The mystery of this season is how we are going to finish so far adrift at the bottom of the table, yet so many of the defeats were by a single goal.

So it proved to be again away at Ashmoor, typically a difficult match against young & skillful opposition. Sure enough, despite OPMs having the first attempt at goal, Ashmoor pretty much dominated large parts of the first half. Their passing and movement was in a different class to OPMs, so their taking the lead mid way through the first half came as little surprise.

Skipper Chris Frude saw green and yellow for remonstrating with the umpire, even though the umpire asked the question, "are you disagreeing with my decision [to award a short corner]". Frude replied that he did disagree, and was promptly shown a green card for such insolence. The yellow followed for dissent.

What came next was the realisation that if you shouted loud enough and claimed a foul even when there wasn't one, you were likely to be rewarded. And so the home side continued in this manner and really looked likely to score again.

However, OPMs changed the balance of the game right on the stroke of half time. Alex Peacock smashed a ball into the D, which was admittedly slightly raised, although not dangerous. Ashmoor claimed a foul, the umpire didn't award it and Ben Lock kept his head and neatly deflected it past an incredulous keeper.

The half time team talk was about keeping our heads and letting the home side wind themselves up. The game flowed a lot better, and Ashmoor were rewarded for continued good build up and passing with a great deflection to retake the lead.

10 minutes later, an OPM short corner led to a melee in front of goal, and Keith McBride was the quickest to react to "deposit it in the mouth".

This seemed to re-ignite their back chat, and the Ashmoor right winger first talked himself into a decision being reversed, followed 10 minutes later by talking himself into an overdue yellow card, despite the fact he had just been awarded a short corner.

Jason Sweby made a goal line clearance after keeper Steve Payne had been beaten, and this looked like it might be enough to clinch the equaliser for OPMs. However, a last minute short corner gave Ashmoor the opportunity to steal the points, which they did with an immaculate drag flick.

A frustrating match which OPMs were once again competetive and worthy of more than they got out of it.