Maidenhead United boss Hippolyte accepts he may have made a mistake

Manager Johnson Hippolyte admits he may have dropped the ball by not having a goalkeeper on the bench in the 4-0 defeat to Ebbsfleet United.

Having conceded the opening goal late in the first half, the turning point of the game came on 51 minutes when Maidenhead United keeper Will Britt brought down Anthony Cook in the area, giving away a penalty and being sent off for a professional foul.

Billy Bricknell scored the spot-kick despite the best efforts of skipper Mark Nisbet who had donned the gloves because there was no substitute keeper on the sidelines.

Two more goals added to the Magpies' misery in what was their heaviest home defeat of the season.

Hippolyte accepted that not having a glovesman to bring on was not ideal, and was a mistake on his part.

"I take maybe a bit of the blame for maybe not having young Sam [Gray] on the bench, but it wouldn't have made much difference as we would probably have been 2-0 down," he said.

"But you can't go down to 10 men against good opposition like that.

"In Will's defence, he has played maybe 10 games for us and been absolutely outstanding.

"Today (Saturday) is one of those things as a goalkeeper, you make a mistake and it costs you a goal.

"Will was at fault for the first goal and his decision-making for the second one was poor, but I can't criticise him as he's been excellent."

Last week Hippolyte publically criticised the performance of keeper Elvijs Putnins who made a mistake between the sticks which led to a goal in the 2-1 victory over Met Police in the FA Trophy.

According to Hippolyte, Putnins was not on the bench for the Ebbsfleet clash because they had 'a bit of a problem' with him.