It is probably a good job that you don't often get many neutrals attending games at our level. Any interested third party who thought that they might pop in to The Maidstone Road Sports Ground on Saturday for an entertaining afternoon would have been sorely disappointed. They will have witnessed a poor game, played between two poor sides, on a poor pitch, in a poor stadium, in poor weather. It was one of those games when Hastings supporters will have left the ground at least grateful for the three points. Chatham supporters will have been wondering why they bothered turning up at all. Surely revenge is meant to feel sweeter than this though. We really ought not complain I suppose. After all, winning dreadful matches by a single goal is better than losing seven and eight goal thrillers, for which we developed a penchant in the early months of the season and the players are paid to get results, not just to entertain the likes of me. But after snoozing through last week's defeat to Eastleigh, I had hoped for better this week. Were it not for a bracing wind and a strangely verbose referee's assistant running the line in front of me, I think unconsciousness would have set in though. Accentuating the positives before I move on, this win was our third in four games, in which we have conceded just two goals and scored six. Not bad for relegation fodder.

Despite the Eastleigh reverse and the availability of our suspended trio, Steve Lovell elected to start with the same eleven at Chatham, although there were a couple of changes amongst the substitutes. Kieren Startup and Simon Stickney were dropped from the squad altogether and young Dominic Cruttenden was selected for the first time since the Senior Cup replay defeat at Eastbourne in November. Ricky Spiller, Danny Ellis and Greg Nessling were all left out of the squad, presumably asked to travel with the Reserves to their game with Danson in order to give them some match practice. Steve Hafner started on the bench for Chatham and came on for the last half an hour, giving an undistinguished performance in keeping with the quality of the game as a whole.

The first chance of the game was created out of nothing by Carl Rook, who fired a twenty-five yard effort just wide inside the opening two minutes. Kevin Spriggs' thirteenth minute corner caused a few problems, but Chris May eventually gathered the ball at the third attempt. Chris Honey headed over from Steve Sands' inviting cross and, at the other end, Andy Boyle gave Chris May catching practice from Tom Binks' free kick. Perhaps the only moment of quality in the entire match brought us the winning goal in the twenty-sixth minute. Mitchell Sherwood collected the ball in midfield from a misplaced clearance and attacked down the left. He beat Binks on the outside and drove a left foot shot past Gavin Hopper from a tight angle. For the five minutes that followed, we played some very decent football. From a short corner, Steve Ringwood saw a shot blocked by a defender, the rebound falling to Chris Honey, whose low effort was pushed around the post by Hopper. Chris then ran onto Ryan Peters' through ball and rode a challenge from behind, only for Hopper to deny him again. Things settled down a bit after that and Chatham had the final chance of the half, when an unmarked Danny Kedwell headed over from Dan Larkin's corner, our defending of set pieces continuing to cause grief.

Ironically, it was from a Steve Ringwood corner that we nearly extended our lead four minutes into the second half, the ball running through to Steve Sands, whose goalbound effort hit a covering defender. Striker Israel Amadi missed a good chance to equalise when a deep cross by Larkin was missed by Russell Eldridge, but Amadi's shot was well saved by Chris May. Steve Hafner's first contribution after coming on was a dipping long range volley, which went well wide of the target. Ryan Peters had a twenty yard free kick saved by Hopper and Hafner missed from a similar distance, slicing a shot wide after being set up by Kedwell. With ten minutes left, Chatham came as close to scoring as they did all afternoon. Larkin sent over another deep cross, which tempted Chris May well off his line. Kedwell beat him to the ball though and headed it goalwards, only for Mark Green to get back and hook the ball to safety. Peter Mortley picked up an obvious booking for a foul, Larkin chipping the free kick over the bar and substitute Danny Lombardo then failed to connect with Binks' deep cross from the right, when unmarked at the far post. The final chance saw Martin Driscoll head yet another Larkin corner over the bar and a minute into stoppage time, frustration finally got the better of the home side, when Andy Boyle was sent off for a barrage of verbals towards that verbose assistant referee, having been penalised for obstruction near the corner flag. It was a rather unsavoury end to a match that frankly didn't deserve to have anything that exciting happen in it. Mind you, there was Mitchell's goal I suppose.

