AN EMOTIONAL Simon Edwards heaped praise on his players this week, after they ground out a gritty 20-5 victory over Reading Abbey in truly dreadful conditions.
The Maidenhead coach said: “In my opinion, the first 40 minutes was the hardest working, gutsiest performance I have ever seen from Maidenhead.
“That was a hard, hard game, but they did a thoroughly professional job.
“We were up against a team who would die for their club, it was the worst conditions we have ever played in, and to turn round three points up was huge.”
Typically, Edwards was slightly disappointed it was not more, and criticised the referee for failing to punish Abbey for dragging down several rolling mauls close to their own line.
However, he had no excuse for what happened immediately after the break, when Abbey broke away to score a try in the corner.
He said: “What often happens is that you turn around and feel the wind in your back and you switch off.
“That's what we did and they took full advantage.
“But once that had gone, they didn't get back out of their half.
“We worked immensely hard on our defence, which was outstanding.
“In the past, these are the kind of games we might have lost, but we played well under severe pressure and we didn't crack”
Maids now have a week off to rest and recuperate ahead of a potentially tricky home tie with Chippenham in two weeks’ time.

Maidenhead’s Colts beat Cheltenham on Sunday to progress to the quarterfinals of the National Knockout Cup.
Wearing his club chief executive hat, Edwards said: “It’s fantastic, I’m very pleased for them.
“It just sums up the buzz in the club at the moment.”