Maidenhead United faced Aldershot in a Saturday 3 PM kick-off in the National League.
Both clubs sat towards the bottom end of the table going into this one. The game started slow in the first five minutes with Maidenhead’s best chance a goal-mouth scramble from a corner which was eventually dealt with by Aldershot.
Aldershot’s first real chance came after a long ball looking in behind the Maidenhead defence was poorly dealt with by Alan Massey allowing Ryan Glower to run onto the loose ball where he made his way into the box and took a shot from the right side of the area were new permanent signing Daniel Gyollai was equal to the effort putting the ball over the bar.
Maidenhead were upping the ante late in the half with a couple of efforts on goal. They finally got their reward in first-half injury time when Dan Sparks stole the ball on the left hand side and found Josh Kelly in space. Kelly drove towards the edge of the Aldershot area and shifted the ball onto his right where he found the far corner where his effort was in off the post given Maidenhead an important lead to try and build on going into the half.
Into the second half and Kelly was at the heart of the Maidenhead attack again where he had the chance to double the lead. His shot was from a tight angle inside the box and was just short of the mark. 65 minutes in and Aldershot had their equaliser.
It was scored by Toby Edser who had been on the pitch for no more than five minutes. He found space just inside the Maidenhead penalty area after he picked up a half-cleared header and drilled it hard and low into the bottom left. With 15 minutes to go Aldershot were looking for the winner when another man off the bench Josh Fawole struck the post after Glower picked him out with a low cross from the right and Fawole arrived with a sliding effort against the outside of the post.
Into stoppage time and there were late appeals for an Aldershot penalty after Harris went down in the area but nothing given leaving both sides with a point. Maidenhead sit one place above the drop in 20th four points clear of the team below.
Slough Town suffer heavy defeat, late heartbreak for Hungerford Town
Slough Town suffered a heavy 6-1 defeat to the hands of play-off rivals Chippenham Town with Slough also missing a penalty and seeing red.
The goalscoring started early for Chippenham when Joe Hanks picked up a loose ball in the middle of the park and drove into the Slough box unchallenged where his deflected shot found the back of the net just three minutes into the game. However, Slough did find an equaliser after a throw was won over on the right-hand side and taken quickly into the path of Alfonso Tenconi who chipped the ball over the keeper where the ball went in off the post.
20 minutes in Chippenham were back in front when Luke Russe was slipped in with a lovely ball behind the Slough defence where he finished low into the bottom right-hand corner. 31 minutes and Chippenham had a spectacular third when Jordan Young picked up a loose clearance on the right-hand side and cut in hitting a beautiful shot with his left in off the bar leaving the slough keeper with no chance.
The fourth was added when Ricky Aguiar was slipped in after some quick football without a Slough defender in sight where he finished well into the bottom right-hand corner with nice composure. Slough had a chance to half the deficit when a foul occurred in the area from a long throw, not a lot of contact but Ben Harris had the ball on the spot with just over 10 minutes to go. Harris went for power down the middle but Will Henry was equal to the effort where he got down low and saved well with his legs. After the missed penalty tempers flared and Harris’ afternoon went from bad to worse when he was shown red after a conversation between the linesman and the referee. Aguiar got his second and Chippenham’s fifth with 10 minutes to go after some composed feet in the box saw him get a shot away which was blocked but the ball fell kindly back to him where he finished into the bottom left after a slight deflection.
James Young added a sixth in stoppage time where he once again cut onto that left foot and this time finished low into the bottom right capping off the win for Chippenham leaving them in fourth with Slough four points off a playoff spot in 11th.
Hungerford Town travelled to relegation-threatened Tonbridge Angles with Hungerford well in the play-off mix. After a quiet first half Hungerford got the lead in first-half stoppage time after Jake Evans displayed some lovely footwork on the left and played a nice one-two that found him in on goal. He deceived the keeper with his effort by slotting the ball low into the near post.
The game would drastically change however 64 minutes in when an already booked Louis McGrory was shown a straight red after a poor challenge in the penalty area following a corner. Tonbridge now with the man advantage and a chance to level from the spot, Joe Turner stepped up but it was saved well by Luke Cairney down to his right getting a strong hand to the ball.
Tonbridge found a late equaliser when a half-cleared header was sent back to the edge of the box where Braham-Barrett’s shot from the edge hard and low found substitute Tommy Wood who smashed home from close range. There was even more heartbreak for Hungerford in the eighth minute of added time after a cross from the left found the substitute Wood for his second of the game when he somehow found himself unmarked to poke home to give Tonbridge an important three points with Hungerford now one point outside the playoff spots.
