Another tough Pilot Field game to follow those against Fisher and Newport. Town in all honesty weren't at their best in this game - similar to the Newport game in that they never really got going against a very well organised Dorchester outfit.

The visitors had two good chances in the first half when Dave King was left exposed as the defence was caught out by quick breaks down the left. with the Dorchester 7's miss just before half time looking of the glaring variety with just Dave to beat.

Town did cause problems when going forward with the best opportunity of the first half falling to Yatesie - well perhaps not an opportunity as such -- but after a good little interchange with Lee Mac - he was clear only to put such power behind his cross that it flew across the Dorchester goal before anyone could get anywhere near it.

The game over all was a pretty even one with both defences coping pretty well with what was chucked at them - much what would be expected. The second half was a non event really and there wasn't much for the 418 attendance to get excited about.

That is apart from Lee Mac's effort in the 77th minute that seemed to catch the Dorchester keeper momentarily unsighted - Lee's shot from the edge of the box didn't have much power behind it - but it nearly caught the keeper out and he only just got down to it as it looked likely to creep inside the post.

A Macca free kick from just outside the box was narrowly off target in the 81st minute as the home supporters began to query the non appearance of Chris Honey who's excellent form this season begs the question why isn't he starting games. Mylie went off in the 84th minute only to be replaced by Steve Ferguson which didn't seem a very attack minded substitution with Chris still kicking his heels on the bench.

By the time Chris did come on for Lee Mac in the last minute there was no time for even him to produce one of those late, late shows that saw goals against Wisbech, Chichester and Banbury. But then 0-0 was just about right and let's face it - if we'd been asked if we'd have settled for 7 wins and 2 draws from our opening 9 games - we'd have snatched at it.

And bearing in mind Dorchester carved out the best opportunities - then there can be no complaints. On the positive side - good to keep a clean sheet after conceding 5 goals in the previous 3 games.

Tonbridge have improved considerably since starting the season in such a poor fashion - with Town's memorable 5-1 win in the first week playing a large part in that bad opening. Town never reached the heights of that great evening a matter of 7 weeks ago - but were still deserved winners though a three goal margin was a little flattering.

No Joe Radford in goal for Tonbridge who ended up fielding their U16 keeper who did ok. Couple of excellent saves - one in each half - kept the score down. At the other end - the best opportunities to fall to Tonbridge came from Town errors - Dave King spilling a corner and Stuart Playford slicing a clearance against his own crossbar.

Town started well - Burtie went close with a header from a Macca free kick on 4 minutes and a minute later the youngster in the Tonbridge goal did well to block a Macca shot. 1-0 on 13 minutes - Lee Mac found in space on the left and his through ball split a defence waiting for offside - but Jonesie didn't fall for it, timed his run perfectly and lobbed the keeper to give Town the lead.

Macca had a fine game in midfield and came close to setting up a second when his through ball found Yatesie whose low effort flashed across the face of the goal. Macca went close himself just before half time while Adam Flanagan - back in after injury - headed a Simmo corner wide. Other than Dave spilling that corner - the biggest flap in the Town area was when Dave was confronted by two Tonbridge strikers but a superb interception from Burtie kept out what looked a certain equaliser. Great defending.

Town started poorly in the second half. How many times have we seen that interval break up the momentum? Tonbridge looked lively in that opening period without really creating any chances. The game started to get a bit over physical with the odd flare up. Simmo shot into the side netting well placed as Town got going again. Macca's excellent bending free kick (If the TV pundits had seen David Beckham do it on telly they'd have creamed their pants) brought out a fine save at the foot of a post and just after Lee Mac fired wide came Stuart's slice against his own cross bar.

2-0 and a bit of welcome breathing space on 70 minutes when a Macca shot which was going well wide was diverted in past a wrong footed keeper by Burtie who seemingly can't stop scoring this season. That's 3 against Tonbridge alone! All wrapped up a matter of minutes later when the Tonbridge 4 brought Jonesie down as he cut in from the right - and as if the penalty wasn't enough - he got a red card for his troubles. A quite ludicrous decision the sending off - Jonesie wasn't through on goal as at least one other defender was in a position to intercept him - but then that's a ludicrous law in itself sending players off for denying goal scoring opportunities. That has to have come from those bozos who talked about widening goals a few years ago.

Whatever - after the red card - Simmo stepped up and slotted the penalty home to make it 3-0. Chris Honey - and we're still baffled why he doesn't get 90 minutes - came on and might've made it 4-0 but with just the keeper to beat, he put his effort wide.

A brace from Corby striker Ashley Warner, some poor finishing by Hastings and some determined grit from Corby was enough to see the first league defeat of the season at the Pilot Field.

