STUTTERING ROBINS ARE FOUND OUT BY MAGPIES
RELEGATION threatened Maidenhead United returned to wining ways with a superb victory at stuttering play-off hopefuls Altrincham.
Goals from Kevin Lokko, Reece Smith and Remy Clerima cancelled out Lewis Banks’ early strike, to see the Magpies grab a vital three points following four straight defeats, as the high-flying Robins lose a third game in a row.
“When we have everyone on it, as we did today, we’re a force to be reckoned with,” said assistant United boss Ryan Peters.
“It was a really good performance against a side that should make the play offs. We’ve struggled against them in the past, they’re definitely our bogey team, but the grit and determination was there to carry us through. We need the points wherever they come at the minute.”
“It’s great to see them sharing the goals, as we need that. Confidence was a little low after a testing few weeks, but morale amongst the lads was good. And the fans were brilliant throughout.”
However, it was all Alty for the opening quarter of an hour, as they looked to bounce back from two away defeats. Regan Linney cut inside from the right and fired just over early on. Before the hosts opened the scoring on 12 minutes when a George Wilson effort from the edge of the area deflected nicely for Banks to smash home from ten yards.
But this sparked Maidenhead into life, as the visitors began to dominate the ball. And they deservedly equalised on the half hour when Charlee Adams’ free-kick pinballed around the box and fell to the unmarked Lokko at the far post to tuck in.
Alty could’ve retaken the lead moments later when Banks played Dan Mooney clean through but Craig Ross got down well to stop the shot.
And the visitors then scored again either side of half-time to take control of the game. First, Smith took an excellent first touch on the edge area to beat his man and sprint into box, before neatly tucking the ball into the bottom left corner. Then straight after the restart, Adams’ corner was met with a looping header by Clerima, which nestled into the top corner.
This allowed the Magpies to sit back and nullify the game as Altrincham lacked ideas and the visitors comfortably held on.
“It’s really disappointing.” said Alty assistant boss Neil Sorvel. “We wanted to bounce back following two defeats, but our tendency to overplay in our first third let us down.
“And the timing of their goals was terrible, just before and then just after half time. I don’t say this very often, but it just looked like we weren’t going to get back into it.”
“This is our first slump in form of the season, but we’ll stick together, work hard, and do better. And we’ll soon play our way back into form.” STAR MAN: Reece Smith (Maidenhead) ATT: 2,216 ENTERTAINMENT: ★★★★★ REFEREE: James Westgate