Playing up the hill and into a strong wind in the first half the Blues defended well and played to feet, keeping possession once we had the ball. The final ball was missing and despite pressing hard Jean Paul and Louis could not find the space or shot to finish. Towards the end of the half we gave away an corner depite having more than one chance to clear and then failed to mark our opponents leaving a free header, taken well. The lead was doubled soon afterwards as we were again caught ball watching leaving the opposition clear space to pass the ball across the goal and although the shot was well saved by Charlie the Cuckfield forwards responded more quickly to the rebound, 2-0 down at half time and heads dropping also

Marcus was rested at half time having worked hard on the right of midfield and Robert came on for Jean Paul. Robert immediately made a contributiuon by taking part in a passing move that allowed man of the match and bithday boy Nick to pull one back. Having worked our way back into the game we immediately gave up possession and did not close down our opponents who scored a soft goal to regain the advantage. Despite good possession which promised much and the hard work of Sean and Tom in midfield we were allowing our opponents too much space and time on the ball when they broke forward and when a fourth goal was conceded the game looked dead. This goal had been scored against the run of play, Louis had again gone close, a shot frrom Nick managed to hit a post and run across the goal line rather than into the net and Oliver P was denied by a fine save by the home keeper. Luke H and Olivers P and B worked hard to find some space for Nick whose run and shot pulled another goal back, but then the wind and rain numbed the players' enthusiasm and the closing goals added gloss to the home side's victory. Chris, Patrick, Luke B all fought hard as we headed to the end of the game and eventually the warmth of cars for the return journey home

Managers Comments

We have not yet found our "mojo" this season and have been consistently punished for not following some basic principles. Too much ball watching on occasions and not following the runs of opponents to be in a position to defend our goal is costing goals. Going forward we are using the ball better, even if we are not converting this possession into goals to give us a platform and confidence to win matches. I am sure that the boys will keep trying, there is a long way to go this season and we must believe that we can turn in some good results soon