As the first half wore on, Maidenhead started to see more of the ball, but Newbury were defending as if their lives depended upon it. Corner after corner was cleared. Newbury’s defence and midfield units were working so hard together, making it almost impossible for the visiting side to break through. And yet, when they did carve out an opening, they came up against a goalkeeper in totally inspirational form – Newbury’s number one, Chloe Hunt. She made four huge saves during the first half, three of these from one on one opportunities after a Maidenhead United player was played through on goal. Hunt pulled off a last ditch save on each occasion, to keep the scores tied at nil, nil. She also made an outstanding full length save to palm a thunderbolt shot onto the post to her right and away to safety.

The contest was still goal-less as the half time whistle blew and the home side were certainly the happiest. Maidenhead came out for the second period desperate to find a way of unlocking a resolute Newbury defence, but they only found more and more frustration. Newbury were though conceding more fouls in the final third, but Maidenhead were unable to capitalise from any free kicks. One such set piece gave Hunt an opportunity once more to produce an outstanding fingertip save, pushing the ball over the cross bar for a Maidenhead corner.

Finally, the constant Maidenhead United pressure told, with Newbury somewhat unlucky to concede a penalty just after the hour mark. With goalkeeper Hunt playing so well, you almost expected her to pull off another unbelievable save, but it was a coolly taken penalty that unfortunately couldn’t be kept out and the deadlock was broken, with Maidenhead taking the lead. Newbury refused to roll over or cave in however and there remained just the single goal separating the two teams until as late as the 87th minute. Maidenhead swung in a corner just inside the six yard box, which Newbury couldn’t clear and a Maidenhead player connected with their head to send the ball crashing into the roof of the net. As they scored the second goal of the game to take a two nil lead, they also knew that they would be taking all three points with them back down the M4 to Maidenhead.

Although the match had ended in defeat for Newbury, there were far more positives than negatives to take, with excellent organisation, team shape and discipline, allied to an indomitable fighting spirit. If Newbury can produce the same level of performance again in their remaining fixtures, then they will surely move up the Southern Region Premier Division table.