Match report courtesy of the

Saturday 8th September 2007

MAIDENHEAD got their league season off to the perfect start with a 40-18 victory over Reading on Saturday, and in doing so showed they have learned crucial lessons from last season.

Simon Edwards admitted after the game that last year's squad might have lost Saturday's derby clash, indeed for long periods of the game it looked as though this year's squad might struggle. But the important thing was they found a way to win, and win ugly.

The game started well enough for Maids, who took the lead as early as the seventh minute when Stuart Mackay showed why his is one of the league's most feared finishers cutting past two tacklers after good work from Simon Cripps and Mark Parkhouse. But Reading came roaring back with two quick scores through the fleet-footed Duncan Mollison and Simon Dyson and went 15-7 ahead when Ben Sturge slotted a neat drop-goal after 20 minutes.

By then the visitors were in complete control up front and cutting Maidenhead's backs to ribbons out wide. But Maids found strength from a place they couldn't go last year, scoring through Mackay who burst through the line and beat two men to score a stunning try as Maids went in at 12-15 down.

Maids started the second half as if injected with something faintly illegal shocking Reading with their physicality up front and the intensity of their running out wide. It led to a series of flashpoints that only served to stoke Maids¹ fire. A typical barnstorming run from Cripps saw him score on 50 minutes, Mackay added the conversion to give Maids a 19-15 lead.

Then came the turning point of the game, as the Maids' pack resisted three attempted pushovers from five metre scrum, only conceding a three point penalty to make it 19-18 to Maids. From that point on Maids never looked like losing, they stepped up a gear and destroyed a Reading side that knew they were second-best. Last year's top try scorer Max Willcocks scored after an hour, minutes after he was controversially denied another score for placing a foot in touch.

Mackay converted to make it 26-18 and further tries from the elusive Joe Plamus and a Willcocks saw Maids run out comfortable winners. With a new aggression and physicality and the pack and a renewed sense of belief Maids look ready to mount a really serious assault on promotion this season. Time will tell if they can live up to what was a promising start.

Maidenhead: Plamus, MacKay, Cripps, Willcocks, Swadling, Ruddick, Edwards, Morandi, Craig, Blackwell, Babich, Mueller, Gallina, Parkhouse, Riley. Subs: MacDonald, Barber, Lowden.