…We managed that, all the cars completing the one hundred-plus miles up to north-east Lincs in plenty of time, but not the other one about keeping on playing until the final whistle sounded.

We started the match slowly, as if taken aback that Louth were willing to sprint about the place in pursuit of victory. Holes were appearing in defence and midfield, and frankly it was no great surprise when the hosts took the lead, George producing a good stop to prevent a clean through player scoring but then being completely exposed when a forward was first to the loose ball.

Fortunately this appeared to wake our side up to the danger we were in and the effort levels began to climb as more runners were tracked. It was still touch-and-go at the back at times but by somewhat blunting Louth’s attacks we were also getting more play at their end of the pitch. And some of that pressure led to an equaliser, Jan knocking a free hit back to JT, whose drag swept crash ball looked to be racing through harmlessly until it hit a defender’s foot nearly on his own goal line. The ball popped loose, the young home umpire played a good advantage and Raj buried it from point blank range into the open empty net.

Half time brought relief that we were all-square, somewhat against the run of play, and a positional re-jig in the hope of an improved performance in the second period. This worked immediately, the side looking much more comfortable in the new set-up and beginning to move the ball around rather than trying to dribble it.

Dribbling did work occasionally though, such as when Matt burst into the Louth circle, rode a number of robust challenges but kept powering on. OK, in truth this was more of a bundle than a dribble, but it did end up with the ball in the home net…and then everything seemed to pause. Louth were claiming loudly that it had hit Matt’s foot, Matt was equally insistent it hadn’t, the umpires hesitated and hesitated having not apparently had clear views of the incident…eventually awarding a sixteen.

Anyway, it didn’t count, so we still had goals to find. And find them we did, Dave hammering in a typically thunderous penalty corner strike that megged the Louth keeper, who seemed beaten for pace. And a really good third, JT breaking up a Louth attack with a tackle and instant distribution to JJ in acres of space high and wide on the left (a position he was repeatedly available in but one we didn’t succeed in getting our heads up early enough to make full use of). JJ drew one of the few remaining defenders and fed it on to Matt, who spun past the keeper and threaded the ball into a narrowing gap between the covering defender and the near post with an accurate flick.

Three-one up away to a side that had won seven out of eight at home previously and had never conceded more than twice on their own patch. We were nearly there for a really good win, but as our twelve man squad began to tire noticeably, getting to the line with three points intact was still a big ask. Louth, themselves still very much in the promotion chase, threw bodies forwards which produced their first short of the game with eight minutes left. Neil was out swiftly to block the initial shot. Unluckily this good piece of defensive play rebounded as the ball looped high across the circle and dropped nicely for the Louth centre-forward whose crisp shot was too hot for a turning and off-balance George to keep out.

We were within sixty seconds of the end when it all went wrong. A dribble to the top of the circle had our players appealing for a free hit rather than playing to the whistle (we CANNOT DO THIS, guys. CANNOT!). The pass in was blocked though and ran free. However a forward was the first to react to it. He chased it. Retrieved it. Turned and shot. It deflected. And went in. F*cksticks.

Wales, we know how you feel.