4 games left of this season so not many opportunities to lift our poor finish. This Saturday we were home to Frenches who were a decent side, beating us 3 2 last week. This week we needed to see some real effort and passion from the players, there is a huge amount of ability in our side but the last few performances have been very poor. It was a good afternoon for football and the pitch was in very good condition so we had no excuses for not playing well.

And so the battle commenced and unfortunately we were very slow out of the traps. Frenches were first to everything and started really well. I had to ask the residents of the graveyard next door to keep the noise down because they were drowning out the shouting from the 4's !! We had one or two players working hard and showing some real passion but far too many didn't really look interested, our passing was poor and when we lost it we tended look at the floor and think how badly Jesus was treating us rather than chase after the poxy ball and win it back. This Frenches side are dangerous and were looking far more likely to score than us, 15 minutes in Dave Rolfe caught there striker who went down inside the box. The young ref pointed straight to the spot quite rightly and the Frenches captain strolled up and banged it past Dunge. So 1 0 down and we really couldn't have any complaints, Dave Rolfe also had t limp off after mullering his knee. We started to pick up our play a little bit but really didn't trouble the Frenches keeper, Mark Davidson was working really hard and covering a lot of ground but we weren't using the speed we had up front at all. After 45 minutes we went into the break losing by the penalty but we hadn't really been in the game for the first half.

The second half started very much like the first but we did start to get a bit more into the game. We seem to have lost the belief in our ability somewhere along the long which is difficult to understand. Frenches were still playing well and continued to find there passes and work hard for each other. After 15 minutes or so of the second half their northern striker felt hard done by in a challenge with our keeper so he decided to run and dive in when Dunge went to clear the ball. Dung was rightfully aggrieved and told him so, the northern gentleman then decided it would be the right thing to do to punch our 18 year old keeper and then while he was on the ground with his back to him he bravely kicked him. A bundle then insued which saw both teams, Tim and myself involved, punches being thrown. All a bit pathetic really. Northern was rightly sent off, he should have also been joined by another but he ran away so quickly I don't think the ref saw him. We started to really press and were finally playing a little better, I honestly thought we could have played all week without scoring when Mark popped up in the penalty area to head home a well deserved goal. I must say I thought a draw would be a very good result as far as I was concerned but Frenches decided they deserved all the points and popped home a winner in the last few minutes. So it ended 2 1 to Frenches and a deserved win for them, a really good side unfortunately let down by 2 players. Northern at least apologised as he realised he was out of order, the other one just continued to grunt to himself and make excuses for his cowardly actions.

Man of the match. Mark Davidson, loads of effort and a well deserved goal. I also forgot to mention his great shot that hit the cross bar!