In the end, I really ought to congratulate the defence for holding out under not inconsiderable pressure in the second half, although much of that pressure came from corners and free kicks when Danny Kedwell looked a constant threat. That aside, Chatham were every bit as awful as their recent form suggested they would be and our back four coped well enough with everything that was thrown at them. The midfield unit also played reasonably well, but once again, Chris and Carl looked like strangers up front at times. Maybe the utter lack of a viable alternative, now that Mark Goodwin has left the club, has put the pair of them in a comfort zone that they would do well to get out of. Chris did look quite lively to be fair to him, but Carl just gave away too many niggling fouls and spent too much time complaining to the officials for my liking. A decent programme for a change I thought, nice an glossy and good value at £1, much like our own. But what is going on with the ground itself and how on earth did that ever qualify for a grading at this level? It looks really smart from the outside, but the facilities for spectators are worse than Burgess Hill even, albeit that there was some cover opposite that which masquerades as a main stand. I know that The Pilot Field is no Old Trafford, but it is encouraging to see that even our dilapidated old place has the edge on some.

You always know that the end of a season is nigh when player of the year voting forms start being collated by the entrance to the ground. For me, the end can't come soon enough, if the fare of the last couple of weeks is what we have got to look forward to in the final few weeks. To be fair, the Bashley game was rather better than the two that preceded it, but in some respects, it was quite similar to the Eastleigh game in my opinion. Here was a team from Hampshire, in the hunt for a Premier Division place, passing the ball about as well as anyone can on our pitch at the moment, solid at the back, combative and creative in midfield and fast and skilful up front. Our lads showed that they had learnt something from the experience of the Eastleigh game and we got stuck in at times, especially in midfield, while Peter Mortley and Mark Green were pretty effective at the back, and Chris May had another decent game in goal. Somehow though, the gulf in class between the two sides was very noticeable. Maybe it is a mark of how far we have come since Christmas, that we managed to get a draw at all. This was the sort of game that we were losing by three or four in the early stages of the season. Now I find it hard to hide my disappointment at only getting a point, and one that we didn't really deserve at that. As for the player of the year vote, I will come back to that later.

It was no great surprise to see Steve Lovell name the same starting line-up for the third game running. Had it not been for Carl Rook's suspension and Peter Mortley's unavailability for the Newport game, I suspect that this would have been five on the trot without a change. As has become the norm of late though, there were some different faces amongst the substitutes, as Charlie Belcher and Dominic Cruttenden dropped out of the squad in favour of Kieren Startup and Peter Sayer. It was the first time that Peter had been involved since breaking his leg at Sittingbourne on 23 August. Greg Nessling was also named as a substitute keeper.

Much of the first half goalmouth action was restricted to the opening quarter of an hour and a lot of it stemmed from Bashley's classy looking central midfielder Gary Connolly. However, it was Ryan Peters who had the first shot on goal in the sixth minute, Steve Sands' long throw finding him just inside the area, but his left foot shot was straight at David Elm. Once again, we seemed to struggle defending corners and an early example saw Richard Gillespie come close to giving Bashley the lead. Connolly drifted a long range free kick wide of the target and then fired in an angled shot from thirty yards, which Chris May pushed away for a corner. He then lobbed a well weighted ball into the penalty area, which Russell Eldridge managed to completely miskick, but Russell redeemed himself by getting in the way of Dave Wakefield's resulting shot. Having withstood a period of pressure, another Steve Sands' long throw led to an acrobatic overhead effort from Ryan, which Elm did very well to palm away for a corner, as we reached the fifteen minute mark. Ten minutes later, the next opportunity saw us take the lead, much against the run of play. Chris Honey broke down the right and turned inside. He laid the ball off to Carl, who eventually had a shot that was blocked back towards Chris. He held off a challenge and stabbed the ball forward to Steve Ringwood, who took it past Elm and clipped a shot into the corner, wrong footing a couple of defenders who had got back to cover. As at Chatham last week, we dominated the following five minutes or so, but this time produced no chances of great note. Carl fired over after Ryan had flicked the ball to him on the edge of the area and Mitchell Sherwood's long run led to an angled shot, which Elm saved easily. Bashley went off the boil a bit for the last fifteen minutes of the half, but our one goal advantage still looked utterly precarious somehow.

