Sunday 25 November 2007 vs. Woodhouse (away)

Neil commented on it before the game. Had we got too complacent? We were coming into this game on the back of two excellent performances in which we’d scored 12 goals and conceded just 1. Maybe we turned up at Woodhouse thinking we just had to stroll about a bit?

On the other hand, it’s sometimes about 'luck' or should I say the lack of it. We all know the days when you get up and cut yourself shaving, spill toothpaste all over the floor and the button comes off your shirt, and you get the feeling it’s going to be one of those days.

I’d already got it in mind to start with Tom in goal, and Nick being unavailable decided that particular issue. It was, then, ridiculously unfortunate and symptomatic of the day that Tom took a bad knock in the first five minutes (as part of the lead up to their first goal) and had to come off. This meant that Ross had a brave go at 'keeping in the first half and an already injured Ollie put on the jersey for the second half.

But back to the luck, 'cos there was more of it to come! We hit the bar, the post, flashed a couple just over the top, missed a penalty - more luck than you get in a season full of games, and all of it 'bad'.

We were 3-5 down at half time, but with the slope of the pitch now in our favour, I still thought the game was winnable.

But once again we were found out by a lack of commitment, like the 50/50 balls where Woodhouse went into tackles as though they MUST win the ball, and we didn’t. And all of their goals were daft, silly efforts that shouldn’t have happened. No fault of Ross or Ollie who did their best in difficult circumstances.

The best player for us was Ants who worked tirelessly in midfield, and through whom most of our best chances seemed to come.

We have some excellent footballers and when we hit our stride and start to move the ball about, we are a joy to watch and also very deadly. But…we don’t have a natural 'thug' – someone who can sit in midfield and break up their play and adopt a 'they shall not pass' attitude. Teams like Woodhouse sense this and exploit it. To sum up our opponents, they were generally fair but uncompromising, and I have no fond memories of the game, whichever way you look at it

An afternoon to forget, then? No we shouldn’t do that. It was an afternoon to remember. Let’s remember it so we don’t go down the same road again!