Report: Maidenhead United 3-1 Barnet

A brace from Reece Smith and a singular strike from Tristan Abrahams secured all three points for Maidenhead United as they ran out 3-1 winners against Barnet on Bank Holiday Monday. 

 

United made one change to their starting eleven from Saturday’s game against AFC Fylde, with Tristan Abrahams coming in to replace Shawn McCoulsky up front. 

 

An early chance fell the way of the Bee’s as Ben Coker dinked a cross to the back post to Callum Stead. However, a foul in the area meant the chance was null and void, with Stead also scuffing his shot off target. 

 

In a lively opening five minutes, Jayden Mitchell-Lawson created a good opening down the other end. His low cross found Nathan Ferguson on the edge of the box, but a list-ditch block prevented what would have been a great opening goal. 

 

With 14 minutes on the clock, Maidenhead did find a breakthrough thanks to Reece Smith. Some positive play in midfield from Nathan Ferguson created some space to allow him to thread a pass through to Smith, who took it round Nick Hayes before slotting into an empty net. 

 

Halfway through the first half and Maidenhead were continuing to have joy in behind the visitor’s defence. Mitchell-Lawson was played in by Casey Pettit which left Myles Kenlock no choice but to haul his man down, resulting in a caution for the defender. 

 

Again, Mitchell-Lawson was causing havoc down the Magpies right hand side. This time it was Ryan Glover who used the same method as Kenlock and received the same outcome – a yellow card. 

 

5 minutes before halftime, United double their advantage through Tristan Abrahams. A beautiful pass over the top from Owen Cochrane fell perfectly in Mitchell-Lawson’s path, who drilled a low ball across the six-yard box leaving Abrahams with the simple task of tapping home. 

 

On the verge of the halftime whistle, a long free kick into the area was glanced goalwards by in-form striker Stead and bounced slowly across the line to half the deficit. 

 

 

Some early Barnet pressure was soon cancelled out by Reece Smith and the United boy grabbed his second of the game. Ferguson applied some strong pressure on the Bee’s backline, forcing a mistake, the ricochet then fell kindly for Smith to slot into the far corner. 

 

Barnet still looked a threat though as Ryan Glover weaved his way into the box, but he was thwarted by a brilliant from Craig Ross in the Maidenhead net. 

 

United defended resolutely for large parts of the second half and offered the visitors little chance to create any openings. This also opened up chances for the Magpies on the break, with Smith nearly getting in behind and Pettit dragging a shot wide. 

 

All the plaudits will go to Maidenhead’s forward players for the three goals but the defensive contributions of all the backline deserve great credit for nullifying Barnet’s second half pressure. 

 

 

Four points from a possible six caps off a brilliant Bank Holiday weekend for the Magpies, who travel to The EBB Stadium to face Aldershot Town on Saturday 31st August. 

 

Maidenhead United: Craig Ross, Kevin Lokko, Thierry Latty-Fairweather, Nathan Ferguson, Jayden Mitchell-Lawson (Ajose 65’), Joshua Johnson (Keetch73’), Casey Pettit, Reece Smith (Carvalho 87’), Owen Cochrane, Tristan Abrahams (McCoulsky 65’), Alan Massey © 

 

Barnet: Nick Hayes, Ben Coker (Chapman 60’), Callum Stead, Idris Kanu (Nartey 60’), Ryan Glover, Zak Brunt, Anthony Hartigan ©, Mark Shelton (Okimo 60’), Nik Tavares, Myles Kenlock (Hall-Johnson 60’), Joe Kezzi