So it proved, as Bashley made an excellent start to the second half. Stuart Cannie turned in the area and had a shot deflected into the side netting by Peter Mortley and then Gillespie broke down the left and fired a shot just wide from a quick counter attack that seemed to result from a foul on Carl at the other end. Mat Jones had a shot from distance saved by Chris May and then the inevitable equaliser arrived in the fifty-fourth minute. Cannie fed Wakefield down the right hand side. His cross to the near post drew Chris off his line, but Gillespie beat him to the ball and sent a looping header to the back post, providing left wing back Mark Lisk with a simple tap in. Three minutes later, Danny Gibbons had a shot cleared off the line by Mark Green with Chris well beaten and after Chris' quick clearance, Steve Sands broke upfield and delivered a tremendous cross, which was just out of Carl's reach. Carl did make good contact with a cross from Russell, but headed straight at Elm and he then got a bit desperate, trying to punch a cross from Chris Honey into the net, and was rightly cautioned. The visitors then took over proceedings for the closing fifteen minutes and missed arguably their best chance for a winner with thirteen minutes to go. Gibbons turned past Mark Green on the right and cut the ball back to Connolly on the edge of the area. He mishit his shot straight at Gillespie on the edge of the six yard box, but fortunately, so did the striker, allowing Chris May to gather. With five minutes left, Cannie broke clean through the middle onto Neil Morant's pass, took the ball past Chris, but Jimmy Elford managed to get back to put in an outstanding recovery tackle. Carl and Mitchell both tried their luck from distance as the game became quite open in the final few minutes. Connolly ghosted through the middle onto Mat Jones deep cross, but his header went harmlessly wide and Jones himself had the final chance, a shot from a tight angle that Chris saved comfortably.

Of the two sides, we ought to have been the more pleased with the point, after being under the cosh for much of the second half. Bashley's 3-5-2 formation seemed to cause us a few problems at times and they found particular joy attacking down the flanks, although having said that, so did we, with Mitchell seeing a lot of the ball and his pace certainly worried them. Despite being outnumbered in the middle of the park, I thought that Steve and Ryan worked extremely hard and Ryan in particular showed some delightful touches. Up front, Carl and Chris looked like they had been working on their link-up play, but Chris still has an annoying habit of ambling towards the penalty area when we are on the attack, almost preferring to stay in a withdrawn position, which should surely be the midfield's job. The back four were fairly solid, but were breached on a few occasions, but Chris May had another good game and his handling and distribution are superb for a keeper of his age. Three goals conceded in five games tells it's own story as well. All in all, we should probably look at this as a point gained, rather than two lost, against one of the better sides that we have played recently.

About an hour into Monday's match at Longmead, I was mentally writing notes about sweet revenge and how the top sides all seem to be trying their hardest not to win the league title this season. I was still mindful of the fact that it only needed for a crucial decision to go in Tonbridge's favour and they could easily get back into the game. Funny how that one crucial decision turned out to be the dismissal of one of Tonbridge's own players. After that, they suddenly became a team of world beaters, or was it that we bottled it somehow? At least the game provided a better spectacle than our last three, a lively encounter in the finest traditions of the local derby. A shame that we couldn't hang on to nick a point, but then again, it would have been scarcely deserved. In the second half alone, I counted twelve goal attempts by Tonbridge, to two of our own. It was one-way traffic of the highest order and, yet again, I think that it's worth saying that, before Christmas, performances like this were resulting in some pretty heavy defeats for our lads. A one goal defeat away to the leaders is nothing to write home about, but it shows the strides that we have taken under Steve Lovell this year. If he is able to persuade the majority of the present squad to stay, and add a couple of experienced players as well, next year may not prove to be quite so harrowing.

