Brooks’ men lose out in battle of Magpies

9:09am Monday 6th October 2008

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DORCHESTER Town boss Shaun Brooks was left counting the costs of individual errors as his side went down 2-1 at Maidenhead United.

A mistake from goalkeeper Gareth Stewart allowed Bobby Behzadi the opportunity to put the Berkshire Magpies in front.

Nick Crittenden scored his third goal in two games to restore parity two minutes after the break until the hosts scored again, this time through Richard Pacquette, just past the hour.

The Dorset Magpies were presented with the perfect chance to draw level late on but Ryan Moss, who scored from the spot at the second time of asking seven days previous, missed the penalty kick.

The defeat, just three days after the 2-1 FA Cup success at Newport, leaves Dorchester without a Blue Square South victory since the opening day.

And Brooks, although fairly happy with the display overall, was left frustrated.

He said: "What's costing us at the moment is individual mistakes which you just can't legislate for. Some of our play has been great and we created chances, including the missed penalty, but over the last few weeks we've made too many mistakes. If sides were carving us open and scoring goals then that would be one thing, but they're not, we're shooting ourselves in the foot.

"We looked dangerous in the first 15 minutes but then all of a sudden a mistake, where Gareth has had a heavy touch, ends up with Maidenhead taking the lead. We got back into it with Critts' goal but then Kevin Hill's stepped up following a through ball and we're 2-1 down."

Brooks also revealed that striker Moss will be relieved of his penalty taking duties.

He added: "He'll be determined to carry on taking them but we will be changing our penalty taker. He had the courage to step up and take it, and to score against Newport the previous week, but we've decided to change it."

The loss at York Road has seen the county town outfit drop to 18th in the table, just a point above the relegation zone and 15 behind the play-off spots. But Brooks insists there's no reason to panic yet. He said: "If we can stop making the mistakes, and having seen the way some of the younger players are performing at the moment, then there's no reason to feel downhearted.

"One win in 11 league games isn't good enough but there are still positives to take from the game and we'll continue to work hard.

"There was no less effort than at Newport, it's just that two mistakes have cost us as opposed to just one mistake against Newport."