Lapses in concentration cost the Crows dear.
I'm sure many of the fans who travelled to watch the Crows on Saturday against AFC Croydon Athletic at the Mayfield Stadium, will have been disappointed by the overtly physical approach to the beautiful game employed by our hosts.
In my personal opinion, the Rams are the most physical side the Crows have played in the SCEFL since the club joined the league at the start of the 2014/15 season. This is probably backed up by the fact that they have received around twenty-one yellow cards and had three players sent off during their last six odd games.
There is nothing wrong with a team being very physical as long as it stays within the Laws of the game, however, there were a few times on Saturday that the line was crossed, in my opinion and a couple of our players suffered, notably Callum Ridley and Sam Carrington.
When you are playing a physical side you hope that your players do not become too physical themselves and that you have a strong set of officials taking control of the game, however, once again, the Crows were let down by the officials who did not seem to have control from the off or were having one of their better games overall.
For anyone who didn't travel to the game, a total of thirteen yellow cards, eight for the Rams, five for the Crows, plus one red card, Carrington being sent off for receiving two of our five yellows, gives a fair indication of the type of game it was and the lack of control the officials had.
Having said all of the above, the Rams deserved to win in the end because they scored more goals than the Crows and you cannot blame the match officials for the fact our players made individual errors in and around the penalty area and did not defend well enough when the ball was crossed into the area from either corners or free kicks.
The latter problem of defending crosses into the area as a team is now becoming an all too frequent and recurring issue for the Crows and they are conceding far too many goals in this manner, therefore, I can see some training sessions are required, rather urgently, so hopefully, in our next away game at Lordswood on Saturday, crosses are dealt with in a better fashion.
As for the match itself, the Rams started as they meant to carry on throughout the game, the motto employed being "you shall not pass under any circumstances", whilst haranguing the match referee at every opportunity when a decision didn't go their way.
They did have the first player booked, Djiman getting a yellow card after retaliating to a tackle by Biddlecombe, however, their next booking didn't come along until the 39th minute and a further two yellows for them followed in the next 6 minutes, however, the action was too late from the referee and the tone had been set by then.
By the half time whistle went, the score was 1-1, the Rams taking the lead from a penalty in the 22nd minute, Jagger having been adjudged to have committed the foul, for which he saw yellow and Sterling-Parker duly converted the opportunity.
Prior to that goal, Carrington, twice, and Biddlecombe had chances to put the Crows in front but these were not taken and Jansen really should have buried a gilt-edged opportunity from a header but fortunately for the Crows it went wide.
Parity was restored in the 39th minute, Biddlecombe was brought down in the area by Martin, who, rather oddly, didn't receive a yellow card and Biddlecombe duly despatched the penalty past Burnett in the Rams goal.
Two yellow cards were handed out at this time though, Carrington becoming the second Crow to be booked when he queried why Martin had not been booked as Jagger had been, something that later on was to prove costly for the Crows and then Harwood saw yellow for debating whether a stonewall penalty was in fact a penalty at all rather bizarrely.
Before the break, Sterling-Parker got a yellow card for a rather late tackle on Hollick and Martin got a yellow card, eventually, when another late tackle went in on a Crow's player. So half time was reached with the score at 1-1 and 4-2 in yellow cards to them.
For the start of the second half, Blake replaces Jansen for the Rams but it was the Crows who started the better, Burnett having to make a great save from Ridley in the 50th minute, Waterman curled a shot just wide and a couple of last ditch tackles by Higgins kept the score at 1-1.
During this early period of pressure, Shea became the third Crow to be booked in the 52nd minute for a tackle and the Crows were punished in the 56th minute for their inability to deal with crosses as Martin restores the Rams lead.
Only 3 minutes later, parity should have been restored once more, Shea making a great run from his own area and into the Rams area before passing the ball to Carrington, who with the goal at his mercy, back-heels it wide of the net.
In the 62nd minute, Maclean became the Rams fifth booking after a late tackle on Waterman and in the 67th minute, Smith became the Rams sixth booking before a minute later, Hollick had a header cleared off the line.
The Crows continued to press, Shea having two shots saved in quick succession by the home goalkeeper, Burnett, with some difficulty it has to be said, however, in the 74th minute, 2-1 became 3-1, the ball being given away on the edge of our area rather needlessly and Sterling-Parker was able to tuck the ball away.
Probably to save him being sent off, the Rams replaced Smith with Pearson almost immediately and in the 78th minute, Burnett became the seventh Ram to be booked for time-wasting as they looked to protect their 3-1 lead.
The game became a bit stretched and scrappy, if that was even more possible, and Waterman was at the end of another tackle, this time by Blake in the 81st minute, the referee showing a Ram a yellow card for the eighth time, whilst Biddlecombe gets a yellow for a challenge by a corner flag.
Immediately the Crows make a double substitution, Baitup coming on for Butler and Muggeridge coming on for the injured Biddlecombe, however, in the 85th minute, Carrington is fouled and a free kick is awarded to the Crows but to everyone's amazement, he gets a second yellow, therefore, a red, as he apparently asked the referee whether he saw any violent conduct perpetrated on him by a Rams player but the referee sees the question as dissent and he has to leave the field of play.
In the 89th minute, 3-1 became 4-1, Higgins, who had played well during the whole game, even though he often tread a fine line with the physicality, was able to head home from yet another cross the Crows could not deal with effectively.
In the end the final whistle went after 90+5 minutes and the Rams took the three points whilst the Crows were left to lick their wounds in many ways as they left the pitch for the sanctuary of the dressing room.
To conclude, the Crows can complain about the referee and his assistants and the perceived lack of support and protection offered to them but that would only mask the fact that they didn't take a number of chances that came their way and then they didn't defend, as a team, well enough when they needed to, therefore, perhaps the saying that "you get what you deserve sometimes" is something that needs to be listened to.