We took a great confidence and attitude into the game and playing against the wind in the first half, we got the ball under control and ran the game from the start.  Once again, our three central midfield players created everything and broke up play whenever the opposition had the ball.  We created three or four good chances, before Ben opened the scoring after 20 minutes with a good finish at the far post.

Nip doubled our lead 10 minutes later with a perfectly executed free kick from 25 yards, which gave their otherwise excellent keeper no chance at all.  It was no more than we deserved and once again we looked to be on course for a handsome win.  From back to front we outplayed them.  Josh made two great saves in the first half and the defence was solid, with Sammy and Matt especially flying into challenges and winning headers against much bigger players.  Harry and Nip were effective down the flanks and Ben again looked a real handful up front.

Sadly, the wind changed direction at half time, and our fortunes changed with it.  We carried on for the first 10 minutes of the second half, running the game and creating chances, but nothing quite came off- 2 efforts hit the side of the net rather than the back and then we had a throwback to earlier in the season.  A speculative shot was going well wide, until Callum, trying to clear, deflected it over Josh and into the net.  It was undeserved, but

Their second goal was more disappointing from our point of view, in that we went to sleep at the back and let them come into the area unchallenged from a quick throw in.  It was a really poor goal to concede and we knew it.  Things could have gone from bad to worse immediately afterwards, when we didn’t defend a corner and the ball was headed in, only to be chalked off by the linesman who had seen it go out of play before swinging over.

Changes were made to try and freshen things up.  It was good to see Sam T back and he looked sharp down the right.  Scott came on and bustled around the midfield and Matt gave Ben a breather up front for the last 10 minutes.  But it just wasn’t our day and with 2 minutes to go Sammy failed to respond to a call for the defence to go forward and played their most dangerous player onside, with predictable results.

There were lots of positives to take out of the game.  The

We won’t dwell on the negatives, but some still let themselves down with their attitude and inability to keep their mouth shut when things go against us.  And on football matters, the back four still needs to concentrate all the time and nor switch off periodically as we did for the second and third goals.

Goals this week for Ben and Nip.  MoM was Craig, who worked harder than anyone on the pitch and the CRAP award goes to Callum for a stroke of bad luck, by a short head from Jake who picked up another yellow card.

So one missed opportunity, but we have four left!

Looking at the early exchanges, there was little between the teams.  They had the advantage of the strong wind in the first half and bombarded our defence with long balls, while we found it difficult to work the ball out of own half.  They attacked us down both wings and had a number of players with pace and skill.

Keeping faith with the players who had performed so well in the last few games, the starting line up was the same as last week, with the exception of J-P coming back into the centre of defence and Callum joining Ryan and Matt on the bench. There is no doubt that the wind was crucial factor in the first half, and there was a danger of the midfield being overrun, with both Jake and Scott more attack minded and only Craig trying to hold back the tide.  With only 20 minutes on the clock, J-P pushed up into midfield and Callum came on at the back and the tide was immediately turned.  We started to attack them and deservedly took the lead through a set piece, when Nip’s well taken corner was turned in from close range by Ben, who had another excellent game up front.  We also had another great chance when J-P burst through and narrowly missed the target, possibly due to the defender desperately hanging onto his shirt with both hands, though to be fair the ref played a good advantage, as the first contact was well outside the box.

1-0 up at half time was a good outcome and we turned to have the wind at our backs high in confidence.  A few minutes into the second half, saw the best move of the game with the ball being worked smartly down the left, in to Craig, who cleverly turned and set up JP who drilled the ball into the net from outside the box.  You could almost see the confidence rising in the team, and failing in the opposition, who had still not done much wrong.

From then on, we attacked them at will.  Tom pushed forward into midfield to allow Ryan to come on at left back- not that he spent much time there.  We rampaged forward, with every player winning his personal battle.  Those players who came off to allow others on had done nothing wrong at all- it was just that everyone deserved to get in on the act.  Nip finished another good move, Ben helped himself to a second and Matt was the most popular scorer of the day, when he volleyed in from close range to round of another great move, even if he was too tired to celebrate!  Harry had one of his best games in terms of effort, and got himself into numerous excellent positions, only to be denied by a mixture of good goalkeeping and a faulty radar.

To be fair to

The attitude or effort of all of the 14 players involved was first class.  Everyone did their bit (and more) and showed great team spirit.  We also saw several players comfortably playing in different positions.  The referee commented to me afterwards that the players were enjoying themselves again and congratulated us on an excellent performance.

Goals this week for Ben (2), J-P, Nip and Matt.  MoM is a really difficult one, with everyone playing so well.  If there has to be one, then I would give it to J-P who was involved everywhere, but it could equally have gone to any of Sammy, Skelly, Tom, Nip or Ben, with everyone else also in the frame.  CRAP award this week goes to Harry, who failed to score from a hatful of chances.  On another day he would have scored six himself!

