Newbury started brightly, with Nicole Beesley having a strong run down the left. She was brought down and Maidenhead conceded a free kick just outside the area. Up stepped Newbury skipper, Leanne Creese to take the free kick and she swung in a shot that had the keeper beaten, but unfortunately for Newbury it clipped the cross bar and rebounded to safety.

Maidenhead took possession and began to press forward. On 9 minutes they took advantage of some hesitation in central midfield and broke quickly, with a shot coming in from 25 yards. It sailed over the head of Chloe Hunt in the Newbury goal and into the roof of the net to give Maidenhead an early one nil lead.

Bouyed by their one goal advantage, Maidenhead really took control of the match and it was more or less one way traffic, all down-hill towards the Newbury goal. The home side had doubled their lead on 15 minutes when they capitalised on another mistake in Newbury’s midfield. Maidenhead were now attacking with pace down both flanks and were passing quickly and accurately.

In the 28th minute Newbury fell three goals behind, although play should have been pulled up for offside. It wasn’t given by the Assistant Referee and so the right winger for Maidenhead was allowed to continue, slotting home in a one on one situation.

For half an hour, Newbury had been under constant pressure, but they finally had only their second shot on goal. Creese pouncing on a poor clearance from the goalkeeper, but her long range effort was off target. This followed a switch in personnel for Newbury, with Beesley brought out onto the right flank and Creese moved inside to central midfield.

With just 7 minutes of the first half remaining, Beesley was upended in the final third, but it took two Maidenhead defenders to stop her and not fairly either. The Referee blew up for the foul, but Beesley was in some agony on the floor. There was a short stoppage whilst Beesley was moved onto a stretcher and carried from the pitch. She would play no further part in the game and Zoe Davie was introduced from the substitute’s bench. So Maidenhead were comfortably three nil ahead when the half time whistle below not long after.

After the re-start, Davie was showing signs of being a handful up front for Newbury. She looked fresh and was full of running. In the 49th minute, she had no right to win a long ball forward, but she made a nuisance of herself and put the defender under pressure. The misplaced pass was latched onto by Creese, who had run from deep and she drove forward and clear of the Maidenhead back line. She scored with a lobbed shot from 30 yards, catching the keeper off her line and sending the ball over her head and just under the cross bar.

This gave Newbury a small glimmer of hope that perhaps they could claw their way back into the game. Their hopes were dashed however in the 60th minute when Maidenhead scored their fourth of the afternoon to make it 4-1. Newbury refused to let their heads drop and just 6 minutes later they were on the score sheet again. This time it was Ellie Reed for Newbury, who benefited from further good work up front by Davie. She laid the ball off nicely for Reed to thunder in a 35 yard shot into the far top corner.

That was to be the last moment of joy for Newbury, as they began to tire in the final 20 minutes. Lorna Parr was replaced in midfield with Gemma Povey, but Maidenhead were well on top and cruising to victory. They scored two further goals in the closing stages to record a fine 6-2 win.

Match report by Sue Hewett