Maidenhead really need to win to keep heads above the water line

Will Hibberdine. Photo: Paul Morgan

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Having beaten Hammersmith & Fulham but lost to Camberley either side of the Christmas and new year break, David Mobbs-Smith knows his side really must go to Wimbledon and win on Saturday if they’re to keep their noses out of the bottom two ahead of what looks a relatively tough run in.

Maids are battling to stay out of the bottom two against rivals Wimbledon, Camberley and Hammersmith & Fulham and are currently level on 23 points with Wimbledon and Camberley ahead of this weekend’s trip to South West London.

This will be their last opportunity to knock back one of their direct rivals, and they really need to grasp it with both hands as their opponents have more favourable run ins on paper.

“Whether that’s enough to stay up, we don’t know, but it would be a good return. And whether that happens is another story, but that’s how we’ve got to look at it, and they’re probably looking at it in a very similar manner.

“Hammersmith missed their kick to beat us on the final play whereas Camberley got their kick to beat us. That’s how close it was.

“I’m expecting the Wimbledon match to be very similar. Huge tension all day long. Defibrillators on the side of the pitch for both sets of coaching staff and it could go right down to the end. Some of these matches are settled by a refereeing decision, sometimes by a player error and it’s that close. This game could be like that.”

Wimbledon head into Saturday’s clash in slightly better form than Maids, having picked up some useful wins and bonus points against top sides in the division. Maids don’t have those results to fall back on, but they are still above Wimbledon in the table on points difference and have everything to play for in the final seven matches this season.

Maids’ head coach added that Saturday’s game could be decided by one player, one decision by the referee, or even the weather. However, the game is decided on Saturday, the pressure is ramping up for both teams.

“You look at Wimbledon’s recent form, they’ve done ok,” he said.

“They clearly performed at Farnham but got nothing from the game. Then likewise, they played against Worthing and beat them at home, that’s a fantastic result. We’re under no illusion what the challenge is. This is a side who won their last home game 38-31.

“We know what’s waiting for us and they also came close against London Scottish. These are sides high up the league they’ve performed well against. It is a very tough game and before that they played Tunbridge Wells and lost, but they got two bonus points in that game. It’s going to be a very tough game for us.

“When you’re down at the bottom, and fighting in matches, scrums can depend on one person.

“One player for Jersey dominated our player and the issue was that it was in the scrum. When one player is dominating another in the scrum, you get penalties and that could be a major factor in the game, especially with the weather being how it’s been.

He added: “It’s a difficult fixture for us, but it will be for them as well. They’ll know at home this is a must win for them. I suppose if you’re the home team you’d probably feel more under pressure. But because of the situation the pressure is probably equal.

“Their last game is at Jersey, so they very likely must do their business before the final game.”