Daryl McMahon saw his Fleet team drop two points late on but acknowledged that given Maidenhead’s chances, in a way his side had been glad of that point.
“I thought we gained [points] really,” he told BBC Radio Kent’s Matt Davison. “Maidenhead deserved that [point] at least. We looked like a team that have had one game this month. We had chances as well to be fair but I think Nathan’s made two big saves – one in the first half from the deflected shot and then one in the second half, but we can’t gripe about that at all, the result.”
The manager felt his side were slow to get involved, with the visitors able to capitalise on that as they made a rapid start straight from kick-off that nearly undid the Fleet before Luke Coulson’s goal.
“They caught us cold and the one game this month, I thought it really showed,” McMahon conceded. “Our line was poor, our timing of doing stuff was poor, we looked a bit laboured, lacking game sharpness but we’ve got no excuse now because we’ve got that one out of our system and now we go into the last eight. Nothing really happened at the end after they scored, little bits and bobs in and around the boxes but nothing really.”
With talk of play-offs still on the lips of fans, despite the gap to seventh and games fast running out, the Fleet boss pointed to the top seven being full of more established sides and he will be looking to repeat the improvement shown by sides such as Dover, Boreham Wood and Sutton United.
“I thought if we got into the Top 10 this season it would be a good achievement in the first time back in the division,” the Fleet boss said. “I don’t think any of the promoted teams will get into the play-offs this year, or the teams who got relegated either. It’s the teams that have been here and seen it year in, year out, who have strengthened over time and are in there.
“I feel we’re going through that process now. I think we’ve had a really good season, we can look back on many games and think ‘we could have won that one’ like anyone can across the season but I think the last eight games now will show us a lot about us preparing for next season. I want to be in the mix next season without a shadow of a doubt, to be higher than we are now. We’ve missed players throughout the season and that’s made a big influence on the team.”
With thoughts at many clubs turning to summer business as tends to happen in the final weeks of a season, McMahon thinks his side aren’t far short of making that step towards improvement.
“We’re probably three of four players short really if I’m being brutally honest,” he said. “We’ve operated really with one striker all season in Kedders, Darren McQueen’s been out. It’s an area we need to improve on but listen, I’m not going to reveal all my secrets now. There’ll be a lot of work in the summer.”
Listen to the full interview below.
