November 2, 2024
Today’s FA Cup First Round saw a potential giant-killing with National League Maidenhead United hosting struggling League One side Crawley Town, although it wasn’t selected for TV coverage. With a friend being a season ticket holder at Maidenhead it was an ideal opportunity to catch-up and watch the game.
As from this season, there will be no replays in the FA Cup so if the scores are level after 90 minutes, there will be 30 minutes extra time and then penalties if needed.
As a lifelong Crawley Town fan, these diaries covered their 2-0 promotion play-off victory at Wembley in May over Crewe Alexandra, which secured their promotion to League One in the greatest day in the club’s history.
https://fatbearssportingdiaries.blogspot.com/2024/05/crawley-town-2-0-crewe-alexandra-att.html
Unfortunately, Crawley’s US owners allowed the core of the promotion winning squad to leave the club during the summer, leaving manager Scott Lindsay to rebuild a new squad for the second season running.
Crawley This Season
Lindsay’s hastily assembled squad of promising non-league wannabees, cast offs and players rehabilitating from injury started the season unexpectedly well, with a 2-1 home win over Blackpool and a 1-0 victory at Cambridge United, as well as a 4-2 success over Swindon in the League Cup, which only served to emphasize his growing reputation as a coach.
A penalty shootout win over Brighton Under 21s in the EFL trophy followed and although the first defeat of the season occurred at Wigan in the next game, supporters were still encouraged as they felt it was the best Crawley had played all season, and the 0-1 loss was against the run of play.
The exit from the League Cup against a strong Brighton XI was also encouraging, as Albion unusually had significantly less of the possession and Crawley regularly created and missed chances, whereas Albion’s Simon Adringa and Julio Enciso clinically took theirs. Two goals in the closing couple of minutes made it a flattering 0-4 scoreline to the Seagulls.
Crawley slumped to a disappointed 0-3 home loss to Barnsley in their next match but bounced back to take a 1-1 home draw from highly rated Stockport County. However, things went downhill from there with an unfortunate 1-2 loss at Wrexham, after which Lindsay opted to leave Crawley to take up an offer to become manager of MK Dons.
Ben Gladwin was appointed temporary coach, but Crawley slid to insipid losses to Bolton ( H 0-2 ) and Mansfield ( H 0-2 ). Gladwin left his role to join Lindsay at MK Dons and Crawley appointed Gateshead coach Rob Elliot as their new manager.
The initial results were not promising as Crawley lost at Wycombe ( 0-1 ), at home to Wimbledon in the EFL Trophy ( 3-4 ), and at home to Shrewsbury ( 3-5 ). Despite totally outplaying Reading, some remarkable misses and dreadful defending somehow ended in a 1-4 away defeat, but lessons seemed to have been learned as the defence suddenly looked much stronger, and high riding Lincoln City were vanquished after second half goals from Will Swan, Ronan Darcy and Rushain Hepburn-Murphy.
Hopes that the performance against Lincoln would mark a turnaround in results were dashed as The Red Devils slumped to 0-3 defeat at Northampton last Saturday.
That result left Crawley with a 3-1-9 record to leave them in 22nd place in the League One table, and with just four points from their last 11 league matches.
Crawley Squad
Of the 15 players that featured in the Wembley Play-off final only Jay Williams, Jeremy Kelly, Ronan Darcy, Jack Roles, Ade Adeyemo and Dion Conroy are still with the club, but Conroy has not played all season due to injury.
Four players were sold for undisclosed fees, striker Danilio Orsi joined Burton Albion, playmaker Liam Kelly went to MK Dons, attacking midfielder Klaidi Lolos signed for Bolton Wanderers and keeper Corey Addai is now with Stockport County.
The rest all left at the end of the expiry of their contracts or loans and opted to stay in League Two or lower rather than face the challenge of the step up to League One. Defenders Will Wright and Laurence Maguire joined Swindon and MK Dons respectively, wing-backs Kellan Gordon and Nick Tsaroulla signed for Notts County, and winger Adam Campbell returned to the north-east to join Hartlepool. Several fringe players also left the club.
In their place 17 new players were signed plus three joined on loan. Those that have been playing regularly include ex-Hibernian keeper JoJo Wollacott ( 11 caps for Ghana ), defender Josh Flint joined from Dutch side Volendam, right back Toby Mullarkey joined from Grimsby, centre-half Charlie Barker came from Wealdstone, midfielder Max Anderson played for Dundee last season, an undisclosed fee was paid to Mansfield for forward Will Swan, and pacy forward Rushian Hepburn-Murphy was previously with Swindon.
