Frustrated Devonshire calls for 'more quality in the final third' as Magpies slip up again

It was difficult for Magpies boss Alan Devonshire to fault the effort of his players in Tuesday’s 2-1 defeat at high-flying AFC Totton, but he accepted his side weren’t quite clicking in the final third as they fell to their third straight league defeat.

United have generally played well in their last two league defeats at Dorking Wanderers and Totton, two teams who could well rival them for promotion this season, but an inability to take their chances, particularly when in the ascendancy has cost them dearly.

Having won six straight matches in the National League South from late August through to early October, the Magpies are just going through a spell when opportunities aren’t quite falling their way and, when they do, they’re failing to take them.

This was the case again at the Snows Stadium, where the visitors were in the driving seat after Josh Umerah’s 34th minute penalty cancelled out Joe Oastler’s 23rd minute finish from close range. With Totton pinned in their own half for the latter moments of the first half and most of the second half, United created several dangerous attacking moments but couldn’t apply the finishing touch.

Liam Dulson forced a save from the Totton keeper and speared another shot narrowly wide, while Asher Yearwood saw a decent opportunity snuffed out as he prepared to pull the trigger.

Then, just when it seemed their pressure would tell, the Magpies were caught up-field from their own corner and Totton broke clear to score against the run of play through Christie Ward in the 71st minute.

For Devonshire, that moment summed up how the fine margins are going against the Magpies at present. But the team are still within touch of the promotion contenders and will hope to get a fairer rub of the green in their upcoming matches, starting at home to Torquay United on Saturday.

“Yeah, it’s just not falling right for us at the minute,” said Devonshire.

“We’re lacking a bit of quality in the final third of the pitch at the minute.

“I can’t fault the effort but at the end of the day it’s disappointing and frustrating.

Yeah, it was. It’s very similar and the fine margins are just not going for us at the minute. We’ve just got to keep plugging away. I might have to change a few things, and we’ll see how we go.

“Their second goal came from our corner. They broke and they ended up scoring the winner. It’s disappointing but all we can do is keep plugging away. We’ll keep working hard. We recently had six wins on the bounce and hopefully we can get back to something like that, but it’s frustrating at the minute.”

The Magpies inability to claim victory from their last five matches in the league demonstrates the competitive nature of the division, but Devonshire and his squad will have to find a way of coming out on top in most of their remaining clashes if they’re to stay the pace with their promotion and title rivals.

“We’ve had some difficult games lately at Dorking and at Totton,” added Devonshire.

“We’ve played Chelmsford and Worthing, and we’ve now got Torquay United and Dagenham.

“They’re all hard games, but we’re at home on Saturday. We’ve got to look to win this game on Saturday.

“We’ll keep working hard and pushing and we just need to add that little bit of quality in the final third of the pitch.”

Torquay are eighth in the table but outside of the play-off places on goal difference alone. They’ve lost their last two matches to Dorking Wanderers and Hornchurch to slip out of the top seven and are back in action at Farnborough this evening (Wednesday) ahead of Saturday’s trip to York Road.

Maidenhead go into that game 12th in the table, but only three points outside of the play-off places.

Looking ahead to that test, Devonshire said: “Torquay are a massive club. It should be a good claim, let’s go and enjoy it and have a good go.

“Jordon Ragguette and Josh Umerah returned last night but we’re still missing a couple. Kane (Ferdinand) is out at the minute and Jayden Mitchell-Lawson. Apart from that everyone else is ok.”