We are climbing up the league fast and two of the five games we have left give us the opportunity to show the top teams what we are capable of.  If I was in their shoes I would be afraid- very afraid.  Four wins out of five, 18 goals scored, 4 against.  There aren’t many teams in the league in that form!  Five games left- let’s finish on a high.

No one involved last week deserved to be left out, so the same line up started, with the exception of Callum returning for the injured Ryan.  With JP on the bench, Jake continued as captain.

We didn’t quite get going from the start, although the football was pretty enough. We went behind to a goal which has been typical of our defending this year- failing to clear and then not tracking a runner, leaving them with a tap in.  But this seemed to wake us up and it wasn’t long before we were level and then ahead, ending the half 2-1 up.  Some of the football going forward was very easy on the eye, with Scott and Jake both working hard in midfield and Craig never far away from the action.

Ben caused problems for the defence all afternoon, before being replaced through injury near the end.  Nip was also very effective down the left and roaming inside.

JP replaced  a tiring Callum in the middle of defence in the second half and started our best move of the game, which involved 5 one or two touch passes and ended with Ben hammering the ball into the net.

Matt is clearly still not match fit, but worked himself into some good positions and had a couple of decent chances when he came on, including one scorching shot.  Once he gets attuned to the pace of the games, he will start putting those chances away again and it’s nice to see him back playing. 

Goals for Nip, Scott, Ben (2) and Jake.  MoM was Craig, who was everywhere and the CRAP award goes to Jake for an outrageous attempted shot which bobbled 5 yards to his left and set Nip up perfectly for the first goal.

Six games left, we’re enjoying our football again and the squad is strengthening all the time!  I wouldn’t want to be one of the top teams who have to play us before the end of the season.

Josh kept a clean sheet and saved a penalty, as well as making several other key saves and looking very solid.  The back four was resolute and didn’t give an inch in the face of some good pressure from St Hill.  Matt in particular had a storming game, missing nothing and mopping up everything remotely loose.  It was this form that won him the Players’ Player award last season and it was great to see again.  Callum and Ryan also did well, especially given that they had played for

The midfield was strong and adventurous.  Nip and Tom playing wide gave the Blues problems all afternoon and their left back especially was sick of the sight of Nip’s back disappearing off down the wing again.

We played 3 in central midfield and JP and Craig did their normal good job, finding space and starting attacks.  JP had also played on the Saturday and showed excellent fitness to last two games in central midfield.  Their manager commented about how he always seems to be able to make space and play the game at his own pace.  Slow.  Jake was a revelation, getting involved all over the pitch and winding opponents up as only Jake can.  This was easily his best game of the year and he deserved his goal in the second half- a typical scuffed effort which bounced tamely over the keeper.

Up front, Ben worked like a Trojan (ancient rather than computer virus) on his own.  He held the ball up, he made run after run and was rewarded with two well taken goals.

Scott and Harry froze on the touchline until well into the second half, but both carried on the good work when they got their chance.

If we can maintain that level of performance for the rest of the season, I honestly can’t see anyone beating us.  Goals for Ben (2) and Jake, but it could have been a hatful and everyone should be really proud of their performance.  The challenge now is to keep it up.  Everyone was a contender for MoM, notably Josh and Jake, but Skelly has to get it for a performance which combined skill, fitness and steel in equal measure.  CRAP award can only go to Sam T, who managed to fall over in the playground and hurt himself so he couldn’t play.

The Saint Hill supporters were extremely sporting and congratulated us on an excellent performance, as did the referee, who had a good game, despite awarding a penalty against us!  Nine games left guys- we may not be able to win the league now, but we’re going to have nine good games and enjoy ourselves and we will finish closer to the top than the bottom if we can reproduce that performance nine times.

We apparently created and missed between 25-30 chances in the game, whilst Horsham scored with 6 of their 10 or so attacks.  Three of the goals conceded came from corners which we failed to defend- a common theme this season.

Looking at the positives, it’s good to hear that Sam and Nip are back to their best and I look forward to them ripping a team apart soon like they used to last year.  Also, in the absence of both Craig and JP from the centre of midfield, Harry and Tom acquitted themselves well.

As Gordon said after the game, someone is going to get a hiding from us before the season is out.  If that day comes soon, then it could well be that more than one will be dished out, as I’m sure that once we start finding the target, we won’t want to stop.

Gordon didn’t specify a MoM, but he was pretty clear about the CRAP award, which goes to Jake for having to be taken off even though we didn’t have a sub.

