Devonshire says Maidenhead's opening day defeat to Eastleigh was a 'bad day at the office'

Alan Devonshire didn’t try to sugar coat Maidenhead United’s 2-0 opening day defeat to Eastleigh, describing it as a ‘very bad day at the office’.

Optimism was reasonably high coming into the Magpies’ eighth consecutive National League campaign, but the adage that positive pre-season results count for little came to bear as the home side produced a laboured performance at York Road.

For the first 25 minutes they were at least on a par with the Spitfires and created the game’s better opportunities, with Reece Smith seeing an effort tipped over after seven minutes and Tristan Abrahams having an effort harshly chalked off for some pushing on the goalkeeper.

But two goals in the space of six minutes changed the complexion of this game entirely, and both were disappointing from a defensive point of view for Devonshire.

First, Will de Havilland sliced Jake Vokins’ hopeful ball into the box past Craig Ross – who appeared to be caught unawares – before Vokins scored the second from out on the right touchline, another searching cross that missed everybody and bounced into the back of the net.

“Yeah, first 25 minutes I thought we were okay,” said Devonshire. “We then conceded the first goal. Rossy (Craig Ross) should have done better, and we should have defended it better.

“Their second goal again comes from a mistake. After that we huffed and puffed but I was disappointed in our creativity.

“I was disappointed in our individual performances and yeah, just very very disappointed.

“The first ball in is a bad ball, but it’s been made into a good ball. Listen, mistakes happen and all that, I know that. But we’ve made two mistakes, and it’s cost us the game.”

The two goals in the 32nd and 38th minutes were a hammer blow to Maidenhead’s chances of getting a positive result from the game. But their sluggish response to the setbacks, and the way they were managed and manipulated by Eastleigh’s impressive defence, will give some cause for concern.  

“We played into their hand,” added Devonshire. “We stopped moving it wide and stopped getting crosses in.

“We went really one dimensional, trying to turn them round. It just wasn’t a very good day at the office.

“I’m not going to sugar coat it, that’s not good enough for us and we’ve got a lot of work to do. But we knew that anyway.”

Maidenhead will look to offer more of an attacking threat when they visit the ARMCO Arena to play Solihull Moors this Saturday. The team will be keen to get their first points on the board this season and retain the belief they can be a more competitive outfit this season with the squad they’ve assembled and the players they’ve managed to hold onto from last season.   

Devonshire said: “First 25 minutes were okay. I didn’t see much wrong with it (Tristan’s disallowed goal) but listen, at the end of the day, it is what it is. But it’s just very disappointing.

“It’s a tough old league. We can’t take nothing for granted. It is what it is, but we’ll go to Solihull and have a go at them next week.”