Town made the trip to 2nd placed Frenford Senior on Saturday with basically a bare 11 players – the missing list included Jeater (suspended), Stuart Dallaway and Mark Brereton (both injured) and Flighty and Wiggy both of whom, rather disappointedly, obviously found something better to do which is fine but a phone call wouldn’t have gone amiss - Lodgey, also struggling with an injury started as sub, and my thanks go to Gary Minns (Ready’s brother in law) who came along to watch and ended up doing us a favour by signing on and also doing bench duties, just in case.

When the game started Town were slow out of the blocks and Frenford dominated the opening 10 minutes and missed a good chance to take the lead when an incisive passing move ripped through the Town defence but the Frenford striker “on the stretch” put the ball just over the bar from close range. Towns settled down a bit and started to get the ball down and play and a good passage of play followed during which Polley was upended in the box for what looked like a clear penalty but the ref decided otherwise. It was now end to end stuff with Frenford playing some very neat football and Town starting to look dangerous on the break. Frenford looked especially dangerous from free kicks and corners where their delivery was excellent, but Chris Neal in the Town goal relieved a lot of pressure with some excellent handling, punching and catching. Polley then latched onto a long through ball and rounded the keeper but was driven wide – he checked back inside and hit a fierce shot goal wards but the Frenford keeper recovered and made a fabulous save to keep the scores level at 0-0. After about 30 minutes, Towns only available fit striker on the day, Polley, strained his back and although he struggled on through the pain barrier and manfully completed the game his effectiveness was considerably reduced from then on. Half time arrived to end a fairly even first half with chances at a premium at both ends.

The second half kicked off and again the play was fairly even with neither team able to create any clear cut scoring chances. Ten minutes into the second half came 2 deciding moments in a 3 minute spell, during which keeper Chris Neal, having been absolutely superb in recent weeks had, by his own admission, “a bit of a mare” - first of all by allowing a weak speculative shot from 25 yards to squirm under his body and then punching an in-swinging corner into his own net – although he will feel “gutted” he also needs to remember that he has been outstanding in recent weeks and that’s how the cookie crumbles - Being a Goalkeeper can be unforgiving and cruel. To their great credit after an initial rocky 5 minute spell immediately after the 2 goals, Town had a real go and although far from fit Polley still tested Frenfords excellent defence and was denied on a couple of occasions by some superbly timed last ditch tackles. The declinature of penalties was then evened up as Ready accidentally, but quite clearly handled the ball in the area but fortunately for us, the ref didn’t spot it - Lodgey came on at the back allowing Town to send Dave Martin up front in an effort to use his pace against tiring legs which he did to great effect – with 10 minutes left Polley latched onto a ball went round a defender and “placed” the ball into the bottom corner with his left foot from the edge of the box – 2 - 1 and game on. Urged forward by the impressive central midfield pairing of Mark Neal and Andy Allen, ably supported by the 2 youngsters on the flanks Matt Macedo and Brad Merrick and Chris Headons probing passes, Town now really went for it and in doing so left themselves exposed at the back and Grandy, Lodgey and Ready had to resort to some desperate last ditch defending of their own. With virtually the last attack of the game, Matt Macedo put in a superb cross from the left but it was a shade high and Lodgey was just unable to get over it and his header went just over the bar. The final whistle went and the dejection of the Town players was clear to see but, despite the lack of points, I was proud of their performance on the day and cannot ask any more of them.

Despite all the problems with injuries and missing players this was another excellent performance and the truth of the matter is that in the last 2 weeks we have played Top and Second in the league, and at the very least matched them both and deserved to get something out of both games – however, we are now entering “must win” territory and if the team continues to perform like they have done in the last 2 games I remain confident and optimistic although the club have officially announced to the press today that they have conceded the title race for this season

Oh by the way it was nice to see WBB when we arrived back at the clubhouse – maybe if he could have got his more than ample gluteus maximus out of bed a bit earlier he could have earned his second cap of the season.

Player of the match this week is Ben Polley, not necessarily because he put in a great performance – more for his willingness to “give it all for the cause” whilst in considerable pain.

El Col