Guinea Bissau winger Junior Quitirna was previously with Fleetwood Town and was the top scorer with four goals but was missing today through injury, and countryman Patutche Camara ( 4 caps ) rejoined Crawley after being released by Ipswich.
Nigerian defender Benjamin Tanimu ( 3 caps ) was bought from Tanzanian side Singida All Stars, with rumours on the internet suggesting the fee was over $500K ! Tanimu though, has since made only two brief substitute appearances.
Crawley have a track record of signing injured forwards. Tola Showunmi arrived from the US in August but has only made two appearances from the bench, and highly rated ex-Arsenal youngster Tyreece John-Jules will be out for a few more weeks. He is the nephew of actor Danny John-Jules, who played Cat in Red Dwarf and Dwayne Myers in Death In Paradise.
The three loanees were Hertha Berlin defensive midfielder Bradley Ibrahim, Southampton youngster Cameron Bragg, and Chelsea’s Welsh Under 21 keeper Eddie Beech. Unfortunately, Beech is out injured.
Watching Maidenhead
Maidenhead have appeared three times in these diaries, with last season’s home and away matches against Oxford City in the National League being the most recent.
https://fatbearssportingdiaries.blogspot.com/2023/12/oxford-city-1-4-maidenhead-united-att.html
https://fatbearssportingdiaries.blogspot.com/2023/08/maidenhead-united-0-0-oxford-city-att.html
Prior to that a 0-1 home loss to Dagenham & Redbridge from 2019 was featured.
Maidenhead United Background
Maidenhead United were founded in 1870 and played in the first ever FA Cup competition in 1871, and reached the quarter finals on three occasions in the 1870s. Their York Road stadium is acknowledged as being the oldest stadium to have continually hosted football matches by the same club, with Maidenhead playing there since 1871. The ground now has a capacity of 4,000.
The Magpies won National League South in 2016/17 to win promotion to the National League where they have stayed ever since. Last season they finished in 14th place and their highest placing was 12th in 2017/18.
Ex West Ham and England midfielder Alan Devonshire ( 8 caps ) has been in charge since 2015. Devonshire was also the manager between 1996 to 2003 before taking over at Hampton and Richmond Borough.
Maidenhead This Season
Maidenhead were currently in 19th place in the National League with a 4-4-8 record. Their start of the season was awful with just one win ( Barnet H 3-1 ) and two draws in the opening ten matches. They then won three on trot, beating Ebbsfleet United ( H 2-1 ), Boston United ( A 2-1 ) and Southend United ( A 2-0 ) and then recorded two more draws before slipping to a 1-3 loss in their most recent game, at Yeovil. Ex-Newport County, Carlisle, Gillingham and Leyton Orient striker Tristan Abrahams was their top scorer in the league with four goals, along with ex-Farnborough centre-back Kevin Lokko.
Maidenhead needed a replay to overcome step 3 Taunton Town in the 4th Qualifying Round of the FA Cup, winning 3-0 at home after a 1-1 draw in Somerset.
Maidenhead’s average attendance in the league this season was 1,249.
Maidenhead Squad
Four of the team that played in the 4-1 win at Oxford City last December have left the club. Winger Ashley Nathaniel-George joined York City, defender Nico Asare is now with Harrogate, midfielder Sam Beckwith signed for Rochdale and Lewis Kinsella retired.
Their replacements include defender Miles Welch-Hayes, who is on loan from Livingston, left-back Thierry Latty-Fairweather on loan from York City, midfielder James Golding on loan from Oxford United, and ex-Crawley and Guyana international midfielder Nathan Ferguson ( 8 caps ) signed from Wealdstone.
Players with experience of playing in the Football League include ex-Wycombe centre-back Will de Havilland, ex-Newport, Southend, Forest Green Rovers & Colchester striker Shawn McCoulsky, ex-Southend, Peterborough and Cheltenham Irish midfielder Kane Ferdinand, ex-Swindon & Ayr United midfielder Jayden Mitchell-Lawson, and ex-Sutton & Carlisle forward Tobi Sho-Silva.
Matchday Information
Tickets for the match were £20 for adults, £15 for concessions ( over 65s, students and unemployed ), £10 for those between the age of 17 to 22 and £5 for the under 17s. Matchday hospitality was £50 and a pint of Cruz Campo was £5.
The journey from Crawley to Maidenhead is 55 miles and should take just over an hour via the M23, M25 and M4. From Fatbear Towers the journey is 26 miles and takes 35 minutes.
Programmes were not on sale on the day of the game. An online programme was published but anyone wanting to have a paper programme had to order at least three days before the game and would have it posted to their home address. The cost including postage was £5, but it didn’t arrive before the game. ( Edit : It arrived on the following Tuesday ! )
Bet365 surprisingly made Crawley 9/10 favourites, with Maidenhead 13/5 and the draw at 14/5.