We have ten games left as Uckfield Grasshoppers.  The team, which started as a bunch of 6 year olds, has come all the way through and most of you have been involved for most of that time- some of you for all of it!  Let’s make the most of these last games together, enjoy our football, put the effort in and show the league what we are capable of.

The goals we conceded came from either not defending as a unit or individual errors, but our main problem again was failing to put our chances away.  The closest we came was a JP shot which the keeper managed to get down well to, but other than that, we struggled to hit the target.

But there were lots of positives to take from the performance and there was nothing wrong that an injection of confidence won’t cure, so long as we keep putting the effort in for the whole game.

We had heard that almost every team to play HH this year have had at least one person sent off, and research showed that most were for retaliation.  So our players were warned before the game to be careful.  In the face of some awful provocation, our players behaved admirably and we escaped without even a caution.  It is odd to think that there are people involved in this league who think that it is an acceptable part of the game to behave like this though.  Our spectators were threatened and abused by the opposing players and wrongly accused of abuse by the opposing linesman.  The referee obviously knew that if he applied the letter of the law that HH would be quickly reduced to below the minimum permissible and so he chose to turn a deaf ear to the vast majority of what everybody else heard.

In the middle of all this, a football match happened.  For all of their nasty behaviour, HH have some talented players and some of their football was good to watch.  But so was some of ours.  When we keep it on the deck and move it quickly we are more than a match for any team in this league.  J-P scored what is becoming a trademark free kick in the first half and Scott doubled the lead early in the second half with a cool finish with the outside of his right foot.  As with a number of games this season, we created more chances, but couldn’t put them away, either through nervous finishing or good goalkeeping.

We also continue to look nervous at the back and HH scored twice in the last quarter of the match to earn a point.  The first was a decent enough low shot which crept in at the post giving Josh little chance- ironically just after he had made a miracle save to keep out a shot at the other post.  The second was our Achilles Heel of the season, where we just allowed a cross to be headed in unchallenged.  This was the fourth of four free headers we allowed in the game, which must be down to concentration.

It was good to see Sam Taylor back to something approaching his best.  He was always involved- even after the final whistle when his offer of a handshake was met with a kick.  Nip was also lively, firstly up front and then switching wide right.  MoM this week was J-P, who put in a lot of work in midfield and scored a cracker.  CRAP award is a tough one, but probably has to be Skelly, for talking tough, whilst asking Callum to save him if the other guy turned nasty.  Or Jake for shopping Skelly!

In truth this was not one of the more pleasant afternoons I have spent watching football, but unfortunately it seems that it is accepted by the league, so at least we know that we dealt with it and stood up to them.

Our last match before Christmas is on Sun 23, ko 10.30 at Hassocks.  Merry Christmas everyone.

There were lots of positives in the first half.  We played some nice football and didn’t panic at the back when under attack.  JP scored a beauty from distance and we had more than our fair share of the ball and the attacking play.  The defence dealt competently with anything which came their way and Josh made some decent saves.

There is no doubt that they were a good team, but we just didn’t seem to believe that we could match them for the whole match.  This wasn’t helped when both Ben and JP had to come off injured.  With Craig already missing, it was hardly surprising that these losses made it harder for us, so we shouldn’t be too down on ourselves.

What we must do though is to recapture that “never say die” spirit which used to run through this group- last seen when scoring 5 unanswered goals at

to come back from the dead.  If we assume we are going to lose, then we will lose and people’s heads will go down.  If we are playing tough opponents, we need to concentrate on our own individual performance- the next tackle, the next pass, the next run.  Never mind about the score, just concentrate on your own game and keep everything positive.  We have all made a conscious decision to be involved with this team and at times like this, when it all gets a bit hard, we all need to look at ourselves and commit to doing our best at all times and in all areas of the game, whether it be training, attitude or playing.

to come back from the dead.If we assume we are going to lose, then we will lose and people’s heads will go down.If we are playing tough opponents, we need to concentrate on our own individual performance- the next tackle, the next pass, the next run.Never mind about the score, just concentrate on your own game and keep everything positive.We have all made a conscious decision to be involved with this team and at times like this, when it all gets a bit hard, we all need to look at ourselves and commit to doing our best at all times and in all areas of the game, whether it be training, attitude or playing.

I’m not going to dwell on the second half, other than to say that both Tom and Harry were unlucky not to start after doing well last week and a number of players did well in a difficult situation.  Ryan and Scott never stopped running and Tom added energy in the second half. JP worked hard until he had to go off.  Callum gave his usual committed performance and crawled off the pitch having played the day before.

Congratulations to Callum, who can add the MoM award to the one he picked up the day before playing his first game for

We talked and worked through a few things in training on Tuesday and if we get the attitude right, I’m sure that an improvement in our fortunes is not far away!