Ryan Peters ‘incredibly proud’ of Maidenhead after FA Cup exit to Crawley

Posted Sunday, November 03, 2024 by PA

Maidenhead assistant manager Ryan Peters was proud of his side’s efforts despite bowing out of the FA Cup following a 2-1 extra-time defeat at home to Crawley.

The Magpies were on course to reach the second round for the first time since 1886 through Shawn McCoulsky but Toby Mullarkey’s strike in stoppage time forced an additional 30 minutes.

Tola Showunmi’s first Crawley goal with four minutes to go saw the League One side avoid an upset and progress to round two for the first time in four seasons.

Peters told the BBC: “I thought we were very good value against a side that were expected to beat us.

“We were probably three or four minutes away from getting the job done but they get the goal and it goes to extra-time.

“Again, we had moments to go and score a winner but when you don’t take your chance to then concede in the last few minutes you just feel gutted.

“We felt they were there for the taking. Everything was set up for us and after a close first half we gave nothing away and were defensively solid.

“We felt we had the resilience there, and felt it would just come down to fitness being a part-time side against a full-time team, but sadly it wasn’t to be.

“We’re incredibly proud of the boys. The individual performances and collectively, we can harbour that and take it into the league games coming up.”

Rob Elliot was pleased with how his Crawley side never gave up.

He said: “It was a proper cup game. Credit to Maidenhead who I thought were excellent, they made it really difficult for us.

“It was brilliant to see the resilience in the group. You could see they wanted to fight, they ran for 120 minutes. That was the minimum we asked for and we got that in abundance.

“I’m really, really pleased with the win, with the fight and endeavour we showed, and I think we learnt a few things about the team and how effective we can be in different areas.

“Maidenhead gave us problems but I thought we deserved to win. We needed to move the ball better in the first half but it was going to be tough against a team who are trying to stop us.

“It could have been sour towards the end but we kept going and it’s always a proud moment to win in the cup.

“The fans stuck with us, and the players gave everything, so we move onto Tuesday night buoyed on by this win.”