‘We must be more clinical’
Maidenhead United FC: Magpies fail to score for a fifth time this season in narrow 1-0 defeat to Wood
You don’t have to be a rocket scientist to pinpoint where things have been going wrong for Maidenhead United this season.
The side have managed to score just six league goals all season and head into Saturday's home clash with Woking off the back of a run of five games without a win.
Four of those matches have resulted in defeat, while the other was a frustrating 1-1 home draw with FC Halifax Town that most objective observers felt the Magpies should have won.
With Saturday's game at Wrexham postponed as a mark of respect following the death of Queen Elizabeth II on Thursday, Maidenhead headed into Tuesday's game at Boreham Wood having not played in 10 days.
They lost the match 1-0, going down to a poachers finish from Danny Elliott in the second half, however, there were aspects of the performance that will have encouraged manager Alan Devonshire, with the Magpies matching their hosts for most of the game.
Despite pressing for a leveller late in the game, and carving out some decent chances, they were beaten for a fifth time this season. It’s also the fifth time this season Devonshire's men have failed to find the net, and that’s something Maidenhead's management team and players desperately need to address if they're to avoid being sucked into another relegation battle.
Devonshire believes the squad are capable of aspiring higher than that, however, the stats don’t lie, or make for pleasant reading.
Without the injured Sam Barratt and
Dan Sparkes, they’re simply failing to create and convert enough chances.
Midfielder Ryan Upward spurned two opportunities himself at Meadow Park. Afterwards he told the Advertiser: “Other than the penalty, they (Boreham Wood) didn't create very much. It's a bit frustrating that we're not creative enough and not taking our chances when we get them, because at the end of the day, if you're not going to score goals sooner or later, you'll be punished in this league.
“It's all confidence. We've now gone
five games without a win. Halifax was a more positive performance, and we should have won the game.
“From being 1-0 up and very comfortable, we've ended up drawing.
“We nullified Boreham Wood well, but we still didn't win the game.
“Something has got to change attacking wise, we need to be more creative in the final third.”
He added: “We feel like we're very close to it all clicking together, but something isn't quite right attacking wise at the moment. We're not conceding bundles of goals and we're looking a lot more solid defensively and have been playing well as a unit.
“But every time we lose, there's always something, a runner, a free header, an own goal. Teams aren't having to score worldie goals against us, we're just making mistakes.
“We need to cancel out these little mistakes, but at the other end we must be more creative, relentless and clinical in front of goal.”
The Magpies host a Woking side on Saturday who've started the season in good form, winning four of their eight matches including Tuesday evening's 3-0 home win over Oldham Athletic. After that United welcome Gateshead to York Road for a match in front of the BT Sport cameras on Saturday, September 24, and Devonshire will be hoping the Magpies’ recent habit of picking up positive results in fits and spurts returns for these matches.
“Our home form is definitely good,” added Upward. “We've been better this year. It's positive to see we've been performing to a much better standard at home, so hopefully having two games there will turn things around for us and we can get some form going.
“We have been dropping points and we don't want to be getting into a relegation battle so early.
“We just want to be ticking along nicely and then we can get a good run of form together.
“Last year we had a block of good results and a block of bad results, and it seems to be the same this year. It's a reoccurring theme which is quite annoying because I don't think we're playing badly.”