Increasingly competitive performances will breed confidence in players

David Mobbs-Smith believes Maidenhead’s increasingly competitive performances in the London & South East Premier Division will breed confidence in the players as they seek to consolidate their place in the league over the course of the season.

So far, Maids have lost seven and won only two of their matches so far, but those two victories have come in their last three matches at Braywick Park, and Mobbs-Smith will be hopeful his side can chalk up a third when Sidcup bring their own indifferent league form to Berkshire on Saturday.

Not that he's expecting an easy match against a side who turned a few heads with a thrilling home win over Tring at the weekend.

Maids meanwhile returned to losing ways at the weekend, going down 26-12 at Havant in a performance Mobbs-Smith said was much better than the scoreline suggests.

He's also delighted by the emergence of a young crop of players he hopes will serve Maids well in the next few years. This group is led by 18year-old prop Toby Dann-Muirhead whose development this season has been ‘amazing to watch.’

“The competitiveness we now have brings more confidence and optimism to the team,” said Mobbs-Smith.

“When we come under pressure now, we're more able to absorb it and that's giving us more confidence as well.

“We have a lot of young players and they’re growing up in front of your eyes.

“There’s been a lot for them to learn but they're already making better decisions in matches. You must be technically proficient against your opponent at this level but also match up to them tactically as well.

“Against some of these senior players, it’s a learning curve.

“One of the lads has been absolutely outstanding this year, a prop, 18-year-old, Toby-DannMuirhead. He’s been so competitive against these senior men’s players. It’s been amazing to watch him grow every game.

“He epitomises a group of players, who are a little bit older than him, who are doing the same.”

Maidenhead might have lost on Saturday, but Mobbs-Smith says this weekend's game against Sidcup will feature two confident teams who feel they’ve turned around their season and are now on the up.

After a run of poor results, Sidcup edged out Tring 30-28 in a thrilling match on Saturday.

“They've just won a match, so they'll be coming here thinking they've turned their season,” he said.

“We just played a mid-table team in Havant who had lost quite a few and were under pressure at home, and now we play a team that are lower in the league and who hadn't won for ages, but now they have that win and will feel they can be competitive in every game they play.

“It’s going to be competitive for us all the way to the end of the season.

“As we get better, and develop over the second half of the season, we’ll turn some of these results around.”