January 2013

The new year began with a 2-0 defeat, away to our one-time Blue Square North compatriots Southport, who it's fair to say, hadn't had as good a season as us so far. We conceded an early goal after just 7 minutes, when Southport striker Scott Vernon scored with a powerful effort, and then conceded another with 20 minutes left, which left us with too much to do.

After the disappointment against Southport, we hosted top-of-the-table York City the following Saturday. Adrian Nevins and Richard Offiong were still missing, meaning Simon Davis filled in at centre back, with Lewis Alessandra and Denis Behan leading the attack. Ryan Charles had returned from injury, and made it onto the substitutes bench. It was Alessandra who opened the scoring, after 6 minutes, with a low shot following Lewis Montrose's through ball. Behan then doubled our lead on 38 minutes with a spectacular 30 yard effort. York pulled one back shortly after the break, but Behan doubled his tally and put the game beyond doubt on 64 minutes; getting onto the end of Jake Simpson's cross, which was Simpson's 12th assist of the season; a new record.

Ebbsfleet United were our opponents in the 2nd round of the FA Trophy. They'd had a similar season to ours; finding themselves in 9th place in the Blue Square Premier after occupying the play-off spots for the majority of the season. We went behind after 9 minutes, but Jake Simpson levelled things up for us 20 minutes later with a rebounded effort after Lewis Alessandra's initial shot. However, Simpson's game was ended prematurely when he fell awkwardly in the second half, spraining his ankle and as a result, ruling him out for 2 months. It was a massive blow for us; Simpson had been brilliant all season, and was certainly one of our unsung heroes. The Ebbsfleet game finished 1-1, meaning we had to replay the match four days later at their place. Jon Adams replaced the injured Jake Simpson, and Adrian Nevins returned and took his place at centre back. Ebbsfleet's Magno Vieira was once again our downfall, as it was the Brazilian's two goals that took the game away from us, and despite a consolation from Ryan Charles, it was them who progressed to the next round.

We only had the league to concentrate on after the defeat at Ebbsfleet, but at least there were no other distractions. Surely a clash against bottom-side Chelmsford City would provide us with a morale-boosting win? No, unfortunately not. We just couldn't hit the back of the net; but saying that, we only had five shots throughout the whole game though, whilst they had nine. It was a terrible performance in hindsight, and one the whole team would like to forget.

We went from playing the team at the bottom of the league one week, to playing the team at the top the next, as we faced Accrington Stanley (who had took over from York City as leaders of the pack). Some good news prior to kick off was that Richard Offiong had returned from injury, and would start up front alongside Lewis Alessandra. We were dealt a massive blow in the first half of the game; Max Wragg was stretchered off after 25 minutes, and scans later revealed that he had damaged his cruciate ligaments; an injury which could see him out for anywhere up to a year. Things went from bad to worse for us, when Accrington opened the scoring after 33 minutes. However, a Lewis Alessandra goal, his 5th of the season, brought us back on level terms on the stroke of half time. Things looked pretty equal for the rest of the match, but once again we were on the receiving end of some bad luck when Accrington scored with 3 minutes left of normal time; not long enough for us to come back. Very annoying, and we were beginning to be brought back down to earth pretty heavily after a fairly 'dream-like' start to our life in the Blue Square Premier.

To cope with Max Wragg's injury, two new players were brought in, with less than a week until the end of the transfer window. Ex-Lincoln City full back Paul Green and South African centre back Mark Arber were both released by their clubs at the end of last season, and were therefore signed on free transfers. Green slotted straight in at right back for the game against 16th placed Histon, whilst Arber was on the bench. The home side went ahead after 18 minutes, but two horrific pieces of defending in the second half meant Ryan Charles put us 2-1 in front. Both goals came from short back passes to Histon 'keeper Joe Welch; the first from left back Nathaniel Knight-Percival, and the second from their captain, Matt Langston. On both occasions, Welch was given hardly any time to control or clear the ball before Charles had tackled him, and passed it into an empty net. Maybe our luck hadn't run out after all. Actually, it had; after being on the field for a matter of minutes, Carl Tremarco fouled a Histon player in the box and the referee award them a penalty with 8 minutes left on the clock. They scored it, and things were level, and once again we couldn't come up with a winner, meaning the two sides shared the points.

We finished January in 8th place, which is good considering we'd been playing pretty poor of late. The month as a whole was disappointing, with the injury to Max Wragg a cruel blow to our ambitions. I can only hope that February will be much, much brighter.