No, not of the clubs promotion hopes, although being the only one of the top 8 sides to lose does damage that lofty ambition
I refer to the teams ‘inspirational’ leader who, yet again, disgraced himself and let the team/club down.

Lets hope the next time he is seen at Campus is in an all black strip having passed his Refereeing exams with flying colours at which time he really will be entitled to referee the game for a full 90 minutes, as he thinks he can now.   (“Ref, Ref, Ref, Ref, Ref, Ref, Ref, Ref, Ref, Ref, Ref, Ref, Ref”)

I chatted to a number of supporters whose opinions I respect today.
All are confused why the game plan has changed so dramatically.
Gone is the patient passing from side to side across the back line from the start while probing for an opening forward through the middle or down the flanks.
That has been the method for some considerable time even when the playing surface has, quite understandably for Dec/Jan, not been very conducive to a passing game.
It has been replaced by a ‘lump it forward in the air’ style of very limited ambition, even on the pristine 4G pitch at Bedfont last Tuesday!  And resulted in far less success.

In the first half today only one side was remotely interested in playing a passing game. Even when T&M went in ahead at half time little suggested that lead would be held to the end. And so it proved.
Is this change in style perhaps due to the loss of Daryl Coleman’s steadying influence in the heart of midfield?
Hopefully things will change and the teams fortunes improve on his return to full fitness.

Let’s also hope the new signings settle in quickly and have a positive influence.
Decisive moves to ramp things up by the coaching duo.

What could you say about this game?
Well you could certainly say that, without the injured Connor French and Daryl Coleman and the ‘unavailable’ Hady Ghandour the side looked lightweight up front at the start and took a while to settle.
But with your glass filled to the brim you could acknowledge the selected side pressed their opponents all match and their far greater mobility and creative movement of the ball created probably three hatfuls of chances that, yes, could/should have been taken. (And had they fallen to ‘strikers’ would have been).

A measure of the pressure exerted is that by the end every one of their back line had been booked, along with several of their other players, as they struggled to cope with the Terrors pace and movement.

I agree with Alan that FC Romania were a far, far poorer side.

In my previous post I heaped praise on the league leaders Westfield. And how did they get on?
They lost at home to Barking and even failed to score.
So lots of ups and downs left to come in this division before anybody needs to fret about the heady heights of the Premier Division.

You can see on the T&M Twitter account an Erith FC retweet (whatever that means) that they enjoyed an ‘outstanding 2nd half performance’ in their recovery from a goal down to win tonights game.

Erith currently sit mid table in the Premier Division of the Southern Counties East League and are even higher placed than AFC Croydon! Despite what the bulging waistline of their No 9 might suggest they have two players in the top 15 league goal scorers. So no matter what the few Terrors in attendance watched tonight they must be a very, very good side and fully deserved to win.  Hmm.

Every team at this level will benefit from a healthy mix of age & experience v youth & vitality.
The hope is that the experience covers for the inexperience and the youthful legs cover the lack of pace.
On Saturday that worked well and produced more very fine performances by several of the youngsters.

But..... when you field an older player in the back line that has no pace, struggles to even control the ball and whose ‘distribution’ match after match is limited to lumped clearances high in the air or misplaced passes along the floor it is counter productive, even if they do enjoy ‘much adored former legend’ status with some fans.
And when you compare that to the skills the youngsters exhibit.........
Regrettably, rearrange the words:  boots / the / hang / your / ? / thing / do / decent / up

And then we have the club captain who is not selected for the first XI but still feels it is his responsibility to loudly harangue the referee from the side line!   
What a fine example.

The exciting away performances suggest this season could see the club return to the Premier Division, which is the very lowest a club of this size should be.
Although I’ve seen Westfield several times and they are just one of several free scoring opposing teams at the top (Yes, I watched T&M comfortably despatch a very average Ware).

Some brave, bold decisions are required by the management duo to see t

Don’t you really think that Steve, as an established businessman, already has all this under consideration?
He will have decided long ago if he wishes to appoint a new management team or enter into discussions about a renewal of contracts. And the budget he would be prepared to subsidise - at whichever level we ended up at.

But this is nothing that we, as supporters, have anything to do with. Our contribution is a pittance when set against the overall costs.

As for players, remember what happens season after season.
Players are reckoned to be staying and even take part in pre season but then move on having held out for better deals. 
You are in a dream world if you think a player will sign a registration form for next season in May.

Squads that take part in pre season matches bear little resemblance to what starts the season.
Players are released by higher level clubs just before the season starts when they finalise their squads and filter down to where we are to be snapped up.  And that will will be even more the case because we are a level lower.

As painful and frustrating as it is, sit back and be patient.   We will all be told in due course.

...and then I discovered Harrow had beaten BH with a 90th min goal.

So 'all' we needed was a single point.
But that would have required us to keep a clean sheet.
Not possible. Again.

All so very sad and a waste of the fine efforts of last season.
Shame

I’m sorry Alan but I disagree with your notion 100%.  How could we be better off going down?

The top 4-6 teams in Bostik South are generally very competitive and it might take us years to get back up.
Meanwhile the bottom half is a very poor standard of footie indeed.

If we have any possibility of staying up this weekend, no matter how slender, I hope we grasp it with both hands.

Simple Steptoe - a big, bold positive YES!

I have the greatest pleasure in saying to the doom mongers ‘I was right’.  All is far from lost.

Equally, we are far from safe of course.  But we were never out of it as so many suggested.
And now our destiny our is in our own hands.

My glass is still 3/4 full (apart from those I drained tonight in celebration)

Well done Donny.
Somewhere in the postings about the Tonbridge game were several comments about how positive our ‘supporters’ were.  And I fully agree. 
Apart from a few groans the stand was a buzz of encouragement, right from the start.
And what did we get from our team in response?   Everything but the win we so badly wanted.

Endo is trying to keep that going by suggesting if other results go our way ‘it’s all to play for’.
And it really is.  Just a few precious points might be required.
But no.  Leap straight in to drag everyone down.

Sorry, I just don’t understand that.
The great creator surely positioned our eyes in the front of our heads so we could look forward, not backwards.
KEEP THE FAITH

I'm 60 and about to turn 61.
How do you think I feel?   I even look like him!

Lucky I've got no stress in my life eh

I would gladly massage the testicles of Frank and the whole squad if anyone really thought it would make a difference.
Although perhaps a firm squeeze just before the start, again at the start of the 2nd half and most certainly with just 5 mins to go might focus minds better.

Some of the best performances from our team this season have come against supposedly better opposition. Perhaps it is easier to raise their game and concentrate fully.
The Magnificent 6 who attended the first Bill n Dicky game saw individual performances that have not been repeated since.
As 59er suggests, once the players walk over the whitewash......

So I don't need to be specific where my magical 3/4 points will come from Dan.  If the players step up and show some pride, application and desire all is possible in the remaining games.
(Just a few weeks ago we were shocked when most of the other bottom clubs won.  Why not us?)

90th min pen!!!!!!!!     Oh no, not again.

Or you could look at the positive and hope that if Burgess Hill don’t manage to pick up another point, which is very possible given their fixtures, then we don’t need a fanciful 4 wins.  In fact we would not need any more points at all.
But if your glass has just just a tiny drop left in the bottom.....