Hayes and Yeading eased their relegation fears somewhat, with a comfortable victory against bottom of the table Dorchester Town on a chilly evening down in Dorset.
Phil Babb made three changes to his starting XI from the side that were unluckily beaten at Bath three days earlier. Ben Brown replaced the suspended Adam Everitt at centre back, and he made two changes to the midfield with Niall McManus and Frankie Merrifield coming in for Rashid Yussuff and Kamaron English respectively.
The first action of note came after only three minutes when Matty Harriott tried his luck from distance but unfortunately for the visitors his effort was well wide of the target.
Ten minutes later United took the lead with a genuine contender for goal of the season from Frankie Merrifield. After excellent build up play, the ball found its way to Merrifield on the left side of the Magpies box, he cut inside and curled an unstoppable shot from 20 yards, past the despairing dive of Alan Walker-Harris in the home goal.
The next chance of the game fell to the home side on 21 minutes when Charlie Losasso's effort from distance flew harmlessly wide of Mikhael Jaimez-Ruiz's left hand post.
Eight minutes later, a well worked move down the visitors’ right hand side ended with a header from Pat Cox that only just cleared the Magpies crossbar. United began to assert control and just a minute later Luke Williams sent in an effort on goal but this was fielded comfortably by Walker-Harris.
Yet another United effort, this time by Harriott and again from distance, flew harmlessly over the home crossbar.
Three minutes before the break Dorchester's Sam Lanahan sent in a goalbound effort from distance but this was easily dealt with by Jaimez-Ruiz in the United goal.
Twelve minutes into the second period Jaimez-Ruiz went to ground under a challenge from Dorchester substitute Dan Munday who had let a throughball run away from him and although the initial signs did not look good with the stretcher being called for, Jaimez-Ruiz was able to walk from the field to be replaced by debutant Charlie Crowley between the sticks.
With 20 minutes left on the watch, Cox had a further effort blocked wide by Mark Jermyn, with nothing coming from the resulting corner. Five minutes later, a mazy run from the hardworking Merrifield ended with the midfielders effort creeping just the wrong side of the upright.
With just six minutes remaining on the referee’s watch United produced yet another contender for goal of the season. Referee Mr Pottage awarded United a free-kick around 30 yards from goal. After addressing the ball with magnificent precision, man of the match, Luke Williams, sent a sublime dead ball floating over the defensive wall, and into the top left hand corner of the Dorchester net, giving Walker-Harris absolutely no chance.
The final whistle sounded to loud cheers from the small but vocal travelling United contingent with the players coming over at the end to show their appreciation towards the United faithful who had travelled to Dorset on a Tuesday evening to cheer them to victory.
Report by Mick Nile.
United Man of the Match: Luke Williams.
Jack Mills
