Do not be fooled by Maidenhead United’s lowly league position, they are a force to be reckoned with on home soil.
The 2-0 win over Boreham Wood in Saturday’s televised game was the latest over the National League’s promotion contenders.
Chesterfield, FC Halifax, Wrexham and Bromley are the other big guns who have come unstuck at York Road.
Their home form puts Maidenhead fifth in the National League form table over the past six matches, but in more positive news for 13th-placed Yeovil is that their opponents on Tuesday night had only won twice at home against teams in the bottom half. That includes beating Dover in the second game of the season.
It is their away form which is to blame for the Magpies’ league position, one place above the relegation zone, albeit nine points ahead of W*ymouth with games in hand.
In fact, their form over the last six puts them seventh in the division’s form table, ahead of Chesterfield, Wrexham and Notts County.
The win over Boreham Wood was the Magpies’ first in a fortnight after their match at Wealdstone was rained off the week before, with many of their part-time players having made significant journeys.
They now face a fairly brutal spell of two games a week as they look to catch up on a number of cancelled fixtures.
Josh Kelly will be one to watch for the home side. He scored his eighth of the season to open the scoring against Boreham Wood on BT Sport,
The tricky, speedy wide player was paired alongside for Torquay United man Nathan Blissett, who adds a more physical element to the Maidenhead attack.
FROM THE (ASSISTANT) MANAGER
Speaking after the 2-0 home win over Boreham Wood, assistant manager Ryan Peters said the Magpies needed to quickly focus on the visit of the Glovers.
He said: “It is going to be Saturday and then Tuesday for a good few weeks now, but once we get to Monday, this game is over for us and our attention shifts to the next one (against Yeovil).
”We have to keep picking up points to make sure we are as far away from those relegation places as possible, but if we carry on playing the way we did (against Boreham Wood).”
TEAM NEWS
Striker Sam Barratt is the only injury absentee for Maidenhead.
The frontman, who has five goals in 14 appearances, had surgery which kept him out from November.
He started his first game in a 2-2 draw with Eastleigh a couple of weeks ago, playing 73 minutes, but missed out at the weekend with manager Alan Devonshire saying he is not quite fit.
The boss told the Maidenhead Advertiser: “Sam just keeps getting little niggles and when you’ve had a major operation it puts pressure on other parts of your body so we’re not going to take any chances with him.”
Midfielder Kane Ferdinand, cousin of Les, Rio and Anton, returned after a six-week absence to appear as a late substitute at the weekend.
Luton Town loanee Sam Beckwith also played the full 90 minutes against Boreham Wood having missed the previous match through injury.
A FOOT IN BOTH CAMPS
Shaun Donnellan came off the substitutes’ bench in the 2-0 win over Boreham Wood at the weekend.
The defender had a one-year spell at Huish Park between January 2018 and January 2019 before being allowed to leave.
He arrived at Maidenhead in summer 2020 having had spells at Maidstone United and Woking and has been in and out of the Magpies’ side this season.
Donnellan’s uncle, Gary, played for Yeovil in the late 1980s.
Other players with connections with both clubs include….
- Rohan Ince – Yeovil Town – loan (2012), Maidenhead United (2020-21)
- Gabriel Osho – Maidenhead United – loan (2018), Yeovil Town – loan (2018-21)
- Ryan Bird – Yeovil Town (2015-16), Maidenhead United (2018-19)
- Seth Nana Twumasi – Yeovil Town (2013-15), Maidenhead United (2018-21)
- Chris Dunn – Yeovil Town (2013-14), Maidenhead United (2019-21).