Ed hopes United learn lessons from top sides
Maidenhead United Women FC: Cherries’ ‘intensity’ helps promotion hopefuls to victory
Ed Jackson-Norris hopes his Maidenhead United Women’s side can learn lessons from their matches against the National League Division 1 South West promotion contenders this week.
The Magpies have played the top three sides in succession, losing 5-0 against leaders Exeter City at St James’ Park last weekend before coming from two-goals down to complete a remarkable 3-2 win over Swindon Town Women in mid-week.
The Magpies boss admitted there wasn’t a lot of energy left in the tank for Sunday’s 3-0 home defeat by second placed Bournemouth, however, he doesn’t believe their season will be defined by such a match.
The result moves the Cherries to within six points of Exeter at the top with a couple of games in hand, while Maidenhead remain eighth in the standings as they head into a crucial couple of weeks with games at home against two sides beneath them, Portishead at home on Sunday, March 24, and second bottom Torquay United away on Sunday, March 31.
Should they win both of those matches – which Jackson-Norris is targeting – the Magpies will have equalled their record haul of points in a National League campaign with three matches to spare, one of their stated goals at the start of the season.
Sunday’s game looked like it would go the Cherries way from the moment Ellie Butler scored on her debut for the club in the seventh minute. United looked more resolute in the second half as they fought to keep the scoreline respectable, however, further goals from Molly Barron Clark in 67th minute and new signing Kelci Bowers in the 77th minute put the cap on a comfortable away win. Bowers goal was the Cherries’ 100th this season.
Speaking with Maidenhead club secretary, Neil Maskell, after the final whistle, Jackson-Norris said: “Credit to Bournemouth, they were good.
“I really hope one of the things we learn from this week, playing against the top three, regardless of their technical quality that comes with being one of the top sides in the league.
“The thing that all three sides have in common, when they’re on it, was their intensity, especially out of possession.
He added: “I really hope that we can use this week (to our advantage). We managed to get three points from the week, which is a positive, but today was tough. It was our seventh game in 21 days, and I think you could see there were a few tired legs out there today. But we didn’t get a lot of our controllables right which meant the ball was turned over quite a lot.
“Second half our back line has done well to defend the box from a lot of crosses and one v ones and Rosie has had to make a couple of good saves. They’ve done well there, but not really a great day for us.”
Four players that started the season in the club’s development team came on against Bournemouth, bringing the total number of development players making the step up to the first team to 15 this season, another positive from a challenging campaign.
“The coaching team were given targets at the start of the season, and they’ve already smashed their gold target for the season,” said JacksonNorris. “For the first team, it’s been an up and down season, but one of the highlights has been the opportunities that have been given to the younger, development team players.
“Fifteen coming through is superb, that’s almost an entire matchday squad. And for the most part they haven’t just dropped in once and then disappeared, they’ve been able to get a consistent taste of National League football. That’s been really pleasing and it’s going to hold us in good stead for years to come.”
The Magpies are eighth in the table on 18 points, seven behind Bridgwater United in seventh and crucially 10 points above the drop zone.
On the side’s five remaining league games this season, the Magpies boss added: “This season was never going to be defined by our games against Bournemouth and Exeter.
“Getting three points against Swindon was great, we’re buzzing with it. But our season isn’t defined by this kind of week, our season will be defined by the next couple of games.
“If we win both we equal our points record for the National League, which has been our target since the start of the season to beat that. So prep is going to be directed to that and trying to get six points. We’re going to attack the week and approach it with a positive mindset.”