Steve was forced into one key change from recent starting line-ups, as Ryan Peters was unfit to be part of the squad. His place in the centre of midfield went to Steve Sands and Peter Sayer completed his rehabilitation from a broken leg by getting the nod to start on the right hand side. Sadly, injury forced Peter to hobble out of his return after only twenty-five minutes and he was replaced by Kieren Startup, who went into the middle, with Steve pushing back out wide. Although Kieren had a decent enough game and put himself about a bit, we sorely missed Ryan's creativity in the middle, especially as Steve Ringwood had a poor match by his standards. The most worrying aspect for me though, was that, after the sending-off, we just completely failed to get hold of the ball and pass it around, preferring to lump long balls up to Carl Rook and Chris Honey, who were unable to win more than ten percent of the aerial challenges. At the back, we started to get torn to shreds by Tonbridge's quick breaks and frankly, we were awful in that closing twenty-five minutes. Our defending of set plays remains a huge concern and that appears to be the one weakness in Chris May's game. Indeed, the winning goal came from a corner and a howler from Chris, but I am not going to dwell on that. After all, it was the first mistake he had made in six games for us and we should never have been in a position whereby the mistake should have proved so costly anyway.

After a mix-up at home, I didn't set off en route until about 2.20 and it took about an hour to reach Longmead. A quick chat with the man in the PA box told me that I hadn't missed all that much, a midfield war of attrition was how he told it, although he did mention a very loud shout for handball in our area, which was waved away. I began to understand what he had meant, as it took another twelve minutes for any serious goalmouth action to occur, a strong run down the right by Peter Overton, followed by a driven cross, well gathered by Chris May. A rare sortie into the Tonbridge half saw Steve Sands break down the left and play a nice ball inside to Mitchell Sherwood, whose first touch was too heavy though. Another Overton cross, from the left this time, was flicked on by Brendan Cass, but Patrick Blackman's shot looped into Chris' arms and then Cass tried his luck from twenty yards, but Chris positioned himself well to save easily. In stoppage time, Russell Eldridge's dangerous inswinging free kick was headed away for a corner by Andy Larkin. Steve Sands delivery was poor, but Russell lobbed the ball back into the box and it fell to Kieren Startup, whose shot was well saved by keeper Jamie Turner.

Inside the opening two minutes of the second half, Steve Sands won us a corner on the right. Steve Ringwood's delivery was excellent and although Mark Green saw a header blocked, the rebound fell to him and he drove a left foot shot into the top corner to give us the lead. Just a couple of minutes later, Steve Sands chased down a back pass and Turner obligingly passed the ball straight to him, only for Steve's control to let him down at the vital moment. After that let-off, the home side simply took over. Craig Roser crossed from the left and Overton hooked a shot over the bar. Tony Dolby's free kick found Luke Anderson's head inside the six yard box, but his effort finished nearer the corner flag than the back of the net. A Dolby corner was met by a glancing header from Anderson, which lacked sufficient power to beat Chris May. It was around this time that Anderson had been getting involved in a couple of incidents with Carl Rook and when the two clashed again in the sixty-fourth minute, it led to the defender's dismissal. It occurred as Carl chased a long ball towards the penalty area, just ahead of Anderson, whom the referee decided had held Carl back. Initially, it looked as if we had been awarded a penalty, but after showing Anderson the red card, the referee gave us a free kick, which Russell took, forcing Turner into his best, and last, save of the match. Five minutes later, Carl easily surrendered possession on the halfway line and the ball was played through to substitute Luke Piscina on the right. He cut inside Russell and unleashed a fierce left foot shot into the top corner, giving Chris May no chance. A minute later, Piscina was off down the right hand side, but saw his curling shot rebound off the post. Cass then missed a couple of chances, one a free header from Steve Searle's cross from the right. Searle then provided a cross to the far post for Roser to head goalwards, but Chris denied him with an excellent save. The resulting corner, taken by Dolby, was deep to the back post and should have been gathered by Chris, but under little pressure, he dropped the ball and after a brief scramble, Mike Rutherford knocked the ball into the net. Chris' reaction, chasing the referee all the way to the halfway line to argue, earnt him a booking, and Carl was also booked for an appalling lunge at full back Kieren Wilson with five minutes to go, as frustration maybe got the better of our lads, at their complete inability to get back into the game in the closing stages. It is fair to say that much the better side won on the day though and let's not forget that this was the second time that Tonbridge had beaten us with ten men this season, albeit last time, they were already four up when it happened. Funny old game though, isn't it?

