draw with another positive display at Dagenham
& Redbridge on Tuesday night, and believes that with the games they’ve still got in hand on many of the sides in and around them in the table, they have what it takes to get back into the conversation surrounding promotion to the football league.
Speaking on Monday he said: “The point we got at Solihull becomes a point gained if we could come away from Dagenham with a good performance and a point or three on the board.
“Despite being cautious and not having had any cases of COVID, we’ve played the least games. We’re hoping with the Saturday, Tuesday, Saturday games coming up we’ll find some momentum and the impetus to get back where we feel we belong, which is in and around the play-off places. We have some players who are close to returning from injury. Ryheem Sheckleford and Sammy Barratt are probably closer than the others, but we’re not too far away from having a full-strength squad (barring the long-term injuries to Shaun Donnellan and Josh Smile).
“They’ll need a couple of weeks to get their match fitness, but in terms of being back from injury they’re not too far away now.
“It’s always been a case of the gaffer having a full squad to choose from, and once they’re all back there will be decisions to be made, I suppose.”
James Comley was left to rue the fine margins in Maidenhead United’s defeat against Dagenham and Redbridge after the Magpies failed to take their chances at Chigwell Construction Stadium.
Alan Devonshire’s men started the game strongly and were able to ‘carve open’ their hosts, according to Comley, with Josh Coley’s early efforts crashing off the crossbar and rattling the upright.
However, a quickfire brace from Paul McCallum was enough to secure the Daggers all three points in a 2-1 victory with Remy Clerima scoring Maidenhead’s solitary goal in the game’s final third.
“I don’t know when they scored their first goal, but certainly prior to it, we carved them open many a time,” said Comley.
“We needed to take one of them chances. It’s a very cliche thing in football but when chances arrive at your door, you need to make sure you take them because if not, you can get punished.
“The opportunities we had definitely came back to bite us in the butt.
“After we conceded two quickfire goals, we found it tough.
“They got their tails up in the first half and they started to play some nice football.
“I believe we were better in the second half, and of course, we scored. But I’m just disappointed we couldn’t get ourselves back in the game earlier.
“On the flip side, we didn't do enough defensively. I'm not picking out individual players but as a unit, we needed to do better for the goals we conceded.
“Realistically, it was just a disappointing night all round.”