The weather at the 15.00 kick-off time was grey, cloudy and dry, and 15 degrees.
Maidenhead were unchanged from the side that started at Yeovil but Crawley made eight changes, with only Wollacott, Mullarkey and Kelly retaining their places.
Maidenhead were playing in their traditional black and white stripes, with black shorts and red socks. Crawley were in all red.
Match Report
With barely a minute on the clock Maidenhead had a great chance to take the lead. A long ball caught Tanimu out of position enabling Barratt to run in behind him, but with just the keeper to beat the left-footed shot was drilled into the side netting.
Hopes that this might lead to an open an exciting game were quickly extinguished as very little of interest was to happen in the rest of the first half.
Barratt had another attempt on goal but his optimistic effort from inside his own half was going gently wide before Wollacott claimed the ball. Maidenhead won a few corners and a couple of free kicks in promising positions, but the much-maligned Crawley defence comfortably cleared all balls launched into their area and Wollacott claimed the in-swinging corners.
For Crawley, Hepburn-Murphy made a couple of lively runs down the right but without any end product. Hepburn-Murphy and Camara combined well on the right but when the ball was played across the penalty area, Camara completely missed his kick, and the chance was gone.
Hepburn-Murphy saw a low cross deflected off for a corner. Bragg’s delivery was headed away by Ferguson and when Crawley reworked possession, Mullarkey’s header was going wide, but keeper Ross carried it over the line for another corner.
Crawley had a good spell in the middle third of the first half and were playing the ball around nicely but without looking threatening. Kelly played a short corner towards Bragg but the Southampton loanee slipped and a goal kick was the outcome. A through pass from Roles was overhit and keeper Ross gathered ahead of Hepburn-Murphy. The final “action” of the first half saw Barratt’s corner caught by Wollacott.
As the players headed for the half-time oranges, there had not been a single shot on target, and it was suggested to save time, perhaps they should go straight to the penalty shoot-out.
However, Maidenhead again started the half brightly and after some good trickery from Smith, Barratt’s shot was blocked by Tanimu. At the other end, Holohan went on a good run but after finding Bragg, the long range shot was going well wide but was caught anyway by Ross.
Showunmi won a corner off Lokko for Crawley and Roles then won another, but both were dealt with by The Magpies defence.
In the 54th minute a long throw from Barratt was headed back to him, and his follow up chip needed to be punched away by Wollacott. After a scramble in the Crawley area, Smith’s fierce drive was bravely blocked by Mullarkey.
Three minutes later Roles robbed Lokko of possession and ran clear into the Maidenhead area, but Ross produced a great one handed save to push the shot over the bar. It was the best chance of the match to date
Roles and Adeyemo combined to win a corner for The Reds, which Ross claimed under pressure from Showunmi.
Crawley’s defence then gave the ball away allowing Smith to run inside the Crawley box, but the Maidenhead midfielder went to ground, only for the referee to award a goal kick.
Crawley’s defence were at fault again soon after. Mukena dwelt in possession enabling Smith to push the ball away from him to McCoulsky, who set off on a weaving run, and then hammered the ball into the roof of the net from just inside the area. Wollacott had no chance of stopping it. 1-0 with 64 minutes played and “One-Nil to the part-timers” rang around the ground !
Crawley looked to immediately hit back but after good work by Hepburn-Murphy down the left, Roles saw a shot blocked. Adeyemo then teed up Camara, but the shot from the edge of the area went a couple of yards wide.
However, in the 68th minute Wollacott stayed on his line rather than coming to gather a long ball, leaving Tanimu instead to deal with the danger, and under pressure from Smith, the Nigerian conceded a corner. Smith took a short corner and received the ball back. He was able to get to the byline and his low ball was bravely saved by Wollacott at his near post. However, the keeper took a knock in the process and after a lengthy delay had to leave the field to be replaced by Jasper Sheik, who was making his debut for Crawley. Wollacott looked concussed as he walked past us on his way to the dressing rooms.
When Maidenhead won a corner shortly after Sheik entered the fray, they surrounded the young keeper with six players to intimidate him, so Crawley then following suit with the inevitable argy-bargy, forcing the referee to restore the peace. As soon as the corner was struck the referee predictably blew for a foul on the keeper !
Sheik would have boosted his confidence with a low save to keep out a free kick from Ferguson, only to undo the good work with some confusion with Ibrahim in dealing with a hopeful ball into the area, but Ibrahim recovered to clear before McCoulsky could take advantage.
