After visiting Maidenhead Town for the first time at the back end of 25/26, I promised then I’d be back early this season to watch them in their first ever step six league campaign. The early fixtures worked out well with Maidenhead starting their campaign with three home games and, after a short journey to the 1878 Stadium in Burnham, I made good on my promise.
Saturday’s Combined Counties Division One fixture was to be against Staines & Lammas, a now established step six side who had themselves made the step up in the 24/25 season. Maidenhead went into this match with two wins from their two opening league games while Staines & Lammas only having played one game, against another promoted team in Bovingdon which resulted in a 2-0 defeat.
The people at Maidenhead Town are top notch, all introduce themselves and love to chat football. Jeff Beck, the chairman, gave us a warm welcome before the gates opened. He himself was on the turnstile amongst the 101 other things chairmen at all levels get to contend with on a matchday! Going up a step in the pyramid brings with it a learning curve for all involved i.e. new hospitality requirements etc, and Jeff is still finding his feet with all the new requirements but doing it with a smile on his face.
We also managed a catch up chat with Jason Collie who oversees the social media operation at the club and anyone that follows them on Twitter (yes, I still call it that!) will know they have a very slick operation, including goal videos online soon after they are scored!
There was a bit of a milestone for me too with Staines & Lammas being managed by Russell Taylor. He was the first club official that spoke to me when I first started the Wandering Tractor journey back when he was the reserve manager at Virginia Water in 22/23. He’s since moved on to manage AFC Winkfield and now Staines & Lammas. It was good to catch up with him again, he’s a top man who always has time for a chat.
Onto the day itself and admission to the match was £7.50 for adults and £4 for concessions. There was no printed programme but they do have an excellent online version produced by Jason of the media team which can be downloaded to a pdf document. The ground also has plenty of food and drink available on the day too.
So finally, the game and strap yourselves in, this could take a while! It started at a furious pace despite it being another very warm afternoon and that pretty much continued for the whole 90 minutes. The hosts started brightly and a Joshua Charles pass through the defence picked out the run of Max Fanstone. His cut back in the area found Cam Netherwood-Meek but the visitors had numbers back and managed to block his effort and clear to safety.
Maidenhead forced the pace early on and a sweeping diagonal Alan Adams pass from right to left found Ethan Lowe in the box. He turned inside the covering full back but could only find the side netting.
Staines had their first attack of consequence minutes later when Seanpierre Ortiz picked up the ball on the right flank in his own half. He went on a mazy run past three Town players before being crowded out on the edge of the box, despite this he still managed to find Luca Clark whose shot was blocked. Adam Belahcene picked up the loose ball on the left side of the box. He beat Charles and sent a dangerous ball across the area but Alan Adams had seen the danger and made a great sliding block on the edge of the six-yard box to clear.
On ten minutes Maidenhead took the lead. Netherwood-Meek swung a corner from the right towards the far post where Ryan Adams rose highest and headed home past Conaill Ryan in the Staines goal. 1-0
Just two minutes later the home side doubled their lead. Following a good move down the left Ryan Hennessy cut inside the full back and sent a strong shot goalwards which Ryan saved well with his feet, only for the ball to rebound straight into the path of Fanstone who calmly sidefooted the ball into the empty net. 2-0
Staines tried to stem the flow of quick attacks from their opponents and had a shot from distance that narrowly looped over the Town crossbar.
The visitors defence was again cut open in the 20th minute. Good strong defending midway in his own half saw Charles win a challenge before feeding Hennessy on the right flank. He tried a first time slide rule pass to pick out the run of Ryan Adams but this time Joe McBride was on hand to get in a timely interception.
A third wasn’t long in coming though, Netherwood-Meek played a first time pass into the path of Hennessy just inside the visitors half, he outstripped the defender for pace running into the area before sliding the ball underneath the advancing Ryan and into the net. 3-0
It looked to be game over but Staines weren’t giving up just yet. A long kick from Ryan was headed on by Belahcene into the path of Sam Healey. He flicked it with the outside of his right foot into the path of Ortiz who was stopped from tapping the ball into the net by a strong challenge from Lowe. From the resulting corner Joe Cooper headed the ball back from beyond the far post which was picked up by Healey, he knocked the ball past the defender and was clipped with the referee pointing to the spot. Luca Clark stepped up and despatched the ball down the centre of the goal to give Staines a lifeline. 3-1
This seemed to spark some life into the visitors who again came close moments later. Another long corner was picked up by McBride and knocked on to Ortiz whose point-blank low shot was brilliantly saved by the feet of Alex Collie in the Maidenhead goal.
