The away day blues are banished.
Following last Saturday's excellent performance at home to Ashford United, the Crows travelled to the Badgers' Sports Ground, the home of Cray Valley PM, to play their tenants, Erith Town, full of confidence and if not presumptuous enough to be expecting a win, they were hopeful of achieveing their first league away win of the season.
When the team arrived to have a look at the pitch, it looked fairly good from a distance, however, the heavy use of sand in the key areas, the undulating areas which were frequent over the whole surface and a slight slope soon made one think that we may not be seeing a game where the ball stayed mainly on the deck.
There were two changes from the side which played Ashford United, the injured Dan Tear, who'll be out for two to four weeks with a knee injury, was replaced by Tom Cameron and Ryan Waterman who had to miss out due to suspension, was replaced by Jack Funnell. Sam Carrington was once again on the bench as he recovers from his long term angle operation.
Both Tom and Jack played their part in this game and were involved in every area of the team, from defence, to midfield, to the forward line and when he came on, Sam made a nuisance of himself, as did Connor Charlton and Damarli Morrison when introduced late on in the second half.
The Crows won the toss and defended the slope in the first half and went on the offensive from the off, pinning the home side in the own half and the only way the Dockers could relieve the pressure was by hitting the ball long and asking their two wingers, who did have some pace, to chase after the ball, more often than not a chase they lost.
With Barton, Ridley, Funnell and Treleaven being at the forefront of this early onslaught, the Crows really should have been 1-0 up as early as the 7th minute, Funnell came off his wing position and was found by an excellent ball by Barton and as he burst in to the area and rounded the 'keeper, his ankle was grabbed by the prostrate Erith Town custodian and had he gone down, a certain penalty would have been assured.
However, he was honest enough to stay on his feet and carried on to shoot but the stumble and loss of momentum gave a defender the time he needed to just back in time and to clear the ball to safety. Jack deserves praise for his honesty in trying to stay upright but the referee should have awarded a penalty anyway, he was clearly fouled and one should not have to hit the deck to get a penalty for what would have been a free kick anywhere else on the pitch.
It took the home side 12 minutes to have their first shot, which was high and wide but in the 13th minute they took the lead with an excellent free kick from 20 yards out. May be the Crows will reflect on the fact that it was a needless free kick to give away but a free kick it was in a central position and Gonnella took advantage of the uncertainty Collick, in the Crow's goal, must have been feeling, by hitting the ball high to the stoppers left and into the back of the net.
Until recently this may have led to the Crows conceding again fairly soon but not now and the away side went on the attack straight away. They forced a corner, in the 15th minute, which Ridley took short to Treleaven who controlled the ball before passing back to Ridley, his low hard cross was met by Ademiluyi some 8 yards out and despite his shot being scuffed slightly and the Erith Town 'keeper getting his hand to the ball, it crossed the line to the delight of the away fans for an equaliser.
For the rest of the half it was really one way traffic with Erith Town giving away a succession of free kicks around their area, which eventually led to their number 5, Holder, being shown a yellow card for grabbing Ridley in a wrestling hold after he'd beaten him on the half way line with a neat piece of nimble footwork.
Ademiluyi probably had the best chance to put the Crows 2-1 up when he hit a half-volley from some 8 yards out but the 'keeper made a very good save and the corner came to nothing. If there could be any negatives about the first half performance, it would be that they didn't score that second goal whilst being in total control and that the final ball sometimes was just not quite there but that would be nit-picking somewhat and at half time the Crows were definitely the happier of the two teams.
Despite the home side having a good talking to by their manager at the break, signified by the fact that they were out of the dressing room ahead of the Crows, the second half carried on where the first finished with the Crows on top.
One felt that in the end the pressure would tell and in the 54th minute the away side got the goal their play deserved when Ridley worked his way into the home sides penalty area and squared the ball to Treleaven some 12 yards out who fired the Crows ahead with a true shot and therefore it was 2-1 and the Crows looked comfortable.
It could have and maybe it should have been, 3-1 some 4 minutes later, as Treleaven put Funnell through on goal but his shot on the angle just went inches over the bar, although some felt a square ball across the goal may have proven more rewarding for the team.
Disaster struck only a couple of minutes later as the home side made it 2-2 from a free kick, with tall centre back and captain, Carter, neatly putting the ball across Collick on the angle and into the net, a skilful finish for such a tall, defensive player.
Again, this setback did not derail the Crows and back on the attack they went again, pushing the Erith Town side towards their own area which resulted in the home side persistently infringing the laws of the game and in sheer frustration, Butler, picked up a yellow card for dissent as he voiced his concerns to referee Greenfield.
In the 71st minute the pressure told finally as a move which started in the Crows half as Collick passed the ball to Cameron, led to Ridley putting the ball away after it was parried out by the goalkeeper. Funnell, who received the ball from Cameron, held the ball up well which gave the marauding Cameron time to go past him and deep into the opposition half, Funnell was able to find him and when the 'keeper couldn't hold the ball, Ridley was Johnny-on-the-spot for 3-2.
The game now became an end-to-end affair as the home side tried to get a point and the Crows tried to extend the lead and guarantee the spoils on the day. With that in mind, in the 81st minute Ademiluyi was replaced by Carrington and an Erith Town player received their second yellow card of the day in the 86th minute.
As full time was approaching the home side's resolve seemed to be broken and for the rest of the game, there was 6 minutes of stoppage time added, the ball was camped in the Erith Town half. In the 88th minute Charlton and Morrison replaced Treleaven and Ridley and this gave the team some added energy in the midfield and forward areas as limbs were now starting to ache.
Even though there weren't many scares in the Crows half there was still time for yet another home player to get a yellow card and it's easy to see why they were bottom of the Respect table for September and my betting they will be bottom of it for October as well.
In the end a deserved win for the Crows and another excellent performance from everyone involved, therefore, it would be wrong to single out any individual performance as, collectively, the side was combative, competitive, skilful and inventive and if they keep this level of performance up from now until the end of the season, then more wins, home and away, will ensue and our points total will increase accordingly.