With seven minutes remaining, Smith went on another good run on the left and found McCoulsky with his pull back. The striker opted to side foot from 8 yards and Sheik made a potentially match saving save to push the ball away diving to his left.
With the clock ticking De Havilland did well to stop Roles getting onto a through ball and then a mass melee ensured after a foul by Ibrahim on Ferguson. Both players were shown the first yellow cards of the game in the 91st minute.
Eight minutes of added time were announced. The impressive Smith made another great run down the left and his cross was met by the flying Pettit, but the header went over the bar.
At the other end Welch-Hayes stopped Adeyemo at the expense of a corner, and when the ball was delivered into the Maidenhead area, it just wouldn’t fall for Ibrahim to get a shot away, and the Maidenhead defence were able to crowd him out and clear.
Crawley were finally starting to ramp up the pressure, but despite twisting one way and turning another, Roles’ shot from the edge of the area was blocked.
Ibrahim then did well to work the ball to Holohan on the right wing, but the cross was poor and should have been dealt with by Golding. However, the Oxford United loanee made a hash of controlling the ball, Forster took the ball off him and laid back to Swan, whose first-time close-range shot was blocked on the line, perhaps by Showunmi. However, Mullarkey reacted the quickest to prod the ball over the line from about four yards. 1-1 after 97 minutes.
The game wasn’t over yet, and Showunmi set off on a dangerous run from the half-way line only for Latty-Fairweather to haul him down and take a yellow card for the team. The free kick from Roles bounced across the goalmouth and off for a goal kick with no Crawley attacker able to get on the end of it. A minute later, Showumni was chopped down by De Havilland for another yellow card. Crawley though were unable to grab a winner, and the game went into extra time after Crawley’s late equaliser.
The old cliché of the fitness of the full-timers could make the difference was trotted out as the additional 30 minutes commenced, and Crawley dominated the first extra 15 minutes.
De Havilland tripped Hepburn-Murphy and was perhaps fortunate to avoid a second yellow card. Roles and Hepburn-Murphy both enthusiastically shot well wide when they would have been better off trying to find a better placed team-mate, and then after good persistence from Roles to get into the Maidenhead area, Hepburn-Murphy again wasted the position by shooting wildly rather than cross.
Adeyemo showed good skill then crossed from the left and Holohan bundled the ball into the net, but a clear foul on the goalkeeper had been committed and Maidenhead were awarded a free-kick. Swan made a good run but after finding Adeyemo, the cross was easily caught by keeper Ross.
The only attack for the home side saw Smith deliver a dangerous cross, but Abrahams couldn’t get to it, and Ibrahim cleared over his own bar.
After spending most of the first period of extra time hanging on, Maidenhead had a second wind and took the game to their higher ranked visitors. Ferguson shot over from the edge of the D, a neat flick from Abrahams could have put Carvalho clear but the substitute slipped, then a Ferguson free kick was punched away by Sheik under pressure, and when Smith reworked to Carvalho the shot was blocked for a corner. The pressure on the Crawley defence was relieved when a wild lunge from Abraham made contact with the Crawley keeper, but no card was dished out.
A card was produced shortly after though when Pettit made a late tackle on Ibrahim, but the only instance of cramp followed, but it was Crawley’s Holohan who went down and had to be replaced. So much for the full-timers being fitter !
With penalties looming on the horizon, Mullarkey launched a long ball out of defence where Swan won a header on the edge of the Maidenhead area, which found Showunmi. The centre forward took a touch, held off De Havilland, and then turned to shot home from the edge of the area into the bottom corner for a dramatic winner, and his first goal for Crawley. 1-2 after 116 minutes.
Despite four minutes of further injury time being added, Crawley comfortably saw out the end of the game to progress to the second round
Frankly, it wasn’t a great game, and it took a long time to warm up and generate any excitement. Maidenhead will undoubtedly consider this to be a harsh defeat, and there didn’t look to be two divisions between the two sides.
Highlights : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WqcaTx3IXaY
Link to Online Programme : https://issuu.com/maidenheadunitedfc/docs/crawley_021124_1_
Maidenhead United : Ross – Welch-Hayes, De Havilland, Lokko, Latty-Fairweather – Smith ( Sho-Silva ), Pettit, Golding ( Cochrane ), Ferguson, Barratt ( Carvalho ) – McCoulsky ( Abrahams )
Crawley Town : Wollacott ( Sheik ) – Tanimu ( Ibrahim ), Mukena, Mullarkey – Hepburn-Murphy, Camara ( Swan ), Bragg ( Forster ), Holohan ( Anderson ), Kelly ( Adeyemo ) - Roles, Showunmi
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