After a couple of weeks slogging through fixtures without any real belief that we could get a result, this appeared as a winnable match. March were towards the bottom of the table (they started the match in 10th, i.e. the spot to target to avoid the drop) and whilst not quite suffering the same sort of season as we are having, they were not pulling up trees in this league either. Of course, you can bet that March were thinking the same way, presumably seeing a home game against the bottom side as a must-win.

During the week encouragement was drawn from a nearly full deck of availability, despite the late afternoon away start. But then word came down that the 1sts were short, so had nicked players from the 2nds. Which meant that the 2nds, in turn, stole our midfield (Oli, Tom, JT). Our original 13 became 11, and one of those was Oli playing his second full 70 minutes of the day. Mark Williams was runner-up in our Lemon-of-the-Match voting...

Still, there was a balance about the team, and slightly younger look than it has had in some games this season as the recent squad reshuffle began to take effect. George made his 3rds debut and looked instantly like he belonged, whilst Rasmus and Jacob were in tandem down the right for the second time, and as at Spalding produced good combination play. Joe can whistle if he thinks the 4ths are getting any of these guys back.

The play was fairly even for the most part, with a degree of tension as would be expected of a relegation scrap. That is tension in the play, with final passes and chances being snatched at, not between the sides as the match was played in an excellent spirit. The Umpires barely had to talk to anyone, baring Rob, who was given a dressing down like a naughty schoolboy for questioning decisions. Yep, Rob, who has Umpired in the pool, is our current ULO and was on first-name terms with the March official. Partly overheard was (possible paraphrase here) “I don’t need that from ex-Umpires!” Ex?!? Snigger.

There wasn’t that much in the way of goalmouth incident in the match. Unfortunately what there was included us shooting ourselves in the foot, as we switched off twice. March’s opener came from a ball that lobbed up from midfield, ballooned over our defence on the 25 and landed in the circle. Our defenders all stopped, appearing to expect a whistle that wasn’t coming, one March player didn’t and he was unchallenged as he (very neatly, it must be said) reverse stick-volleyed the bouncing ball past Rob, who was rushing out to try and repair the situation. The next unforgiveable lapse came early it the second half, with the score at 1-1; the ball hit one of our feet inside our defensive 25, near the right touchline. Our players around the ball very politely stopped playing in anticipation of the whistle. One of the March forwards was significantly more alert, picking it up at pace, driving into the circle and finding a teammate who swept home.

Our goal had come fairly soon after March’s opener. Its source was Jacob, who drove down the right to the byline, and then cut the ball back to the top of the circle. Jan had to reach back to collect the pass, but such was the space afford he could turn and flick goalwards, beating the ‘keeper on his near post (a slight deflection along the way may have helped). We appeared not to learn the lessons of this goal, as our attackers and midfield failed to give second level options on other attacks, leading to a number of good pull-backs sailing untouched through the circle.

We didn’t create much else in the way of clear cut chances, with the best coming when Jan’s sideline hit picked out Simon’s run, but his deflection went past the near post. Instead it was March who had the best chance in the remainder of the game, a counter springing their right winger clean through, only for Rob to close down the angles, block the shot and kick the rebound clear.

The optimists view is that we may have finally got our squad right and be able to put out a settled team most weeks. With time playing together and the new formational masterplan, things will turn around. Pessimists look at the league table and see 0-0-8, and 8 points from safety. Next week, there is always next week.