Bluebell Banter

I'm almost lost for words!

5 minutes to go to a morale boosting victory and 3 goals in 4 minutes gives us a crushing defeat.

Never mind that we were on the rack for 85 out of 90mins or that we could't keep possession or win possession, the 3pts were all that mattered.

In fairness it was a gutsy effort from Yate, much improved on the last few and two high-quality, well crafted goals, so to go and throw it all away in the manner that we did is very hard to take.

Great to see Jason Wood back though. I hope his injury isn't serious as we are desperate for his input as relegation is looking very likely at present.

Even though we were outplayed for most of the game that was a devastating defeat, and the looks on the players faces at the end told it all. They had given everything for 90 minutes before the pressure eventually told. We didn't "throw it away", we were beaten by some good goals, and despite most of the game being played in our half we defended very well and limited Hemel to fewer clear cut chances than their possession might have created. Jeffs was magnificent and several others threw themselves around in the area blocking goalbound shots.

With 10 minutes to go it looked like we might be getting a long overdue bit of luck, but it wasn't to be. However, if we show the same spirit, effort and determination for the rest of the season then we'll get ourselves out of trouble.

It was a gutsy, determined performance. Crushing to lose it the way we did. The positive to be taken was the greater confidence in the team, the last 5 mins will dent that again but if the players reflect on the whole 90plus mins, that dent should only be shortlived.

They need to take away the fact that, for 85 mins, they withstood an onslaught with shape, structure, tremendous effort, a little luck (that you make yourself), and scored two classically engineered breakaway goals.

Ok, the panic button was pressed when Hemel had got back to 2-2 cos we really should not have conceded that soft winner but.....I for one came away feeling shocked rather than demoralised.

Well I spoke to Thommo, Lee and Chenny on sunday and they were all as gutted as we were. Let's be honest, ho often do you see eleven players collapse to the floor the way our guys did at the end of a league match?

On a positive note, Thommo said that the players had responded just the way he'd hoped they would after a team meeting in the week and that the effort they'd put in was faultless, we were simply beaten by an excellent team.

I agree with that. If the players apply themselves in the same manner in the forthcoming 4-5 fixtures we can start to put points on the board again.

One thing that seems to be missing though , is a domineering presence in midfield to compliment Chen's combatitiveness. I reckon Thommo should contact Rovers and call in that favour they owe us. This could be a good time to do it.