Finer details were just a little bit off for Magpies
Maidenhead United FC: Peters couldn’t fault side’s work rate in narrow defeat
Ryan Peters couldn’t fault the Magpies work rate in Saturday’s 1-0 defeat to Rochdale, but he admitted the finer details in both boxes were just a little off for the visitors.
United travelled north looking to bounce back from last weekend’s 4-1 mauling at the hands of Dagenham & Redbridge but, while they produced an improved display, they were beaten by Devantae Rodney’s closerange header a few minutes before the break.
The result sees them fall a place to 20th in the National League table, however, they remain outside of the bottom four by just a single point heading into the business end of the season.
Alan Devonshire’s side have just six games remaining to collect the points they need for survival, starting with this weekend’s Easter double header at home to Aldershot Town on Good Friday (3pm kick-off) and followed by Monday’s trip to fellow strugglers Eastleigh.
United didn’t play too badly at Spotland, but they were caught out in the 38th minute, when Kairo Mitchell’s shot across goal was pushed out by Craig Ross only for Rodney to climb highest to nod the ball into the bottom corner.
They probably should have equalised before the break when Will de Havilland headed just wide of the target, and their hopes of returning home with a positive result weren’t helped when Reece Smith had to be substituted at the break after failing to run off a first half injury.
Speaking after the game, assistant manager Peters said: “Our work rate was superb. It wasn’t the result we wanted, of course, but we had quite a few chances when we could have got something out of the game and even gone on to win it.
“Unfortunately, the difference at the minute is the finer details in both boxes, we haven’t got that killer instinct at the moment. What made things even worse is that Reece came off at halftime. But our effort was there. He’s got a few injuries that he’s managing because he also dislocated his finger in that challenge. I’m sure he will be okay come our next game, but we’ve got to wrap him up in cotton wool.”
Smith – who played for England C in their international game with Wales C in mid-week, was replaced by Shawn McCoulsky at the break, while Remy Clerima was also back in the side after recovering from injury.
Their presence and influence in the coming weeks can’t be overlooked as United look to squeeze as many points as they can from matches against Aldersthot, Eastleigh, Barnet, Hartlepool, Gateshead and finally champions Chesterfield.
“We’ve got a few of our boys back now,” added Peters. “Remy’s back and Shawn’s back so we’re bolstering nicely.
“At 1-0 down we were still in the game. We had a few half chances, but whether Reece can come back from his injury, we have a number of fit players who can do something. So, it’s a disruption of course, but it shouldn’t have been enough to stop us getting something from this game today.
“Sometimes we need the big teams to come in order for us to pull our performances out. It doesn’t matter who you put in front of us now, we need to come out of them with some victories. We’re at home and we’re going to have our crowd behind us, so we’ll go again.
“They (the Magpies supporters) were superb. It’s a horrible day and they still made the journey. “We are hoping for a different result come our next game and we’re hoping they’ll be behind us again.”