Sometimes you have to win ugly.
There's no doubt that the squad have been playing some Champagne football of late, scoring goals for fun, entertaining us whilst doing so and defending as if their lives depended on it when, on the odd occasion, the opposition have threatened our goal. However, on Tuesday night, against a good Haywards Heath Town side, who currently lie second in the Southern Combination League Premier Division, they had to show every aspect of the game from start to finish.
In the opening minute of the game a flowing move from the Crows saw a curling effort from our captain, Carey, fly just over the bar and then only two minutes later, a move involving Treleaven, Carrington, Attwood and Muggeridge, saw the latter put the ball past a diving Shaw in the Town goal and in to the corner of the net for a 1-0 lead to the Crows. My description of it here does not do the goal justice but had it been on Sky TV, you'd have seen it over and over again, what a goal to start the game.
However, The Blues didn't let that faze them and they started to get in to the match again, even though most of the possession was still with the Crows, chances for either side were few and far between. The Blues did have a good effort after 14 minutes but the shot was well saved by Ellis in the Crows goal and the ball was gathered up successfully.
Both sides had a few corners and a few free kicks, one free kick given away by the Crows led to a yellow card for Carey in the 29th minute and the Haywards Heath Town forward line were caught offside a few times by a well-marshalled defensive unit, Ellis in the Crows goal wearing the Sheriff's badge.
The game did get a bit fractious at times when players were tackled and the match referee did make some curious decisions, not only in the first half, but in the second half as well. To my mind the number of times he spoke to both captains and to both of his assistants during the match was too many, whether that was because he did see incidents very clearly or not, I don't know, all I can say is he wore glasses when he arrived but wasn't wearing them on the pitch.
It also has to be said that at times the players on both sides and the away bench didn't make things easy for him, he even spoke to them as well after the assistant referee drew something to his attention, however, no action was taken then and may be had he been stronger earlier on, then we may have all seen a better game.
The visitors got their only yellow card in the 36th minute, Rouane getting it for dissent it seemed to me, perhaps he was a tad unlucky though when you consider some of the full-bloodied tackles that were going in from both teams, some punished with free kicks, others weren't, although the visitors were to suffer a red card later on.
Half time was reached with the Crows leading 1-0 from the one bit of great football played in the first 45 minutes and all those watching hoped that the situation would improve during the second 45 minute period, we could only wonder if that would be the case. It was not that either team wasn't trying to play good football but time and space just weren't there when anyone had the ball due to the pace of the match throughout.
The second half started with the away side putting some pressure on the Crows and keeping them in their half for periods of time, however, they never really gave Eliis much to do, mainly thanks to the effort all of the players in front of him were putting in. He did have a few corners to deal with and a few crosses, however, any shots which were aimed at his goal were normally blocked by any one of the three centre-backs, Turner, Trotter and Boddy.
Still, the Crows had efforts of their own, Muggeridge probably having the best of these in the 57th minute but his effort went wide of the target and the score remained 1-0 to the Crows. in the 61st minute Treleaven replaced Carrington, who had worked very hard for the team since the start and we all hoped that Ross may provide that spark we needed to secure the result.
There's no doubt that he brought that bit of extra pace upfront and in the 65th minute the Crows were awarded a corner, Carey took it and Treleaven rose above everyone to put the ball in the net from some six yards out, 2-0 to Crows and a sigh of relief from all the Crow supporters.
The game was from then on pretty even although the visitors did have a crazy 20 second spell in the 80th minute when Ellis tipped an effort on to the crossbar, then the follow up effort was headed of the line, only for another follow up effort to be cleared off the line, sometimes you just know you're never going to score when that sort of thing happens.
Just after this incident, Walder and Treleaven incurred the wrath of the referee in the 81st minute, who once again had to consult his assistant after a minor fracas near the dugouts, the upshot was that Walder went on to the card, as they do these days.
A minute later, Muggeridge went off and Shea came on to freshen things up and to put a fresh pair of legs on to the pitch as the clock was ticking away. However, it was Town who created the next effort with the ball ending up in the back of the net in the 85th minute, unfortunately for them, the goal was disallowed for offside as the assistant had his flag raised. Even this required the referee to go and have a private chat with him but the decision was made and offside it was, still 2-0 Crows.
One strange incident for me happened in the 90th minute, Attwood was sent clean through and he knocked the ball forward, this gave the goalkeeper Shaw the chance, or so he thought, to race out of his area and try to clear the ball away, however, Zac got there first and knocked the ball around him, clean through on goal even though at an angle, Zac duly popped the ball in to the net from the most acute angle imaginable, only to find out the referee had blown his whistle before he did so.
Why the advantage wasn't played only the referee knows but he adjudged it as stopping a clear goal scoring opportunity and Shaw was shown a straight red card. To me this was rather harsh, I'm sure Howard Webb and Dermott Gallagher will disagree with me but why not let play go, let the goal stand and show a yellow card if you really wanted to punish the player.
Another odd thing about this game was that there was a total of 7 minutes stoppage time played, enough time even for Unwin to come on to the pitch in the 95th minute to replace the hard-working Attwood, and whilst I know each substitution should be allowed for, 30 seconds I believe, where the other 4 minutes came from I don't think anyone apart from the referee knows, after all neither physiotherapist had been on the pitch the whole game.
A win is a win as they say and I was not the only person to say in the bar after the game that this win pleased me just as much as the win at Deal Town on Saturday, whilst it may not have been a sparkling game, sometimes you have to do what it takes to win a game, if that means the game is ugly, than I'm more that happy to have won this won in an ugly fashion.