Maidenhead still have great belief ahead of 'must win' clash at Worthing

Drew Prince. Photo: Paul Morgan

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David Mobbs-Smith will be hoping fortune favours the brave when Maidenhead travel to Worthing on Saturday chasing a win which might yet launch their Regional 1 South Central survival bid.

The Maids head coach admits his side are in a ‘tight spot’ after last week’s 34-25 home defeat to London Scottish Lions, but they’re not the only ones, with Camberley and bottom of the table Hammersmith & Fulham similarly in the mire.

Wimbledon are now five points above Maids with five matches to play and Mobbs-Smith believes they may just have done enough to avoid finishing in the automatic relegation spots, but it’s a battle which could yet go down to the wire in the final weeks of the season.

Maids’ last match at home to Scottish neatly summed up their frustrating season. They played so well for large parts of the match and had a sizeable 22-8 advantage early in the second half, before Scottish battled back, seizing upon Maids’ ill-discipline and grasping back momentum to take the game 34-25. Having been the better side for more than half the match, Maidenhead once again came away without a point, leaving them second from bottom - two points from the relative safety of a relegation play-off space with five tough-looking matches to go.

Reflecting on another agonising defeat - one of many they’ve suffered this season - Mobbs-Smith said: “Yep, it’s the summary our season that match. We were playing the second-best team in the league, and it sums up where we are.

“We’re there, but not quite there. That’s as good as a performance as you could hope for, and we haven’t put in as many of those this season.

“It was a concise version of how, just at the wrong time, fortune has deserted us. Our number eight goes off with cramp, we then get a yellow card, and we get nothing out of the game. We’ve had so many key injuries.

“At 22-8 and even at 25-15 it was still in our hands to try and do something. We were under pressure.”

Scottish turned to their bench at half-time, bringing on the experienced fly half Aaron McLelland, and his quality helped turn the game in their favour, providing the breaks and assists for two of their second half tries.

He hadn’t played since before Christmas due to injury, but his influence was notable in the second half as Scottish took control.

“They have a very good fly half, who has come back from injury,” said Mobbs-Smith. “He hasn’t played since before Christmas. They brought him in case they got into trouble, and they got into trouble. He’s a New Zealander. He’s a lovely player and he just had those little moments in the game that gave them their scoring opportunities. And they took them.

“He made that difference. He gave them the impetus they needed to click in the right places. He made the pass that saw them score in the corner and then made the change of direction for them to come back the other way to get another try. In football you call them assists.

“If we could have made that one extra pass and scored at the end we’d have had two more bonus points. It sort of summarises our season. We’re within touching distance of getting results and ensuring our safety.”

While Maids are down, they’re far from out. Mobbs-Smith says the vibe around the club and at training has remained positive ahead of this Saturday’s clash with eighth-placed Worthing. While Worthing have been strong at home all season, they’re not unbeatable and Maids got the better of them in a thrilling 41-38 win at Braywick earlier in the campaign. The players still believe they can dig themselves out of trouble, sitting just two points behind Camberley who themselves were thumped by Hammersmith & Fulham in their last game.

“One of the things we have is a great vibe at the club,” he said.

“There will be 50 players at training tonight which shows you this squad still believes they can fight their way out of this corner. There is a keenness for the guys who have come through the youth section

“The 2s won 71-19 against Chesham’s first team last Saturday. It’s not all doom and gloom, there are some very good things happening at the club. But obviously everything happens to be measured on first team performances.

“There’s belief in the team and the side for sure. We’ll have another crack at it at Worthing on Saturday, another good team. Their record at home has been quite good so it’s another tough game. But we also must be honest, it’s a must win game for us.

“We could just do with a little bit of fortune to go our way and that could change things in the remaining weeks.”