Both teams started off well, with some entertaining end to end play. An early long throw by Myall found the head of Flanagan which allowed Yates to have a early speculative effort. The early probing by Corby didn't really test the alertness of Dave King. After a couple of minutes following some good work by Jones and McArthur, Yates flew in for his first goal of the season. The goal seemed to seemed to boost his confidence, as he retained the Midas touch for the rest of the half. There followed some good build up play by Hastings without actually scoring. This was spaced by the occasional forays outside their half by Corby. This was the pattern until on 17 minutes, a ball that wasn't cleared by the Hastings defence, was calmly tucked away by Warner for his eighth goal of the season. Hastings retained most of the possesion for the rest of the half. Yatsie was in dreamlike form and was extremely unlucky when a crisp shot beat Corby keeper Des Elliot only to be deflected by a Hastings player on the goal line. Chris Honey also had a great half, and created several chances by chasing what looked like dead balls.

The second half saw Hastings continue their pressure, and only a great saving tackle by Robbie Maddox who just sneaked in front of Tony Burt in the Corby penalty area stopped a great chance. A few more half chances were expelled from the Corby box in the following minutes. Then a quick break by Dean Hutchinson saw Dave King come out wide of his area to intercept, and get a yellow card for his troubles as Hutchinson ended up on the floor. It was impossible from where I was watching to see if any contact had occured.

McArthur curled excellent free kick around the Corby wall, but it was comfortable for Elliot to gather. The constant pressure that Hastings exerted started to show and they began to lose some of their rythmn, and Corby managed to get more into the game. Another excellent free kick by McArthur went just wide with Elliot rooted to the middle of the goal. With only ten minutes remaining, a lapse of concentration allowed Warner to get his second. Despite the introduction of Paul Ruddy and the youthfull enthusiasm of Graham Webb Hastings just couldn't finish their chances.

KH

Having surrendered the Division's last unbeaten record on Saturday, Town will consider themselves a little fortunate to have got a point against a Bashley side that hardly looked relegation material. While the two clearest cut chances fell to Stuart Playford and Danny Simmonds, there is no doubt the boys were right under the cosh in a last 10 nerve wracking minutes as Town found themselves pinned back as they probably haven't been so far this season.

The first 45 was fairly even with both goals coming under pressure. Town were never to really get their game up and running on what was to be a frustrating evening on and off the pitch. 20 or so Town supporters made what is frankly a pain in the arse, evening, 250 mile round trip. WHY does the DM League always seem to schedule Town-Bash fixtures midweek?

Back to the game - Town's worrying lack of strength in depth was all too clear to see with 2 reserves plus Graham Webb on the bench. That - of course - is no disrespect to the lads who were subs on Tuesday night - but with no Macca, Lee Mac or Paul Ruddy and Terry White unable to make the trip, our resources looked a little stretched.

Town's first real effort on goal so a Tommy O shot saved by the keeper after a Mylie long throw was headed on by Adam Flanagan who was to get through the game after a nasty elbow in the mouth incident in the opening minutes. The most clear cut opportunity was right at the end of the first half when Stuart Playford couldn't quite get on the end of a flicked on corner that caught the home defence napping - it looked one of those instances where it was easier to score than miss - but "George" missed from a couple of feet out.

Simmo went agonizingly close (literally) early in the second half. Good work down the right by Jonesie saw a cross fall uninvitingly for Simmo who's only connection with an awkward bounce was via his knackers (As he told me afterwards) but he still, er, got enough on the ball to see his effort crash off a post with the keeper in no man's land. As the second half proceeded, both sides upped their efforts in search of a winning goal and it has to be said Bashley gave our defence a real caning in the last 10-15 minutes. One long range effort flew just wide of the angle of post and bar while Dave King pulled off an outstanding save to keep out another effort from the edge of the box.

0-0 was probably just about right - but there's no doubt that we've gone a little off the boil lately. Credit, though, to Bashley who gave it a real go and - as stated earlier - gave our defence it's stiffest test of the season so far. Dave King finished the game hobbling while Adam Flanagan was possibly in need of having his gob reconstructed after that elbow incident. Hopefully both will be fit on Saturday and we will have the two Macs back along with Rudds when Grantham will provide us with our biggest test of the season so far.

Finally - WELL PLAYED Steve Yates. I've been as quick as anybody to gripe at Yatesie's indifferent form but he really put in a great performance at Bashley and was by far the best player on the pitch.

