Polish the trumpets! The Great Escape is on across Berkshire as Maidenhead United got enough points on the board to guarantee another season in the Vanarama National League.
The Magpies are eight points clear of the final relegation place occupied by Boreham Wood following a 2-1 win at home to Gateshead on Saturday.
Kevin Lokko and a late winner from Shawn McCoulsky ensured an eighth straight season in non-league football’s top flight.
The win – amusingly – also puts Maidenhead within eight points of the play-offs but with one game left to play that little dream is out of site for this season.
Binfield
Elsewhere Binfield are testing everyone’s nerves with a scintillating 3-3 draw at Guernsey, edging ever closer to Chipstead and safety with four points the difference and two games in hand.
The Moles were 2-0 down on the Channel Island after 16 minutes but Tyler D’Cruz and an own goal brought the game level at the break.
D’Cruz then fired Binfield into a 3-2 lead on 50 minutes only for Samual Murray to level seven minutes later.
The biggest of games then is Tuesday night at Hill Farm Lane, second bottom versus bottom as Corinthian-Casuals visit. Must win, as they say.
Reading FC Women
Meanwhile, Reading FC Women earned a point on the road and more importantly have survival in the FA Women’s Championship in their own hands.
As recently highlighted in a piece on why Royals women is such an important part of the Berkshire football landscape, relegation could prove disastrous for the areas most talented young girls hoping to make their way in the game.
Reading were at mid-table Blackburn Rovers and secured a 0-0 draw, ending a run of four straight defeats that looked like condemning the Royals to a second successive relegation.
A win in one of their final two games at home to Durham a place above them, or bottom side Watford would almost certainly ensure survival.
