Trams don't see the points.
If I had not seen our last two games against AFC Croydon Athletic and last night's against Croydon FC I'd have to say I wouldn't believe the difference between the two could be so marked.
Whilst Saturday's match was a rather turgid affair with very little creative play from us, last night's was full of attacking intentions right from the start. The tempo of the side was better, their defending from the front was very evident, the passing was far more accurate and the movement all over the pitch was a joy to watch.
The Trams got the match underway but for nearly the whole of the first half they hardly saw the ball in our defensive area, as the Crows poured forward with Shea and Crabb out-wide creating havoc and they were always the out-ball for our defenders or midfield players whenever needed.
Things didn't look so good for the Crows though in the 5th minute as Burbridge in the Crows goal came out of his area to head a ball away, only to be clattered with a late challenge by the Trams number nine, Dual-Kessie, and Burbridge was left lying in a heap whilst the offending player was only shown a yellow card when perhaps a red would've been more appropriate.
After lengthy treatment, Burbridge had to leave the field with the aid of people supporting him and Ellis had to come on in his place to take over between the sticks. In the end Burbridge had to go off to hospital to have his knee looked at due to the pain he was in apparently.
Whilst on Saturday the Crows only had one effort on target in the whole game, against the Trams they had a total of fourteen shots during the 90 minutes, seven in each half, and six of those efforts required their goalkeeper to make a save and two others led to goals for Carey and Carrington in the second half.
The flow off the game was also helped by the referee's whistle not going every 15 seconds, although my personal opinion is that he allowed too many physical and dangerous tackles go but gave free kicks for trivial incidents in areas which would not cause anyone consternation or concern.
Still, the Crows stood firm and imposed themselves on the game and the opposition in the first 45 minutes and the only thing that concerned the Crow fans as the half time whistle blew was that it was still 0-0 and chances had gone a-begging yet again.
The tea must have been more enjoyable though than the ones on Saturday, especially for those who like partake in such things, not me I might add. All we could hope for as spectators was that the team would carry on as well as they had played in the first 45 and that the break had not come at the wrong time for us.
However, with the Crows getting the second period underway it was obvious that the team had every intention of carrying on in the same vein as the first period, on the front foot from the off and putting the opposition under constant pressure.
In the 48th minute, after some neat team play and a great layback, Carey curled a wonderful effort with the outside of his right foot in to the top corner of the Trams net, thus making it 1-0 to the Crows, much to everyone's joy.
One thought that this would trigger a response from the home side but it was still the Crows who looked the more likely to score the next goal, Ellis hardly being troubled at all and mainly having to catch routine crosses in to the box from the Trams.
In the end the pressure did tell and a second goal for the Crows arrived in the 64th minute. A Crows effort was hastily cleared for a corner, which Carey took and his cross went to the back corner of the area where Carrington was waiting, he looked up, picked his spot and curled a great shot in to the top corner and it was 2-0.
The home side then made a flurry of quick substitutions as they tried to recover the situation but whilst it did give them another dimension at times, our defence looked composed throughout and protected Ellis very well.
Even though the Crows were 2-0 up and looking comfortable, they still went in search of more goals and we all thought that Biddlecombe had scored as we neared the end of the game, however, his effort somehow stayed out and was cleared.
As time was running out, Walder came off and Butler went on in the 87th minute and then in the 89th minute, Crabb came off to be replaced by Slocombe. All in all it was a totally different performance to the one we witnessed on Saturday and there was a lot more of creative football played by us and therefore, a lot more chances were created.
A straw-poll of the visiting supporters gave the Crow's Man of the Match award to Sam Carrington for his all-round game on the night, he defended when he had to, made some exciting surging runs at the home defence and scored a great goal.
Everyone who wore the away red shirt of the Crows deserves praise though, it was a great team performance from start to finish and is, in my opinion, the first 90 minute performance the team have put in this season, long may it continue.