Match report courtesy of the

Saturday 22nd September 2007

MAIDS' nightmare start to the season continued on Saturday as they crashed to a heartbreaking one-point defeat at the hands of Berkshire rivals Bracknell.

The 28-29 defeat was Maids' second consecutive loss and a season that was meant to give coach Simon Edwards a dream send-off is fast becoming a nightmare.

From the kick-off there were signs it was not Maids' day and Bracknell took full advantage. For a start they were without five of their star names including Mark Mueller, Max Willcocks and Jonny Hammond and to compound that they couldn't buy an ounce of luck. Bracknell were always going to be a tough test and the league leaders signalled their intentions early on, captain Ben Nowak put them ahead with a penalty after Maids had strayed offside.

But Maids showed glimpses of their dazzling best with Simon Cripps and Stuart Mackay both stretching the Bracknell defence in the early stages. Maids had the chance to level the scores after 11 minutes, but Mackay dragged a kickable penalty wide of the posts.

That miss was forgotten four minutes later when Maids snatched the lead with a try. Mark Ruddick opted to push a penalty deep into Bracknell territory and from the resulting line-out Will Lowden crashed over. Maids missed a straight forward conversion but at the time it didn't seem to matter - they were 5-3 ahead. But Bracknell started to flex their impressive forward muscle as the half wore on, and scored twice deep into first half stoppage time, scores that swung the game in their favour.

First flying winger Nick Shears sliced through the Maids defence to touch down and then hooker Matt Surman crashed over. Nowak converted and Maids were 15-5 behind at the interval. Some stern words at half-time appeared to have had the desired effect when four minutes into the second half Maids scored. It was new signing Roko Babic who battered his way across the line. Substitute Simon Swadling missed the conversion, but it was forgotten as Babic scored again four minutes later to level the scores at 15-15.

Maids should have killed the game off but Bracknell battled their way back to regain control and regained the lead when Kyle Lovell appeared out wide to finish a slick move in the corner. But Swadling responded with a penalty for Maids to make it 18-22 and things got better for Maids when Lowden scored his second of the game to give Maids a 25-22 lead with 10 minutes remaining.

Another Swadling penalty put Maids 27-22 ahead but Bracknell hadn't given up hope. A well-rehearsed catch and drive from a lineout saw Bracknell crash over the line deep into stoppage time and Nowak added the crucial conversion to give the visitors a one point advantage.

Maids did have a chance to win the game in their sixth minute of injury time but Swadling¹s 40- metre penalty dropped just short.

Maidenhead RFC:
Plamus, Lowden, Cripps, Andrew, Mackay, Ruddick, Edwards, A Riley, Craig, Balckwell, Babic, Joe Thomas, Gallina, Parkhouse, G Riley. Subs used: Kertesz, Swadling, Morandi