Monday 1st January 2007
Southern League Premier Division
Hemel Town 1  Maidenhead United 0

Following three excellent performances, Hemel were about due an off 
day, and so it was to prove as they battled to an important, if somewhat 
dull win against visitors Maidenhead.
Neither side could muster an effort on goal for the first ten minutes 
as they gave the ball away to each other, and when a shot did finally 
come, Hemel’s Steve Sinclair blasted his eighteen yard strike well over 
visiting keeper Delroy Preddie’s bar.
Maidenhead for their part had the lion’s share of possession as the 
half wore on, but simply couldn’t turn their better passing into any 
concrete openings. On twenty two minutes Steve McNamara tried his luck from 
long range following a poor cross field pass from Shaun Byrne that was 
easily intercepted, and three minutes later Ryan Parsons’ cross into 
the box was helped back into the middle by Ryan Johnson, but striker Lee 
Newman glanced his shot well wide across keeper Steve Smith far post.
Smith was then on hand to easily hold a long range shot from ex-Tudor 
David Fotheringham on the half hour, and shortly afterwards 
Fotheringham’s cross eluded everyone in the middle of the home box to miss wide of 
the far post by inches. But generally the half wound on with both sides 
seemingly unable to get out of first gear.
The Tudors perhaps should have taken the lead on thirty five minutes, 
when Chris Herron sent Anthony Thomas into the box with only Preddie to 
beat, but under pressure from defender Dominic Sterling, Thomas weakly 
passed the ball straight into Preddie’s grasp.
The best move of the half came with six minutes left. Tudor skipper 
Paul Edgeworth snatched a quick cross into the edge of the area, where 
Byrne hit a spinning volley that Preddie caught back-peddling under his 
bar. But despite the small flurry of activity that followed this move, 
the rest of the half finished virtually without incident.
“What the game desperately needs is a goal” said the fans at the break, 
and they didn’t have to wait long for it as Hemel stole the lead two 
minutes into the second half.
Herron’s corner kick drew everyone towards the near corner of the six 
yard box, including keeper Preddie. But the flight of the ball fooled 
everyone as it sailed over half a dozen players, to fall nicely onto the 
head of Edgeworth four yards out, and with an open goal in front of 
him.
Five minutes later Sinclair shot across goal just wide from eighteen 
yards as he finished off a fine move involving Charlie Mapes and Gary 
Sippetts, and on sixty five minutes, Preddie pulled off a good flying save 
to his right, to deny Mapes’s long range shot following some good play 
from Thomas. 
But Hemel now went back to playing the same way they had in the first 
half, and the visitors began to get more of the ball again - although 
once more too little avail.
With twenty minutes left Sippetts was put through by Mapes with only 
Preddie in the way again, but the striker allowed the keeper to close him 
down on the edge of the box & rob him without a shot being fired. The 
consternation at this of the home fans (who were now getting a bit edgy 
about the way Hemel were playing, accompanied by the slim margin of 
their sides lead) was considerable, as Hemel now continued to waste what 
few opportunities came their way.
At the other end, with Maidenhead now driving forward as Hemel for the 
most part sat back deep in midfield, first Newman and then Abdul Osman 
had shots blocked on the edge of the home area, and on eighty minutes 
Osman had his near post header held fairly comfortably by Smith, when he 
really should have found the back of the net.
Preddie was then fortunate to get away with a blatant foul outside his 
area on Sinclair, as the keeper delayed clearing a routine back-pass & 
the winger robbed him of the ball, but both the referee (who was behind 
play) and his linesman decided that it wasn’t a foul, much to the 
incredulity and anger of the home fans. 
With seven minutes left of normal time, Sippetts once more had a golden 
opportunity to end the match as a contest - but screwed his shot from 
ten yards well wide after being put behind defender Mark Nesbit with a 
lovely pass from Sinclair, & the last chance for Hemel to score came in 
injury time, when Edgeworth nearly bagged a second for himself - once 
more reaching Herron’s corner kick at the far post, but this time 
knocking his header wide of the mark.
As the match wound to a close however, and with the visitors now 
pressurising an increasingly panicky home defence, referee Mr G. Muse of 
Luton somehow found an incredible ten minutes of injury time, and most home 
fans finished the match with hoarse throats, as they nervously 
questioned his timekeeping abilities. But in the end Maidenhead never came 
close to denying the Tudors the win, and Hemel can now enter the New Year 
in very high spirits having taken ten points from a possible twelve over 
the festive break. 

Hemel Town:
Steve Smith, Steve Sinclair, Chris Wild, Rob Gould, Yiadom Yeboah, 
Shaun Byrne (Fabio Valenti), Charlie Mapes, Chris Herron, Gary Sippetts 
(John Lawford), Anthony Thomas, Paul Edgeworth.
Subs (Not Used): Abdul Yoki, Jamie Jackson & Alex McCarthy.

Maidenhead United:
Delroy Preddie, Ashley Smith, Ryan Parsons, Mark Nesbit, Dominic 
Sterling, Abdul Osman (Stephen Hughes), David Fotheringham (Darti Brown), 
Ryan Johnson, Errol Telemaque, Lee Newman (Yashwa Romeo), Steve McNamara.
Subs (Not Used): Lewis Driver & Francisco Ramos.