United in need of some lady luck

Maidenhead United will need a little lady luck to fall their way in their remaining two games if they’re to hold off their relegation rivals and secure their place in the National League for a seventh-successive season.

United will likely need at least one more victory from their remaining games against Barnet at York Road on Saturday and Gateshead at the International Stadium on Saturday, April 29 to ensure their survival after being dragged back into the relegation picture in recent weeks.

United haven’t managed to beat the Bees in nine attempts since being promoted into the National League and Marvin Armstrong’s late goal saw the Magpies beaten 2-1 at The Hive back in October. Charlee Adams had levelled matters from the penalty spot following Nicke Kabamba’s first half opener, but Armstrong pounced to score after a spill from Dan Gyollai with only eight minutes to play.

The Bees managed their first win in six attempts on Tuesday evening, as they edged out Solihull Moors 1-0 with a first half goal from Harry Smith.

They also come into this game having secured their place in the play-offs having picked up 73 points with two games still to go.

Speaking to the club’s media officer Grace Scott following Saturday's 10 loss to Oldham Athletic, Ryan Peters (left) said: “Records are meant to be broken right? We’ve got to try and do it, we must find a way to break that record [against Barnet].

“It’s going to be tough. If we want to be in this league next season, we need to find our performance levels again and win. Everybody needs to pull in the right direction. We have a group here that, when they want to, can put wins together quite quickly. It’s a big game on Saturday and it’s more important than ever that we are together, and we find our performance levels.”

On Saturday's 1-0 defeat at Oldham, Peters said: “It’s a narrow defeat. We’re frustrated. A goal in the first two minutes has flustered us a bit. It’s an error on our behalf. It gave us a mountain to climb unfortunately.

“It changed the game, but it shouldn’t have done. We concede goals, it happens. It was just that belief [we missed]. We’ve gone on runs, long runs, we’ve put good wins together, and we can do it again. We have to. It (safety) is still in our hands. We have just got to find those performance levels again. The supporters have been amazing. We look to periods where we probably should have been safe by now, it’s been them pushing us through. We need them for the last couple of games now. They will push us through most definitely.”