Football managers say the funniest things don't they? Our own Steve Lovell for example. In the Hastings Observer on 13 June 2003, Steve was quoted thus; "My vision this year as a manager is that we want to be as high as possible, in the top two. At this time there's no reason not to think that way". Maybe not back then perhaps, but it's easy to be wise after the event. The current edition features a quote thus; "...I've said all along that this is like a long pre-season for us...", presumably implying that the present campaign has been a huge precursor for a title assault next year. Still, at least the vast majority of what Steve has to say seems honest, logical and consistent, unlike a number of others in the professional game. And his ability to manage on a shoestring has proved invaluable in what could have turned out to be an utterly disastrous season, rather than just an immensely disappointing one. There has been an extraordinary turnover in playing personnel both before and during the season, but the squad that Steve has settled upon in the last couple of months finally seems to be heading in the right direction. And once again, the victory over Banbury allows me to make the point about how, a few months ago, we were losing games of this kind, but now, a clean sheet and a single goal are becoming regular occurrences. It may not be to everyone's taste, mine included, but the reception that the supporters gave the players by the tunnel at the end of the game, spoke volumes for the fact that an awful lot of people, myself included, are absolutely committed to the cause and are already looking forward to more successful times, hopefully, amidst all the league restructuring, in the 2004/05 season.

Having sorely missed his services at Tonbridge on Easter Monday, Ryan Peters thankfully had shrugged off his hamstring injury and was fit to resume against Banbury on Saturday. He reclaimed his place in midfield from Peter Sayer, whose injury prevented him from taking his place amongst the substitutes even. The Banbury line-up contained a few familiar names, but I don't recall goalkeeper Simon Tricker being that size before. Seventeen goal striker George Redknap was likely to provide the main threat, but we were fortunate that the majority of the chances fell to his strike partner Wayne Blossom, who had a day to forget in front of goal.

