Need to keep the Faith (and Conlon too).
It would be fair to say that this match did not reach the heights of last week's game against Ashford United, mainly due to the pitch being a bit heavier, the wind slightly stronger and the visitors did not really come to attack us as much as the Nuts and Bolts did seven days ago.
However, whilst the Crows weren't at their sparkling best, they did enough to quell most things the Oaks threw at them, mainly from corners and free kicks and the back four of the Crows restricted the visitors to one solitary shot on target in the whole 90+4 minutes, which Faith saved for a corner.
At the other end, Biddlecombe, Conlon, Clarke, Shea and Waterman gave the defenders of the Oaks a tough time all afternoon as their movement and pace stretched the visitors from side to side and through the middle, which meant that 16 year old Earls in the Oaks goal was kept on his toes throughout the match.
The Crows started the half very brightly, forcing a corner within the first minute, as well as having the first shot at goal, Ridley finding Earls just in the right place for him to gather.
However, the Oaks had pressure themselves, mainly from corners and free kicks, a couple of which got through the Crow's rearguard only to be headed wide, anything else was calmly dealt with by Faith in the Crowborough Athletic goal.
The Crows went one-nil up in the 19th minute, a long ball down the left hand side of the Oaks defence by Boddy caused confusion between a defender and his debutant 'keeper and whilst they hesitated, Shea nipped in between them to lob the ball over the stranded goalkeeper.
The rest of the half was spoilt somewhat by too many free kicks being given away by either side for what were mainly petty fouls, although Edwards did see yellow for a rather heavy tackle on Waterman in the 30th minute.
The home side were sharper going forward than their visitors and had chances to increase the lead however, these were wasted by either poor finishing or by the wrong option being selected by the player in possession, therefore, we reached the half time break with the Crows 1-0 up.
The home supporters were looking for more of the same in the second half but perhaps with a bit more fluidity and more precision with the final ball and the passing compared to the first period.
Again, the Crows started the brighter and Skelton became the second Oaks player to see yellow, getting booked in the 48th minute for disputing a decision awarded by the assistant referee whilst contesting with Matthews for the ball.
Chances came and went for the Crows, Shea, Ridley, Conlon and Biddlecombe all had opportunities, of varying degrees, to increase the home side's advantage but failed to do so.
Shea became the first Crow to get booked in the 54th minute when he reacted to what he felt was a foul but the referee saw it otherwise and didn't like his reaction. Clarke soon followed him into the referee's book in the 57th minute however, from the resulting free kick awarded to us, the Crows went 2-0 up.
The kick was taken quickly and Matthews eventually found Biddlecombe just inside the area and to the right of the Oaks goal, he composed himself and fired the ball into the back of the net, beating 'keeper Earls at his near post from some fifteen yards out.
In the 66th minute and being 2-0 down, the Oaks started to ring the changes, Skelton and Quan going off to be replaced by McCarthy, another 16 year old, and Ansah, these substitutions did lift the Oaks and for the first time in the match, the home side came under some concerted pressure.
However, it was the Crows who got the next goal, their third, as Matthews scored his first goal for the club by beating Earls, again at his near post, after being found by Biddlecombe inside the area. This third goal was practically a carbon copy of the Crow's second goal with Biddlecombe returning the favour for Matthews' assist earlier on.
The home side made heavy weather of the last 20 minutes in reality, at 3-0 up it should have been quite easy to see the game out but to be fair, the Oaks never gave up and they started to dominate possession, especially when Miles replaced Gilbert in the 75th minute.
In an effort to tighten things up, Shea went off to be replaced by Butler, however, Oaks got their reward in the 83rd minute, Lord bundling the ball into the net after it appeared Faith had gathered the ball cleanly and had it under control, but the goal was awarded and it was 3-1.
Biddlecombe was then replaced in the 85th minute by Carrington and two minutes later Clarke had the ball in the net but the assistant ruled he was off side and therefore, the effort was disallowed.
As the game petered out, Matthews saw a yellow card, definitely a booking taken for the team as the Oaks broke away and we're looking dangerous and then Conlon shot wide when well placed after being found by a great cross from Carrington.
Just before the end, the visitors went down to ten men, Edwards having to hobble off injured and with all substitutes having been used, the Oaks had no choice but to play the last minute of normal time and the four minutes of added on time with one less player on the pitch.
Therefore, the match finished 3-1 to the Crows and most of the 167 spectators went home happy, even though perhaps, it was not such a Champagne performance as we've become used to watching of late.
However, it's a measure of how far the squad has developed over the last month or so that the performance appeared to be below par, but in reality there would have been a good chance we may have lost that game earlier in the season which never really looked like happening this time.
All round it was a competent team performance and therefore, the Man of the Match award went to the whole side rather than any individual and this seemed to go down well with the supporters in the clubhouse bar after the game.