United are ready to rally
Maidenhead United FC: Dev says course of the season won’t be determined by away defeat to Notts County
While any defeat can be damaging to confidence, Maidenhead United boss Alan Devonshire has been around the block long enough to know Saturday’s 3-0 loss at Notts County will be long forgotten should the Magpies pick up positive results against Scunthorpe United and Altrincham Town this week.
The Magpies will be looking for some home comforts at York Road after a bruising opening day defeat at
Meadow Lane and one that has left them propping up the National League table this week.
There’s no doubting Maidenhead were beaten by the better side on Saturday, with Macaulay Langstaff’s first half double, and Joel Taylor’s second half thunderbolt condemning the Magpies to a deserved defeat.
But the season is still young, and Devonshire knows his side’s season won't be decided by this one result against one of the pre-season favourites for promotion.
There’s still a whole season to change the narrative, much like they did last season when the doom merchants were circling in December when the injury-hit side was hovering around the relegation zone.
However, Notts County are one of 17 former league clubs the Magpies will have to take on this season, and this sixth successive season in the National League has the potential to be the toughest yet. United will remain on many punters betting slips as favourites for relegation, but they’ve defied the odds on each of the last five seasons, and who would bet against them doing so again?
Reflecting on the Magpies’ opening day defeat, Devonshire told the Advertiser: “This season ain’t going to be decided by what we do away at Notts County.
“We started okay, we had a couple of chances, but we didn’t take them. They opened the scoring and then they got one just before half-time which was a bad goal for us to take, that killed us a little bit.
“If you go in at 1-0, you know you are still in the game and all that. But, when they scored, and as late as it was, it’s hard to get them [the players] going again. It was a bad, bad time for us to concede.
“Then they finished the afternoon with a worldie.
“I wouldn’t say we had a standout player; I’m not going to name names or whatever.
“We’ve got players that are a little bit short [of match fitness] at the minute but the only way they are going to get up to speed is by playing. We’ve got to write the result off.
“We’ve got to roll our sleeves up and attack these two home games coming up.”
Bouncing back has been one of United’s trademarks under Devonshire; only on a handful of occasions has he allowed the club to spiral into poor form, so Scunthorpe United - relegated from League 2 last season - will have their work cut out at the weekend. They come into the game with a bit of confidence behind them after beating Yeovil Town 2-1 in their opening fixture, however, Maidenhead’s players will be looking at Scunthorpe as another scalp to add to their growing list.
Inspired by last season’s performances on home turf against the heavy hitters of the National League, Devonshire is optimistic for this weekend.
“We had some good results at our place last year so I’m looking forward to this Saturday,” said the Magpies boss.
“It’s going to be tricky because they’re (Scunthorpe) an ex-league team, but we’ll give it our best. I just hope it ain’t going to be 35 degrees like they reckon it’s going to be because that will be hot.”
On his team selection for the clash with the Iron, Devonshire added: “I’m hoping Shawn (McCoulsky) is available for Saturday. He was injured on Saturday, but he trained today (Monday). There are options if not.
“The new boys done okay [against Notts County]. This league is new for them, it’s harder. A lot of them have come from lower leagues so they’ve got to step up and know the level is different to what they have previously played at.
“They can’t afford to make mistakes, that’s the learning curve for them now. We will just see how we go – I will change what I need to change.”