I timed the first shot on goal at eleven seconds, a dipping forty yard volleyed effort from Dave Billington that Chris May scrambled back to collect. Ryan tested Tricker with a twenty-five yard free kick and Blossom's afternoon took it's first turn for the worse in the twelfth minute when he was struck on the head by Chris May's clearance. He was down, but unfortunately for him, not out. He had his first opportunity less than a minute later, when Mark Green misjudged the flight of Kieran Sullivan's long ball, but his shot was weak and was hit straight at Chris. At the other end, Russell Eldridge's cross was met by a bullet header from Chris Honey that was destined for the top corner, only for Tricker to produce a flying save. Blossom then wasted a one-on-one, dragging his shot harmlessly wide, before glancing a header wide after Russell misread Chris Jackson's cross from the left. Another Blossom header, from a Billington free kick, led to an excellent block by Chris May and from the resulting corner, headed on by Jason Allen, Blossom was again denied by Chris and had two follow-up efforts blocked by Jimmy Elford. We went on to dominate the last twenty minutes of the half. First, Tricker saved low to his left from Carl Rook's curling shot, with Steve Sands unable to react to the rebound quickly enough. Steve Ringwood sent a volley into orbit after a corner and from another, Russell's cross was knocked on by Chris Honey and Mark Green fired a shot just wide. Steve Sands neat flick created a chance for Ryan, but his shot found only the side netting with Mitchell Sherwood waiting unmarked at the far post for a cross. Mitchell was then involved in the move for the goal in the thirty-ninth minute, heading on Mark Green's long ball out of defence. As Chris Honey set off in pursuit, Jason Allen tripped over his own feet, and Chris beat Tricker to the ball, lifting it over him and into the net. The half ended with a good run and wayward shot by Chris Potter at one end, and a long run from Mitchell, setting up Chris for a deflected shot, straight at Tricker, at the other.

Banbury quickly assumed control after the interval and Paul Eldridge should have done better from eight yards out, but managed to scoop his shot over the top. True to form, Blossom ran onto Potter's neat pass on the hour, but missed the target again. A minute later, he headed over from Billington's near post corner. Ryan volleyed well over after Steve Sands' cross was only half cleared and Potter's mazy run ended with a dreadful shot into the woods. Blossom was then ordered to go and play at left back, after a tactical substitution saw the introduction of Mark Simms, the goalscorer when we lost at Banbury in February. He showed some neat touches, but showed no greater aptitude in front of goal and Potter was having a similarly bad time, another excellent long run, followed by a shot dragged wide. A foul on Chris Honey led to a caution for Allen and he was followed into the book by Paul Eldridge and Adrian Fuller, for a bit of dissent it appeared. We had been offering little going forward in the second half and Carl was replaced by Peter Taylor with a quarter of an hour left, to no avail. A near post free kick by Billington was headed wide by Ollie Stanbridge and Blossom so nearly made amends for his earlier misses with an angled lob that Mark Green headed off the line. Four minutes from time, Banbury did get the ball in the net, but a foul on Peter Mortley had been signalled already. Blossom's cross was sliced wide by Stanbridge and Simms' cross was headed similarly wide by Redknap three minutes into stoppage time. It took him that long to get any sight of goal. All in all, this was quite a satisfying win, after withstanding an awful lot of pressure, especially in the second half, but the relatively easy afternoon enjoyed by Chris May was a clear indication of Banbury's completely and hopelessly profligate finishing.

That exceedingly fine writer Mark Twain once stated that, "golf is just a good walk spoilt". I am not aware that he ever voiced an opinion on the beautiful game that is football, but I dare say that he would have had an infinitely more erudite and creative way to describe the game at The Gore on Saturday afternoon, than I am going to manage. I have no idea whether or not dross has the ability to be turgid, but if it does, it was just that, in bucketloads, as the lads brought the curtain down on their away campaign with a dismal performance that resulted in a first ever defeat against their Buckinghamshire hosts. This would be a fair point to observe that Burnham weren't very good on the day either, but a dreadful start to each half had us chasing the game throughout and we didn't do a particularly good job to be honest. What's more, I gleaned all of this despite having missed the first half an hour, after meeting up with an old friend in Slough for a splendid lunch that overran a bit. All in all, perhaps Mr Twain would have described the match as something like, "a nice drive spoilt", but only if he wasn't overly used to travelling on roads like the A21 and M25, which were pleasantly clear of hold-ups, but were still as depressing as the game itself.

