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 06/03/08:
The
game against Deal was typical of our previous encounters.
Unfortunately for us, while they might say the right things
about wanting us to win the league, they put in a super-human
effort to beat us. It was arguably our hardest game of the
season and I think Deal having a man sent off was not really to
our advantage as they stopped coming forward after this and put
everyone behind the ball.
I
can’t blame our lads for their effort and sometimes you just
need the ball to fall for you. It is a shame Deal don’t do
better in the league. The same is true of the other team that we
know best, Faversham, who similarly put in a massive effort
against us. And yet neither side seems able to take points off
the other top sides, as Faversham showed losing at home to
Holmesdale.
Deal
might be able to finish, what, sixth or seventh, and yet here
they were going off into the corners with the ball long before
the end. And at the final whistle they celebrated as if they had
won the cup. Which all sounds like sour grapes. In fact, Deal
played well and we can’t complain, except I wish they would do
it against everyone else as well. I watched them on the previous
Saturday and it was a complete waste of time as they didn’t
play anything like they did against us! I
think we suffered from a lack of forwards, with only really Mo,
and from a lack of centre-backs for that matter. The two issues
are linked as we had two lads playing at the back who could have
both played up front. Gavin will be out a bit longer with his
knee injury, Sam has a back problem, Dale is finishing off his
training for joining the police force, and Gary is suspended. It
means we are restricted for options.
We
must look forward and not dwell on things. There are plenty of
other teams who have had plenty more defeats. I think we need to
try to enjoy ourselves a bit as I feel the tension has been
getting to us. Being tentative and worrying about being top and
going up won’t do us any good. I was obviously pleased
with the Slade Green result. We struggled somewhat to break them
down but we stuck at it and once we got the first goal, I
thought it was only a question of how many we would score – we
could probably have had a few more.
Winning
one game just takes you onto the next match. There is a
nervousness at this stage of the season, in this position but,
as I said to the players on Saturday, would they want it any
differently? If we had been playing Slade Green in, say, the
first or second game of the season, we would have been more
relaxed and might have played a bit better. Conversely, they
might not have shown so much effort as they did in trying to get
one over on the top team. We
would like to relax and enjoy things but that isn’t possible.
It is a nice problem to have and one we would have settled for
at the start of the season.
From
one week to the next it is difficult to follow the twists and
turns, so I think the championship race will go all the way to
the final matches – although I’d be happy to be proven
wrong! You think you can see the way things are going and then
some more strange results come along, such as VCD losing at
Erith the other week.
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