Peters: ‘We got back to a good standard of football’
Following a disappointing streak of three losses, assistant manager Ryan Peters believes Maidenhead United got back to producing ‘a good standard of football’ in their draw with FC Halifax Town at the weekend.
The Magpies were left a little deflated not to claim all three points against Halifax, however, they did slam the brakes on their threegame losing streak and also found the net for the first time since August 16.
Cole Kpekawa – deputising at left-back for this encounter – chalked up his first goal of the season but Jordan Slew ensured honours were shared at the fulltime whistle.
Alan Devonshire’s men had their chances to score more than once against the Shaymen but either squandered their opportunities or were well suppressed by goalkeeper Sam Johnson.
Reflecting on the match, Peters told the Advertiser: “I thought we did well. The goal we conceded was really, really poor but we then went up the other end where we had four, five, or six chances and we should have converted those.
“These are the games where you want to get that scruffy goal to go on and win the game, but as you saw, it didn’t happen. The positives are we kept attacking and creating chances.
“If you look back to last season, we had two wins and then went nine without one. We’ve stopped the rot to a degree I suppose, and we got back to a good standard of football today.
“We were poor against Southend United (2-0, August 29) and we needed to come back and put on a show. I thought most of the boys got up to their levels and if they keep playing like that, we are going to win more than we lose this season.”
On the management team’s message to the players at half-time – when the Magpies led due to Kpekawa's goal late in the half – Peters added: “We didn’t want to rest on our laurels.
“We wanted to attack, we just wanted to do it the right way. As far as we were concerned, if we didn’t give them a chance, we were going on to win that game. Unfortunately, we did give them that chance, but their goal didn’t stop us in our tracks. We kept attacking and, on another day, we take two of those chances and win 3-1.
“We will keep creating chances and we will score more than we miss. We will keep working in training on finishing and we will end up being more clinical.
“We’ve got loads and loads of boys that will score goals for us. They will come, it will probably just take a little bit more time than we would like. We haven’t got Sammy Barratt at the moment, and he will get us goals when he’s back. But we’ve got Ash (Ashley Nathaniel-George) now who will provide and so will Koby (Arthur) and Adrian (Clifton).”
Ashley Nathaniel-George became the latest player to sign for the Magpies on Friday evening and played more than 20 minutes against the Shaymen after coming on as Dan Sparkes’ replacement.
The 27-year-old's former clubs include Crawley Town and Southend United while he spent time last season on loan at Ebbsfleet United in the National League South.
“He hasn’t been with us long enough to really be thrown in the deep end and for us to go ‘show us what you can do’, but he’s going to keep coming on, keep changing games for us, and we just hope it works out for him,” said Peters.