A mid week defeat against St Francis Rangers was a reality check for me and Steve, but more importantly, the players. I thought we were slightly fortuitous to go in at half time two goals to the good. The half time chat obviously had little impact as the visitors found their target and converted four times to run out worthy winners. Fair play and a fair result for a good footballing side in St Francis.
With the rest of the week to contemplate and plan, by the time kick off came at 3pm on Saturday we thought we would be ready. Up till that moment we had planned for Si Greatwich not to be with us, but all other squad players were expected to be available. Craig dropped out due to work commitments, Chris Greatwich failed a fitness test and Dave Altendorf remembered a wedding he was due to be at (not his I don’t think). So a re-vamped first placed side met the third placed side Pagham in the Senior Cup. I felt sorry for Gary Block’s side. Without putting too much emphasis on the questionable performance of the referee, its my view that once again with an assessor present, (how many times have we had these people at Ringmer games?), the referee put in a strange view on the game, seemingly pulling up the Pagham players for indiscretions that, frankly, were petty.
I read a lot about the “Respect” issue regarding referees and of course its something that we should all give naturally. Equally, football clubs and officials alike should respect the paying spectators too. The players and referee’s should remember that the spectator pays money to watch the game and we should respect that and let the game be played without unnecessary interruptions for petty issues from refs.
What a fantastic win for our reserves on Saturday. In the reserve section cup, we travelled to Dorking in Surrey and won the game 3-6 having been 3-1 behind at one stage. I’m yet to read Robs report but I hear that we played some great stuff going forward at times and we showed real gutsy spirit to overcome this side and move into the next round. I know that in truth, Neil and Kev would have swapped it for three points but I know they all believe they can use this win to kick-start their Reserve Premier league start. Well done everyone.
Football this week goes like this. On Tuesday night our first team attempt to hold on to first place against Hailsham Town who visit us for a 7.30 ko. On Thursday night, once again at home, our 18s take on Eastbourne Town 18s, again 7.30 ko.
On Saturday the first eleven play Rustington in the RUR Cup away, 3pm ko. The reserves play Arundel at home at 3pm and on Sunday the 18s play somewhere but the web site doesn’t show it yet.
Training is on Tuesday night at Falmer for the 18s and reserves only. There is no training Thursday as the 18s play.
I have discussed with our Chairman the issue of youths watching our games and we have decided that if a youth wears his or her football club’s waterproof top bearing the name of the club they play for, they will be granted free admission. I hope this encourages youth players to come to the Caburn in future.
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