When I eventually arrived at The Gore, it was little surprise to learn that Steve Lovell had kept faith with the same line-up as usual, although slightly bemusing to see his own name down on the list of substitutes. It was evident that we were adopting an attacking 4-3-3 formation, presumably a response to finding ourselves two down after ten minutes, with Mitchell drifting around up front, alongside Carl and Chris. It has to be said that this was having little effect, other than to destabilise our midfield, where Steve Ringwood was the only one displaying any creative thought, Ryan appearing to have craftily gone off the boil since winning my player of the season vote. He was ultimately withdrawn in favour of the more combative Kieren Startup, shortly after Peter Taylor had replaced the ineffective Steve Sands, and at the same time as David Henham came on in place of Peter Mortley. Peter had been really put to shame by Mark Green on the day and Mark continues to look every inch a quality defender and even a potential leader. Having used all three substitutes, we were unfortunate enough to end the game with only ten men after Kieren was forced to hobble off having come off much the worse in a crunching fifty-fifty challenge with Roger Emms.

It was Emms who had given Burnham the boost of an early goal in the seventh minute, when he was allowed a free far post header from a cross from the right, or so I believe. Just three minutes later, Jon Horsted ghosted through our defence to slot home the second, although Russell Eldridge scored from a twenty yard free kick to pull one back after eighteen minutes. Burnham missed the only chance of note in the fifteen minutes or so that I saw in that first half, but it had the look of a poor, end-of-season encounter already and didn't improve.

Burnham substitute Junior Edwards missed an absolute sitter in the opening minutes of the second half. Peter Mortley misjudged the height of a long ball and Edwards was left with a one-on-one against Chris May, but dragged his shot wide from about fifteen yards out. The home side did score from their next attack though, after a sweeping move from right to left ended with the ball at the feet of Daryl Jones, who cut inside Jimmy Elford and beat Chris at his near post. Chris Honey missed a good chance to pull one back, heading Russell's cross tamely over the top and Mitchell Sherwood had a decent low shot saved by Steve Smith. After Kieren had limped off, Russell tried his luck from a free kick, which bounced awkwardly for Smith and forced him into an unorthodox save. Burnham were looking dangerous on the counter-attack and Horsted might have scored a second after a flowing move, but found the car park instead of the back of the net. Peter Taylor had a good chance at the other end, but lobbed Smith and the crossbar after running onto Mitchell's through ball. It was almost a relief to hear the final whistle, although that did mean that it was back to the M25 and A21 again.

I don't know how many of you will wish to recall the 1986 European Cup final, which was, to be fair, instantly forgettable. It was back in the years when the European Cup was still a cup and not a league. When it was the cup for the club champions of Europe, not just open to clubs who have finished in the top half of the top leagues in Europe. And it was a totally open draw, with the prospect of sides from Finland and Hungary contesting the final, every bit as likely as sides from Spain and Italy making it. It was the year after the Heysel Stadium riot led to English clubs being banned from all European competitions and the final in Seville was between Barcelona and Romania's Steaua Bucharest. The Spanish side were boiling hot favourites of course, but played appallingly and Steaua were perfectly content to string nine across the back and defend all night. Ninety minutes failed to produce a goal, Extra time scarcely saw either side cross the half way line. At least the penalty shoot-out was destined to see some goalmouth action, but seven spot kicks later, only two goals had been scored and Steaua were crowned European champions on a night when it would have been rather more appropriate to hand out two sets of loser's medals. And the point of the history lesson? Well, on Wednesday evening at The Pilot Field, I witnessed a modern version of the events of that night in Seville. Only this time, instead of the action being served up by two of Europe's top sides in front of 70,000 spectators, around 125 watched two desperately poor local outfits try to win a game, that neither were remotely capable of winning. The longer the evening went on, the more likely a scoreline of 0-0 after extra time AND penalties became.