Another disappointing display against this lot saw Town go down to their third home defeat in four weeks as - it has to be said - they were outplayed for much of this game by Grantham who are now just a point behind us. Memories of two 0-5 reversals last season still burned brightly and home supporters were hoping that the recent indifferent form (one win in five) was history - but apart from patchy displays of what we know they're capable of, Town were second best by a distance.

Grantham had a goal disallowed on 12 minutes - quick break down the right and a diving header past Dave King - great goal and celebrations from the Grantham mob - and a linesman's flag spoiling their party at the covered end. While Town had a couple of good efforts on goal from Lee Mac and Rudds - one deflected wide and the other just over - Grantham always looked threatening and might already have been a couple up (should definitely have been at least 1-0 ) by the time they did eventually take the lead from a disputed free kick after what looked like a nothing challenge on the Grantham 9 saw him tumble to the deck. From the free kick, Tony Burt was to put through his own goal. Duncan McArthur's verbals at the initial decision resulted in a yellow card which was to have further repurcussions.

Town's best spell came after that goal - Lee Mac fired over from a Yatesie cross and Tommy O had an goal equally as good as the Grantham disallowed effort ruled out for offside which meant both sets of supporters had now burst into "You thought you had scored" and "Who's the wanker in the black?" Tommy O went close just before half time with a long range effort past a post.

A fairly even opening 10 minutes of the second half - but Grantham still looked in charge - and they were to go 2-0 ahead on 55 minutes as Burtie's day was made complete when a huge deflection off his outstretched leg saw a long range effort loop over Dave King's despairing effort. Soon afterwards - George went for broke and replaced Burtie with Chris Honey. Great work by Paul Jones on 65 minutes - he picked up a ball from Chris, held off two defenders and fired a shot into the roof of the net. He might even have equalised soon afterwards - only a last ditch tackle preventing him getting his shot in.

Grantham took advantage shortly afterwards when a huge gap in the centre of defence where Burtie would normally have been was exploited with a well placed shot. Probably just as well Tony had been subbed - knowing his bloody luck he'd have got a touch on that and completed a hat trick of own goals. Town huffed and puffed - but it all got far too much when Duncan picked up a second yellow and the consequent red card for a rash challenge on half way.

This was as close to a make or break game as you can get with just under three quarters of the season still ahead - but with just one point from the last three games, Town had to get back to winning ways, they had to go to Ashford and do what they were expected to do - win. The Grantham defeat on Saturday was inflicted by a good side - quite likely the best that Town will face in the Eastern Division this season - but a draw and defeat against the likes of Bashley and Corby was a poor return.

So - off to Homelands and Town did just what they should have done against an Ashford side that - while considerably better than the one Town beat at the end of last season - was always second best by a long way. And things didn't get any better when they were reduced to 10 men when Stuart White rightly saw red (same referee we had Saturday - last minute change - original referee, one Gavin Hoare who f*cked up our FA Cup tie against Newport was oddly unavailable) after kicking Paul Jones. The same Stuart White who conned a referee into sending Smudger Smith off two or three seasons ago - we thought it was all poetic justice as he departed at a snail's pace in the 30th minute.

As to the game - it could have been eight or nine - Town were that much on top. Dave Wietecha in the Ashford goal pulled off several good saves (remember him playing for Folkestone last season?), numerous crosses and passes into the Ashford box weren't latched onto and Town even had one disallowed in the last minute. Dave King had one half decent save to make in the game.

Paul Ruddy was outstanding and so was Steve Yates who capped his display with a brilliant lobbed effort to beat Wietecha early in the second half - and seeing that Wietecha is a similar size to Dave King - lobbing him takes some doing. Town were 1-0 up at the interval, a goal right on half time when Simmo got on the end of a Yatesie cross after Rudds found Steve out on the right. That was a big relief - bit like the Corby game - all one way traffic and look what happened there. Simmo had a better game after some poor displays of late. Big disappointment on the night was Lee McRobert who did nothing and that - after a similar exhibition on Saturday - will have reminded supporters of the Lee Mac we recall back in 98/99 - superb on occasions and utterly out of it on others. Duncan had a much improved game and the whole side put together a well drilled display in front of a decent gate at The Homelands.

There were so many shots on goal that it's better to describe it all in one fell swoop and say Town were by far the better side on the night against an Ashford outfit that had picked up a couple of decent results in recent weeks. Given our recent hiccups - we were vulnerable - but came through it fine and in so doing returned to the top of the table.

Grantham won 1-0 at Fisher while Chatham (who we go to on November 10) and Rothwell picked up a point between them. Dorchester didn't play - so that's our two games in hand used up and we're a point ahead of them.

FA Trophy action beckons on Saturday - it's away to Enfield who play at Boreham Wood. See ya there.

SS