Penalty hoodoo strikes again though.
I will say right from the start that this won't be so much of a match report as I wasn't able to attend the game therefore, I'm relying on Tweets supplied to gain any idea as to what the game was like from start to finish. All that really matters in the end is that the Crows got the three points and kept the pressure on Ashford United to keep on winning as well, which they did at home to our opponents on Easter Monday, Fisher FC, 3-1.
With both clubs facing home games against teams fighting for their lives at the wrong end of the table, to get the win and the points was never going to easy for either club and so it proved. Lordswood FC came to the Community Stadium with a bit of form behind them and were never going to roll over and die, neither should they of course, and judging by the Twitter feed, the early stages, the first 20 minutes or so, were a bit tentative and non-eventful as the nerves of both sets of players took time to settle down.
Eventually, the Crows to a greater control of the match and started to dominate possession and chances and were playing the better football, Turner had a glorious chance to score from a corner routine but his effort was blocked and cleared. Hooper then picked up a yellow card in the 38th minute as the pressure started to tell.
In the 44th minute the 'Boro were awarded a penalty kick, their third one in successive games, however, Barton, who scored against Erith & Belvedere and Whitstable Town from 12 yards out, missed this effort as it was saved by the Lordswood 'keeper, Chandler. Not the first time this season the Crows have failed to take advantage from the spot and everyone wondered as the half time whistle blew with the score at 0-0, how costly that miss could be for the Crows.
The Crows had played better it seemed from the Tweets than they had done in recent games but three or four good chances had gone begging and the expectant crowd wondered if the Crows first half performance would wain as it had done in the last couple of games or would their be an onslaught towards the Lordswood goal in an effort to secure the points.
The second half started much as the first finished and it took only 6 minutes for the Crows to take the lead with a superb finish by Treleaven from a Crabb cross, a left foot shot on the turn giving Chandler no chance in the Lordswood goal. What the Crows have failed to do in some of these latter games when scoring the first goal is to get the second however, this time the much needed safety net was secured only 2 minutes later, in the 53rd, when Boddy won the ball, slipped it to Carey who then set Attwood free and he did the rest with a great finish, 2-0 to Crows.
In the 59th minute Lordswood replaced Plummer and Carter with Wells and David Smith whilst McIlheron picked up a yellow card in the same minute. For the Crows the question is now do they control the game and see the win out of do they go hell for leather and see if they can close the goal-difference gap that Ashford United have over them. Understandably, getting the points has to be the first objective so they had to be a bit circumspect when it came to doing too much flamboyant attacking play.
McIlheron went off for Lordswood in the 65th minute, replaced by Mills, then Walder picked up his fourth yellow card in four games in the 68th minute, a booking he could have done without in reality, although the previous three yellows have been, in my opinion, rather harshly given.
With time running down the Crows looked to take some time out of the game however, Ellis received a yellow in the 80th minute and a minute later, Attwood was replaced by Perry in the Crows attack. Treleaven was the next Crow to exit, Pearson coming on in the 87th minute and the Crows last substitution, Carrington on for Muggeridge, happened in the 88th minute.
Eventually, the final whistle blew and the Crows had secured the points however, our closest rivals had also won, 3-1 therefore, it remained "as you were" at the summit of the SCEFL Premier Division and we both move on to our respective games against Fisher FC away and the Nuts & Bolts play "away" against Canterbury City on Easter Monday.