Building blocks in place as Maidenhead United Women earn first point of the season

Maidenhead’s Katie Akerman. Photo: Darren Woolley

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Maidenhead United Women picked up their first point of the new FA Women’s National League Division 1 South West campaign against Keynsham on Sunday, but the Magpies might have felt they deserved a bit more from the game after creating a series of good chances in the first half.

Having come unstuck in their opening fixture at Swindon Town Women, falling behind to a controversial goal before half-time before conceding two more late on in a 4-1 defeat, United were keen to get a positive result on the board in the league under new manager Dave Kitson and assistant boss Sean Hillier.

This they did, but there was a general sense United might have pocketed all three had they taken the chances which fell to them before the interval.

Having hit the woodwork in the first half and seen a few other shots either saved by the Keynsham keeper or put just over the bar, Maidenhead took the lead five minutes before the interval when Macey Walters raced onto a defence splitting pass and thumped the ball home via the underside of the crossbar.

Had they held that lead through to the interval it would have been no less than they deserved, however, they switched off immediately after scoring and allowed Brooke Stirrup to run through and steer a low shot past Kody Cornish.

Keynsham also had their chances though and Cornish had to be at her best early in the game to push a firmly struck shot from Amelie Collins around the post.

The chances mounted up for the Magpies after that though, with captain Simone O’Brien seeing a goal bound effort saved at point blank range, while Katie Akerman’s well-struck free kick from long range bounced back off the crossbar.

Sarah Sparrow for United and Abi Todd for the visitors exchanged off target efforts in quick succession and the industrious Aaliyah Charles was denied by K’s ‘keeper Chloe Jones after being put through on goal.

Cornish was out quickly to smother the threat of Stirrup before both goals were scored within the space of two minutes late in the half.

Akerman was the key to creating the chance for Walters in the 40th minute and she barely hesitated as she lashed a shot into the roof of the net.

Unfortunately, Stirrup levelled matters within seconds, keeping her composure to pass the ball beyond Cornish and into the far corner of the net after the Magpies’ defence had switch off temporarily.

The game continued to ebb and flow after the interval, but now Keynsham had the better of the chances.

K’s captain Ciera Lundy saw her effort saved by Cornish and the Magpies ‘keeper then denied the outstanding Liz Fogarty whose header seemed to be goal-bound.

Harper tested Jones from range before Helena Costo shot across the face of goal.

A last-ditch challenge by Katie Vince stopped an almost certain Keynsham goal late on and United held on for a deserved draw.

The result means they’ve a point from two matches, having also fallen to a narrow 1-0 home defeat against Actonians in their first FAWNL Cup group-stage clash on Wednesday last week.

They sit 11th in the table.

United now move on to another home game with Worthing on Sunday (August 31). United had two disappointing results against Worthing last season and Akerman told Neil Maskell in a post-match interview that she and her teammates are keen to settle that score.

She said: “I think it’s a bit of a frustrating result for us today. We wanted three points, and we grafted a lot, and we caused our own mistakes at times. But we’re growing as a team and the chances are there; they’re being created so we can’t complain too much.

“As a group we’re building. Inside football, outside of football, we all get along. There are no separate groups, and I think that’s really nice, and you can see that in the game as well.”

She added: “Going off last season, I think there’s a lot of motivation to do better than what we did last season. In Sean (Hillier) and Dave (Kitson) we have a lot of respect for. They are putting in the work for us to go and beat teams and get points, and I think we’re showing that. We’re putting in the hard work in training and in games, we just need that last little bit and then we’re there.

“The training is really good. It’s tough, they’re putting us through our paces, there’s a lot of fitness and running but we can’t complain. It’s stuff that we’ve needed to do for a couple of seasons. Now we’re doing it and we’re loving it. Everyone is coming to training with a smile on their faces so we can’t complain.”