Monarchs lose at home to Milton Keynes

On a day when England faced the All Blacks, Maidenhead drew Portsmouth in the FA cup first round the Monarchs had the daunting task of Milton Keynes.

With rain all day the pitch was fast and the Monarchs were slow to start. Milton Keynes were very organised and had a number of skillful players in the front line and we were soon two down in the first half. We then rallied with Tim up front taking the ball at the top of the D and running with a defender on him hit the shot into the left hand corner, as good a goal as I have seen. From here we had more energy and a few through balls to Clint and Tim were close to being picked up but we were unable to convert going into half time 2 1 down.

Half time was dominated by the colour of the ball we played with in an odd quirk with the flood lights on Clint is unable to see a white ball and what was even more unusual is it transpired Milton Keynes Keeper was unable to see orange - after a quick well hearted debate the white ball stayed and the second half was underway.

Milton Keynes dominated the second half and after some unrelenting pressure scored a third. We subsequently nicked a second goal ourselves and with the match at 3 2 we sensed a bit of an upset. Milton Keynes to their credit continued to press well as a team and kept to their task scoring two very good goals to secure the win.

Cory was everywhere and toward the end fired a number of effective aerials to get the ball away at the sixteens a sign of the oppositions effectiveness. There was good defending at the back from Duncan, Randy Colin and Nick whom stuck to the task all game and the mid field through Cory, Colin, Viren, JC and Richard did mount a number of attacks. The man of the match by a distance though was Zac in goal with a really solid performance a very active game and saved everything that was savable.

Overall on reflection a fair result with us sharing the same feelings as the England rugby and Maidenhead football team.

Match Report: Gavin Slater
Man of the Match: Zachary Gallagher