Hastings were virtually at full strength, with just Peter Mortley rested after picking up a knock at Burnham on Saturday. Dangerous David Henham took his place and played well enough. Ryan Peters appeared to suffer one of his customary injuries and was replaced early in the second half. Mitchell Sherwood was taken off as usual and the worryingly ineffective Carl Rook was relieved of further duty by right back Peter Sayer, who proved a willing front runner. For the last twenty-five minutes, plus extra time, we had four right backs on the pitch (Sayer, Simon Stickney, Jimmy Elford and Steve Sands), but no penalty takers. Considering that we have had six different successful penalty takers this season, it was hard to believe, but Rook, Sherwood and Peters had all been substituted, Mark Lovell and Ricky Spiller unavailable, and Stuart Myall no longer around. There was a certain irony in seeing Graham Morris, our own Reserves' penalty expert, taking Sidley's first effort in the shoot-out, and missing. Morris was one of at least six Sidley players with Pilot Field experience, albeit mainly with our Reserves. Keeper Rob Wiley was joined by Ben White, Liam Barham, Owen Ball and Wes Tate, while our own Russell Eldridge had turned out for the opposition in the past as well.

The game, as I have already mentioned, was pretty awful, even for a die-hard like myself. Five minutes in, White's free kick found the head of Chris Copley in the area and Chris May was forced into the first of a couple of fine early saves, pushing his effort over the top. Mark Green glanced a header wide at the other end and Ryan Peters curled a free kick over from the corner of the box. Craig Ottley chipped through for Dave Ward, whose fine lob was brilliantly palmed away by Chris. Barham released Tate for a shot that Chris saved comfortably and Mitchell volleyed over after a rare neat passing move.

In the second half, Russell's mishit shot was fumbled by Wiley, who gathered at the second attempt. The keeper then rushed out of his area to clear a through ball, but passed it straight to Peter Taylor, whose control let him down. Taylor had a goalbound effort blocked by White and Simon Stickney brought a decent save from Wiley after running onto Chris Honey's flick. In stoppage time, Russell's corner was glanced on by Mark Green and Chris couldn't quite get his head to the ball and six minutes into stoppage time, Peter Sayer released Simon down the right for the chance of the night thus far, but his composure let him down and his shot ended in Elphinstone Road.

Extra time brought few clear openings. Tate had an early effort easily saved by Chris May. Then Peter Taylor's industrious run down the left and excellent cross set up Simon, but he volleyed over from inside the six yard box to miss an absolute sitter. Karl Tarrant set up a good chance for Kevin Rose, but the forward's chip shot went over and late on, Simon missed another presentable opportunity, sending a half volley high and wide, seemingly determined not to break his goalscoring duck.

Onto penalties then, and finally a goal, as Steve Ringwood rolled the opener into the corner. Graham Morris missed Sidley's first, firing over the top and Peter Taylor then made it 2-0, although Wiley appeared to get a good hand to his effort. When Chris saved from Ottley, it looked like plain sailing, but Wiley saved from Peter Sayer to keep Sidley in it. Tate scored confidently and Russell was denied by Wiley, allowing White to level the score at 2-2. Chris May had volunteered for the last of our regulation five and placed his effort in the corner, but Rose levelled it again and it was into sudden death. Cometh the hour, cometh the man, as Simon Stickney stepped up for penalty number six, confidently placing the ball on the spot, taking one step back, paying homage to the ailing Diego Maradona, before producing the worst penalty in the history of the game, which Wiley would have saved if he had started his dive from the corner flag. When everyone had wiped the tears of laughter from their eyes, Owen Ball knocked in the winner and we had lost our grip on the Hastings Senior Cup. Not sure how gutted I was meant to feel at that point, but I was really just glad it was all over and time to go home, scarred by the reawakened memories of that evening eighteen years ago. If it's another eighteen years until I have to live through it again, it will still be too soon.

None of this will give much comfort to King's Lynn supporters hoping for a favour from us on Saturday, although I really do not believe that they will need one. On that showing, there is absolutely no chance of us picking up an unlikely league double, against a Histon side who haven't exactly been shy in front of goal this season. They require eight more for a century in fact, while we are thirteen away from conceding a century. It's got a dull 1-0 written all over it don't you think? Can't possibly be any worse than Wednesday though.

Sean Adams