Hard to trust the bounce or pitch.
Let's be honest and say that the omens for us watching a good game of football were not good as we arrived at Rede Court Road for our latest away journey in the SCEFL.
Once you emerged from the cosy environment of your particular mode of transport that got you there, it was evident that a strong wind was blowing diagonally across the pitch from one corner flag to the other and you didn't need to be Sherlock Holmes to work it out either, as there was a rather large smoke cloud heading in the same direction from a bonfire started next to the ground by a keen and helpful gardener it seemed.
Personally, I didn't go and investigate the cause of this rather large plume of smoke which was filling the air and obscuring the opposite side of the pitch and where the dug-outs were situated, safe to say all we hoped for was that it had dispersed by the time the players came out to do their warm-up routine, which it did by the way.
Another omen which seemed to conspire against the players was the rather uneven and rock hard pitch they would have to play on, of course it's the same for both teams, however, once the game started it became clear the home side don't really care how uneven or bumpy the pitch might be, the ball doesn't spend much time on it.
It also became clear why Rochester United have remained unbeaten in the league so far this season as they are a very organised, solid team who work hard for each other, are physical to a level that takes the Laws of the Game to the limit and get the ball forward as quickly as possible, therefore, not having to trust the pitch surface.
Having said all of that, the Crows started brightly in the first half but the momentum of the game was not helped by a referee who gave three free kicks for rather innocuous tackles inside the first 2 minutes, there were twenty-two free kicks in the first 45 minutes for fouls or offside in total and most of those were in easy areas of the pitch to award, whilst later on in the game players could get away with challenges that would draw an assault charge if perpetrated anywhere else other than this particular football pitch.
The Crows took the lead in the 10th minute from a corner routine, eventually the ball found it's way back to taker Carey and his accurate deep cross deceived everyone, including the United 'keeper Elder, as it flew in to the corner of the net from some twenty yards out on the angle, 1-0 and deservedly so.
The wind soon started to affect how both teams played and the ball seemed to spend an ordinate amount of time in the air, so much so that Dan Tear, who was playing on the right hand side of the Crows defence on the dug-out side of the pitch, threw the ball in to play more times than he actually kicked it whilst it was in play.
That's not to say that both teams were not trying to give the 49 spectators some excitement but under the conditions efforts at goal were few and far between, six in total, three from each side and the best of those was a 25-yard effort from Attwood after 30 minutes which went inches past Elder's right-hand post.
Whilst quite a few players escaped any punishment for misdemeanours carried out by them, Carrington became the first player to see yellow in the 44th minute, again it was a foul and an easy free-kick to award as it was on the half-way line and not in a more contentious area of the pitch.
With the Crows 1-0 up the home side made a double substitution at the start of the second-half, Alderman and Collis going off to be replaced by Hume and Hurcumb as they looked to get themselves back in to the game.
Still the wind blew, still the ball spent most of its time over on the opposite side of the pitch to where most spectators were congregated and still it proved very hard for either side to gain control over.
The referee carried on in much the same vein as he had in the first-half, too many free-kicks (18) were awarded for what most people, both home and away, felt were 50/50 challenges but awarded nothing, especially to us, when more vigorous challenges happened on the edge of the home team's penalty area, just ask Attwood, Carrington and especially John Shea, who had to leave the pitch after a particular challenge left him writhing in agony after a kick in the "Crown Jewels", never a good thing at the best of times. He was replaced by Wayne Clarke in the 71st minute as he headed towards the dressing room area walking rather gingerly.
Only 2 minutes later Pearson had to go off with a recurrence of his recent knee injury, to be replaced by Jack Allen from the reserve team squad, however, the Crows still looked to have control of the game, even though chances for either side were few and far between.
Further bookings arrived for the Crows, Walder receiving his in the 60th minute and Attwood received his in the 75th minute, surprisingly it took until the 90th minute before a second United player saw a yellow card, Whittaker being the recipient.
In the 85th minute the home side scored the equaliser, Rothery, their left-back, hit a speculative effort from 30-yards out which was affected by the wind and deceived Ellis in the Crows goal and ended up in the back of the net.
The match ended with a 1-1 score-line, the home side's unbeaten league record was still intact and we had played another away game and got a point from it, three would have been ideal but before the game I would have settled for a point, even more so when I arrived and seen the conditions, so we now play Corinthian FC at home on Tuesday night and if we can get three points from that game it won't have been a bad week so far.