Whatever fate has in store for Maidenhead United during the rest of the season, their slightly tarnished image was restored at York Rd on Monday, with a convincing display against Athenian League leaders Slough Town. Although there were no goals, the annual Boxing Day local derby provided more than 2,000 spectators with good entertainment.

There was never a dull moment and both goals had their fair share of narrow escapes.

The standard of football was high and certainly Maidenhead appeared to have recovered their lost form that caused them to slump to two successive defeats two weeks ago, including à 3-0 defeat at Slough. In fact, the Magpies had the edge on Slough and had more direct shots at goal.

New signing Bob Marcham made his debut for Maidenhead, and although he was obviously struggling in what was only ais third game of the season, he revealed some neat touches, particularly near the end, when he beat two players, but ran out of room on the touch line.

To make room for Marcham, Terry Fancett dropped back into the midfield and played a real spoiling game. He marked tight on Roger Day and generally deprived Slough of their midfield thrust.

Obviously the Slough supporters were hoping for a repeat of the result that the Rebels gained over Maidenhead two weeks ago, but they quickly found that the Magpies were a much slicker side. In fact they were back to their old form with their confidence boosted following a good draw at Leatherhead the previous week.

Slough made two quick attacks on the Maidenhead goal, and gained a corner, which Olson cleared, then dropped back into defence as the Magpies moved forward. Maidenhead strung their passes together well and in one move D'Arcy tried to pass back but Chatterton intercepted, and Wolstenholme was lucky to tip a well placed lob over the bar.

In the first half Maidenhead forced eight corners to Slough's two, but four of them were wasted by being kicked into the side netting. However, Maidenhead still won more possession that Slough.

Baker and Woozley kept moving forward and forced Cruse and Ritchie to drop back to help out in defence. Maidenhead were awarded a free kick just outside the penalty box, and Woozley floated the ball over for Montague to head back to Olson, whose glancing header was just picked out under the bar by Wolstenholme.

By comparison, Slough's attacks looked sluggish, although Hill seized an opportunity to hammer a shot at Spittle when Maidenhead lost the ball during a moment of rather stupid square passing.

Maidenhead were far more direct in their attacks, and Slough's goal had a further narrow escape near the interval. Underwood, who had another good game at full-back, cleared the ball upfield to Chatterton, who lost it in a double challenge, but Marcham retrieved it.

Then in a quick move the ball went from Chatterton to Baker, and on to Tottman, who shot, but Turl blocked the attempt at the expense of a corner.

Although Slough came into the game more during the second half, Maidenhead continued to look more dangerous in front of goal. Tottinan controlled a chip ahead from Baker, but had to shoot quickly on the turn, and the ball flashed over the bar. Chatterton had a shot from the edge of the penalty box, and the ball was only inches wide of the post.

In the first half, most of Slough's shots were well wide of the target, but after the interval they became more accurate, and Spittle had to save from D'Arcy and Amos in succession A few minutes later, he made a magnificent save to turn a hard drive from Eaton for a corner.

But the pressure on the Maidenhead defence was only a fraction of what they had to contend with at Slough earlier in the month. If they can maintain this form, the Magpies could still be challenging for the league title in the New Year.