Two points dropped? Or one gained?
On arrival at the Mayfield Stadium the first thing you noticed was the lovely sunshine beaming down from up above however, very quickly you also noticed a second thing, a very stiff breeze blowing diagonally across the pitch in to the main stand. This led later on to the rather curious sight of those in the dugouts on the opposite side, our substitutes anyway, sitting there with their shirts off sunbathing, whilst we were covered up with coats and scarves to protect ourselves from hypothermia.
The third thing was that from the sideline the pitch looked very flat and quite good but again, looks proved deceiving, as the pitch was actually not that good when looking from high up but more importantly, not that good when the players actually got on it. Even with the recent rain a large majority of it was rock hard and devoid of grass however, an area in the shade of the stand, about two metres wide, was soft and cut up quite badly as the game carried on.
Before kick off many Crows fans just wanted three points after not gaining anything on Tuesday night and personally, probably didn't care how we got them, either with a good or bad performance, just that we got them. Unfortunately, even before the kick off you could guarantee the match would be a battle from start to finish for the reasons already stated regarding the pitch and the strong breeze. Add to that the title jitters that seem to have hit some of the Crow players and therefore, a drop in confidence levels accordingly meant that the swagger the side had earlier in the season is not quite there now.
It has to be remembered though that we have not lost away from home all season so far, including away games played whilst we've suffered this slight dip in form, so the players are still giving their all but perhaps the rub of the green is not with us at times. Plus, the teams we play are seemingly raising their game and competing for everything, as an example, we lose 1-0 at home to Croydon and then they go away to Whitstable Town and lose 7-0 in their next. I wonder if there was a large difference in the Croydon side from one game to the other?
The Crows started the game on the front foot, putting the home side under pressure and had plenty of corners and free kicks inside the first 10 minutes but couldn't get that early goal which would have settled them down and changed the approach of the home side perhaps, especially as they had lost their last two home games.
The Rams danger man is definitely Mfula and after some trickery on the edge of the Crows area, he found himself in the box and was brought down by Barton for a certain penalty in the 14th minute. Unfortunately, Ellis was not able to save a very good penalty from Mfula and the Crows found themselves 1-0 down.
Whilst the Crow supporters were downcast at this point at least the news from Greatness Park that Sevenoaks Town were by now 3-0 up against Ashford United did lift the spirits some what.
For the rest of the half the pitch and wind clearly got to the players of both sides and most of the action was in the air as ball after ball was played via the aierial route and whilst the play was more in the home side's half, the number of chances were few and far between.
However, on half time the Crows had a chance to equalise as a home defender handled the ball in the area whilst trying to challenge Barton in a heading dual. Carey took the responsibility as captain to take the resulting spot kick and unfortunately, our recent penalty woes continued as his kick was saved well by Burnett low down to his left and went out for a corner. Shortly after, the referee, David Lunani, who I personally thought had an excellent game, blew for half time and the Crows left the pitch 1-0 down.
The Crows kicked off the second half and any disappointment about the missed penalty was soon forgotten about as they scored straight from the restart, Smith slotting the ball home after an assist by Attwood. I personally didn't see his shot initially, just the ball crossing the line and going in to the net as I was tweeting saying the second half was underway, it was scored that quickly from the whistle.
So, 1-1 and all to play for, especially for the Crows, unfortunately, this period followed along the same lines as the first and the play became very fractious and fragmented for large parts. Again, Crows had chances from free kicks and corners but not many clear cut ones whilst the home side had two really good chances on the break which they wasted, thankfully, but on another day could have cost the Crows dear.
In the 76th minute, Smith, who took a knock on the Achilles in the first half, was replaced by Treleaven but by then he had done what he was signed for by scoring the equaliser and I'm sure once he's up to speed and match-fit he'll score goals.
As usually happens a flurry of substitutions were made as time was winding down, in the 80th minute Fray went off for the Rams and was replaced by Oloyede and a couple of minutes later Attwood and Higgins decided to become more familiar with each other and therefore, saw a yellow card each, as did Murray-Price less than a minute later.
Xavier was then replaced by Kallon and a Carey by Appiah but by now, both sides looked like they'd settled for a point each and that was the way it finished, 1-1. Walder was selected as the Man of the Match for the Crows as he was the calmest player on the pitch and the most effective. Boddy, Turner, Clarke and Attwood ran him close but just not close enough.
In the end, a point is a point and as Ashford United lost it now means we are level on points with them at the top of the table with a game in hand. Of course, we play them next week and the pressure is all on them, let's hope the conditions are better next week for the teams to be able to show why they are at the summit of the SCEFL table.