The home side almost restored their three goal lead in the 41st minute. George Fairbairn, on as a substitute for the injured Ethan Lowe, chipped a ball forward to a very lonely looking Ryan Adams. He rolled the ball back into the path of Netherwood-Meek whose first time shot rattled against the crossbar and bounced away.
Back came Staines in this roller coaster of a half, a quick pass through the Maidenhead backline from McBride set Belahcene free inside the box. The attacker hit a first-time left foot shot but Collie was out quickly and made another smart save, taking the ball in the face, and the danger was eventually cleared.
For the remaining few minutes of the half Staines piled on the pressure and, on the referee’s whistle, a breathless first half came to a close.
H-T: Maidenhead Town 3 Staines & Lammas 1
Staines came out fired up for the second half and spent the opening minutes of the second period taking the game to their opponents. A Sam Sillah throw from the right was picked up in the area by Clark who made a clever turn to make himself some space but scuffed the shot and it trundled harmlessly into Collie’s arms.
Next, a long ball over the top set up a foot race between Ortiz for Staines and Collie and Fairbairn which was won by the latter with an excellent piece of covering defending.
Ten minutes into the second half the visitors were right back in the game. Another raking long pass from McBride completely caught out the Maidenhead defence allowing Ortiz to run clear and the time to pick his spot past the advancing Collie. 3-2
Three minutes later the visitors were level. A Maidenhead free kick from 25 yards out sailed harmlessly into the arms of Ryan. He raced to the edge of his area and launched a long kick into the hosts half where it was picked up by second half substitute Tawfiq Begzad. He took it to the byline where Fairbairn got a foot in to concede the corner. The home side were asleep as Begzed played a quick short corner to fellow sub Rhys Rabess and his cross picked out the run of captain Cooper with his header having too much pace for Collie to keep it out. 3-3
It was now all one-way traffic as Staines went searching for what would have seemed to be an unlikely win half an hour before. Meanwhile Maidenhead were reduced to hitting the visitors on the break. On one of those breaks a Netherwood-Meek free kick was headed over by Rowan Sellman from the edge of the six yard box.
Another long kick from Ryan was picked up by Ortiz midway in the Maidenhead half, he back heeled to Rabess who made a swift run into the area before firing the ball into the centre. There followed a bit of pinball as the ball bounced off one leg after another until Ortiz spun on a sixpence and got a shot away under pressure but without any power and the ball slowly dribbled towards goal, hit the bottom of the post and went out for a goal kick.
A quick break from the hosts saw Hennessy play in Harry Combe who ran to the edge of the box before seeming to go down in instalments following an apparent knock from behind. Netherwood-Meek took the free kick which sailed harmlessly over.
The onslaught continued with a Kayden Brimah cross from the left knocked away by Collie low down in front of the advancing Oscar Lucas. Begzad picked up the loose ball and played a lovely one-two with Cooper in the box and went down under a challenge from Jamie Wakelin but the official was perfectly placed and waved away any penalty shouts.
Still the visitors pushed forward, Cooper found the lively Begzad again on the right moments later, some quick footwork saw him drift past three defenders into the box where he played a nice one-two again this time with Lucas but too close to Collie and he smothered the ball bravely at the forwards feet.
The away side continued to press into added time but the dogged backs to the wall defending from the home side saw the game out.
F-T: Maidenhead Town 3 Staines & Lammas 3 Att: 88
A cracking game all round with so many chances at both ends. Maidenhead were clinical with their finishing in the first half but you can probably also say the standard of the Staines & Lammas defending was well below par, especially in the first half hour.
The visitors never gave up and deservedly got themselves back into the game and could easily have taken all three points but for some gutsy last ditch defending from the hosts in the final ten minutes. All in all, a great advertisement for step six football.
Thanks to all at Maidenhead Town and the Burnham staff for their usual top class hospitality and I wish both sides all the very best for the rest of the season. No doubt our paths will cross again in 26/27!