Sporting
their new dark-amber home colours for the first time, Beadle
kept faith with the side that had so impressed at Bishop’s
Stortford in Saturday’s Blue Square South opener, with Sam
O’Sullivan once again preferred to new record-signing, Lee John,
on the left flank, and giant target-man Julian Alsop retaining
the number nine shirt in place of the prolific Charlie Griffin.
The visitors included a familiar face amongst their ranks with
the well-travelled Carl Wilson-Denis spearheading their attack.
A bright
start delivered precious little goal-mouth action, truth be
told, with the Maidenhead rearguard in dominant form as the
midfield quartets of both sides attempted to take a grip on
proceedings. The home crowd thought they had witnessed a
breakthrough in the 8th minute, when the effervescent Craig
Hughes broke free of his marker and unluckily struck the base of
the post with a crisp effort, as County continued to struggle to
find their rhythm. Two minutes later, the same player burst free
once more, but agonisingly screwed his shot wide of the target
with an assistant’s flag deeming the outcome would have been
irrelevant anyway. Alas, that was to be as close as the Exiles
would come for some time, in a turgid opening that quickly
developed into a forceful battle of wits, with the County
defence regularly being occupied by the strong, forceful runs of
Wilson-Denis and his eager strike-partner, Manny Williams.
The deadlock
was finally broken in County’s favour, come the 28th minute,
after an inspired piece of play by the mercurial and
unpredictable Sam O’Sullivan. Picking a loose clearance up
inside his own half, the tricky winger ran teasingly at the
retreating Maidenhead defence for fully 30 yards, before finding
Alsop who squared low and unselfishly across the goalmouth for
Jason Bowen to lash home first-time.
Sadly, County couldn’t build on the lead and it was no surprise
when the visitors equalised in the 42nd minute. Defenders Jarman and Searle were all at sea as Wilson-Denis calmly picked
out the dangerous Manny Williams, who side-footed home into an
empty net. On the balance of play, a nervous and jittery County
could have no complaints about the visitor’s leveller.
The second
period could only offer further frustration as County inevitably
resorted to the aimless long-ball for long periods, even after
Griffin
had replaced the imposing Alsop on 58 minutes. A change in
personnel that also saw Lee John enter the fray in place of
O’Sullivan. Maidenhead ‘keeper Ramos, who had been called into
action far too infrequently, superbly tipped County’s best
effort of an uninspiring half over the crossbar on 77 minutes,
after a cheekily-curled chip by County’s best player on the
night, Jason Bowen. The “fifth Beatle” was denied again eight
minutes later, when Ramos stubbornly saved his point-blank
header, as a frustrated
Newport
County
began to resign themselves to their fate of a costly two home
points dropped.
County’s
biggest obstacle this season may well be expectation itself, not
something the club have been used to in recent times.
Thankfully, “it’s a marathon and not a sprint”, as the immortal
Bob Paisley once famously said!
COUNTY: Thompson, Jenkins (Capt), Searle, Davies, Jarman,
Hillier, Bowen, Fowler, Alsop (Griffin 58), Hughes, O’Sullivan
(John 58).
Subs not used: Collier, Dodds, Ovendale.
MAIDENHEAD: Ramos, Nisbet, Johnson, Lee, Cooper (Capt), Behzadi,
Telemaque, Brown, Wilson-Denis (James 84), Williams (Hughes 84),
Smith.
Subs not used: Clarke, Fisher, Wells.
Man of the Match (County): Ringo Starr - aka Jason Bowen (like a
good bottle of wine – gets better with age)
Man of the Match (Maidenhead): Manny Williams (a menace all
night)
REFEREE: Mr Ron Ganfield (Weston-Super-Mare)
ASSISTANTS: Matt Foden (Bromsgrove), Steven Plane (Pershore)
ATTENDANCE: 1,159
