A deserved win overall.
Too often the last game of the season can be a rather drab event and whilst this game was not the most entertaining one we'll have witnessed throughout the campaign, it did offer enough entertainment to lift it above the normal fare served up as the curtain finale.
Even though Croydon FC didn't have much to play for except pride, they did put a tremendous amount of effort in to the game but quite often came up short where it mattered the most, upfront, therefore, neither Collick or the defenders in front of him, had much to worry about during the 90+6 minutes.
Even when they did get near the Crows goal their attack faltered when they encountered Tear at centre-half and he was quite rightly awarded the Crow's Man of the Match by club sponsor Gayas Ali Ahmed Miah, owner of Raj Poot Indian restaurant in Crowborough.
The Crows however did have an incentive to get the points because a win and other results going their way would more than likely help the club achieve its highest finishing position in the SCEFL Premier Division since they joined for the 2014/15 season.
The Crows are now seventh in the league after the win against Croydon and can finish no lower than eighth with one match remaining in the SCEFL season, which is being played on 30th April at the Culverden Stadium between Tunbridge Wells and Deal Town.
Deal only need a point to move above the Crows, their goal difference being superior to the Crows, but a win for the Wells will see Deal finish in eighth and us in seventh. More importantly for the Crows though is that the club have broken through that fifty point barrier and psychologically, it should drive everyone on to do even better next season and then who knows where the club could finish.
The Crows dominated the possession throughout most of the match and always looked more like the team who was going to win the game from the kick-off, Biddlecombe and Mici being very active upfront, Ridley, Shea and Clarke supporting them at every opportunity whilst Butler looked after the back four of Carey, Boddy, Tear and Baitup whilst they in turn protected Collick to such an extent that he had hardly anything to do, especially in the first 45 minutes.
The Trams didn't have their first real effort on goal until the 60th minute however, that effort hit the bar and the rebound chance had to be palmed off the line by Collick and eventually the ball was cleared.
Crows had enough early shots mainly from the edge of the area but eventually took the lead in the 24th minute. Clarke was fouled mid-way inside the Croydon half and took the free-kick himself, hitting the ball into their area and as Carpanini tried to punch the ball away from the head of Boddy, it fell to Carey at the back post and he was able to put the Crows 1-0 up.
The rest of the half was spent around the Croydon FC penalty area and Ridley should have put the Crows 2-0 up just before half-time following a great team move, the ball was eventually passed in to the area by Carey to Ridley, his side-foot shot being well saved for a corner by Carpanini but perhaps the better option would have been for him to put his foot through the ball with some force.
Just before half-time Alford, the Trams left-back, had to be stretchered off after appearing to hurt his knee when turning to chase Clarke who had just knocked the ball past him but once he had departed the referee blew for half-time and the substitution was not made until the second-half started, Henry-Brown coming on in Alford's place.
The second-half carried on in much the same vein, even though it was a bit more of a scrappy game, Crows having more of the ball but in most cases where one team is more dominant than the other, there comes a point in the game, especially if the score is 0-0 or 1-0, that the team under the cosh has a spell where they start to have some of the ball themselves.
This happened for the Trams around the 65th minute and they were camped around the edge of the home side's penalty area for a good 5 minutes or so, eventually though, the Crows got back on top and regained some control of the game.
The match finally ended in the 90+6 minutes and the Crows did have opportunities to increase their lead, but Butler, Mici, Clarke and Shea all wasted some good efforts in the end and it finished 1-0 to the Crows.
All the substitutes, apart from Ollie Muggeridge, got on, Allen replacing Mici, Alex Carey replacing Biddlecombe and Rich coming on for Shea and if there was any downside to this win it was the yellow cards picked up by Butler and Allen for the Crows from match referee Gerry Heron, both for tackles but Allen's did seem to be a bit harsh in the context of a game where there wasn't one tackle anyone would describe as unacceptable.
Overall, the season has been a successful one, the fans have been entertained, the players have played some good football through the season and there's plenty to look forward to in the 2016/17 season, especially with the improvement already shown with the U21 squad since Jimmy Anderson took over.