It's been a funny old season, late, interrupted, twice. Very late, here we are in April only half way through a truncated season which now relies on a different sort of game, 4 halves of 30 minutes, 6 points at stake, for the third week running. Two games, squad of fourteen, it's a tough ask and a very different challenge, barely doable with managing injuries, work commitments and social plans made before the restart affect who might be available. It's an organisational 'mare. All this in the last two weeks has been against two teams at the top end of the division, today's opponent was one point below us, crucial again, Old Minchendenians had the home advantage although each game is recorded as a home or away fixture.

Mercifully it was a sunny day, chillier in the shadows and with a deceptively blustery wind. This made the journey to the game very pleasant, I sought out the sunny side of the street so when I needed to rest I could enjoy a warming sun whilst I rolled a cigarette, very civilised. The ground is a small cricket pavilion, handy for a post game beer, tick, so far so good.

The first "game" started with the home side seeking to seize the initiative, a big, physical side with some pace was met with some crisp inter passing and movement. After Minch twice threatened to break through we transitioned well and five passes later their goalie was picking it out of the net as Charlie Heath and Akim Tiyamiyu unpicked the defensive line for Jake King to run through to score a well worked opening goal. The joy was short lived though as the hosts didn't take long to equalise, a couple of misplaced passes allowed Minchendenians to cross and there was a half chance from the clearance, bang, 1-1. The remains of the first half was relatively unremarkable, the home side used a rather aerial approach whilst we struggled to get the ball down and play on the deck, neither quite worked well enough to create meaningful chances.

The second half was a similar tale, we played better football but lost the physical battle, there were few chances for either side, we probably shaded the better chances but didn't add anything to the score sheet. As the half came to a close we conceded an almost identical second, as a cleared cross was smashed in from the edge of the box and the point we thought we'd earned evaporated into a loss and nothing to show for our efforts. Disappointing but that's what happens when you don't get the scores on the doors.