Rhythm or rust? Magpies face key test against Enfield Town after two-week break

Interim boss Ryan Peters hopes Maidenhead United have lost none of their fluency when they return to league action following a two-week break at home to Enfield Town on Saturday (January 17).

The Magpies are putting on a ‘bring a friend for free’ initiative for the game, and Peters hopes his side will be refreshed and ready to attack opponents who currently find themselves languishing in the league’s relegation zone.

However, both he – and midfielder Matt Robinson – have concerns over the impact this break might have on the squad heading into Saturday’s fixture.

They’ve been working hard in training over the past couple of weeks to ensure they lose none of the fluency they’ve been showing since Peters and interim assistant Aaron O’Brien took over from Alan Devonshire in the dugout.

One bad result and performance against Slough Town on Boxing Day aside, Maidenhead have been in very good form, and five wins and a draw from their last seven matches have seen them creep back into play-off contention.

Robinson’s fantastic strike in the final minutes of a deserved 2-1 win at Horsham in their last outing on January 3 moved them to within a couple of points of the top seven.

However, last week’s cold snap saw their mid-week game with Ebbsfleet United called off and Saturday’s home game with Bath City was also postponed due to City’s continued progress in the FA Trophy.

Results elsewhere now leave them five points off the play-off spots in 10th space, but Peters is hopeful this break can prove positive, and even a ‘catalyst’ for improved performances and results in the coming weeks. 

“The last week has given us a chance to get some additional fitness in and work on some parts of our game that weren’t necessarily as fluent as we’d have liked them to have been against Horsham,” he said.

“But also, we’d rather not have had the break because we’d been having some good results. We also hope it’s not a reason for us not getting off to a flying start against Enfield.

“But who knows, it might be the catalyst for us to go on and compete well when we’re playing Saturday/Tuesday towards the back end of January. We hope so.

“Typically, when you’re playing matches, you find a rhythm and that rhythm can take you from game to game, especially when you’re winning. And then when you break, you break that consistency and you’re sometimes not as fluent.

“We’ll have to see which one of these turns up. Are we the team that could have used the break or the one that really didn’t need that break.”

It’s also given him and his coaching team time on the training ground to iron out some facets of their game that haven’t been perfect of late, despite the team’s good form.

“Sometimes when you go through a run like we’ve been having, it’s very easy to neglect parts of your game that haven’t been that great,” he said. “We are trying to make sure we do our best not to fall into that category.

“The boys have been working incredibly hard, one to make sure we top up our fitness levels but also to work on some of those areas that we very much need to develop. So, it’s been good to have that time on the training pitch.”

He added: “Against Slough the stage was set for us to perform and we didn’t. But typically, when we’ve lost one game in the past it’s led to three or four defeats.

“I set the boys a goal, one bad performance and one bad result doesn’t led to three or four, and they responded well in the second half at Horsham.”

In theory, Maidenhead should be primed to take advantage of an out of form Enfield side who haven’t won in six matches. Their visitors have slipped into the bottom four off the back of that run, but they did manage to steady the ship with a 1-1 draw at home to Tonbridge Angels on Saturday.

The Magpies should underestimate them at their peril, however. They’ve already shown local rivals Slough what a tricky opponent they can be away from home, drawing 1-1 with the Rebels in the league and pushing them all the way in a 3-2 FA Cup fourth qualifying round defeat.