One game too many perhaps?
A resolute defensive performance by Cray Valley PM saw them do a real "smash and grab" victory against the Crows at the Community Stadium.
It does have to be remembered of course, that defending is just as much an art in football as attacking is, after all when the opposition have the ball, all your players are defenders in reality and when you have the ball, all your players are attackers, it's quite simple really.
It's also a complement to us that Cray Valley PM came in to the game knowing that they would have to play well defensively if they were to get anything from the game therefore, it shouldn't have been a surprise to anyone that they set themselves up to be hard to breakdown and would do anything to prevent us from scoring within the Laws of the game.
Apart from the opening couple of minutes the Crows dominated possession throughout the first 45 minutes and did create some chances, although they were mainly from distance or from the central area around the visitors penalty area, where most of their players were congregated.
We were not able to get behind them enough as they defended deep and could not make use of any space out wide when the chance came around. Crosses were normally put in to their area either from deep or from the wings some 30/40 yards out.
In all honesty neither goalkeeper was worked or tested enough throughout the whole game, Collick in the home goal played most of the match as a sweeper and the Cray Valley PM stopper was very well protected by his team mates in front of him.
The second half followed a pattern much the same as the first half, although it was a bit more even in possession terms, it was still the Crows attack versus the Cray Valley PM defence and we found it very tough to create anything clear cut.
As the half wore on you felt that this game was a definite 0-0 if neither team made any mistakes or at best it would be 1-0 and as in most cases it seems in matches like this, the team that scores that goal will normally end up being the winning team.
In the 69th minute a goal did arrive and it did come from a mistake. The Crows gave the ball away a bit too easily in the midfield area and the visitors were able to pass the ball forward quickly to their attacker Bremner, Collick in the Crows goal had to make a quick split decision, either to stick or twist, he chose to stick, therefore, Bremner was allowed to reach the ball first, take it around Collick and slot the ball home.
The visitors had what they wanted, a goal and it was not in their interests to do anything else but carry on doing what they had all game so far, defend deep and do it well, the onus was on us to attack better than what we had been doing for the previous 70 minutes.
However, despite bringing Treleaven, Biddlecombe and Crabb on, we were not able to get back on even terms and the final whistle blew and our unbeaten run in the league had come to an end.
When you lose a game it's natural to look for reasons why it happened and it can't be ignored that some players were involved in the Peacehaven & Telscombe match which lasted 120 minutes on Tuesday, we then had the A26 Derby on Saturday against Tunbridge Wells at the Culverden Stadium and all the hype and emotions that surround that fixture plus we the then had to play this fixture on the Bank Holiday.
It's true to say that there was some rotation carried out within the squad for those games but in many cases it was still the same 14 players used and may be some fatigue did come in to play. Whatever the reason though, you cannot deny that the visitors put on a great show of how to defend as a unit and you definitely can't deny the effort and commitment they put in to get the win.
The Crows will just have to dust themselves down and prepare for another tough home game this Saturday when they face AFC Croydon Athletic in the SCEFL and the kick off is 3:00pm. They have also made a good start to the season and if last season was anything to go by, it will be quite a physical encounter.