On Bank Holiday Monday, we took on our ‘landlords’, Corinthian-Casuals, at King George’s Field with a 3 pm kick-off. The crowd was bolstered by several ‘groundhoppers’ who had attended matches earlier in the day, bringing the total attendance to 224.

As a mark of respect to Sven-Göran Eriksson, we held a one-minute applause to honour his life before the game commenced.

We gave a debut to Mohssine Sabek, who recently joined us from Guildford City, and on the bench was another new player, Sean Anderson. Our opponents made several changes to their line-up, having played and been beaten in the FA Vase just 48 hours earlier by Whitstable Town.

In the first half, both teams had good chances to open the scoring, with both goalkeepers being tested. As the first half was drawing to a close, our opponents scored in the 42nd minute from what appeared to be an own goal following a corner. This was somewhat harsh, but we went into the break 1-0 down.

The second half followed a similar pattern to the first, with both sides playing well. Then, in the 62nd minute, after a defensive misjudgment, the ball was crossed into our six-yard box, where a Casuals forward was on hand to put it into the back of the net. Our management responded by making changes, particularly in our formation, switching to three at the back in an effort to pull a goal back. We created a couple of chances, one of which was cleared off the line, and we eventually got our reward in the 85th minute when Luke Miller rounded the goalkeeper and struck a crisp shot into the net. We had the ball in the back of the net again a few minutes later, but the assistant referee ruled it offside, much to the relief of the home supporters. Shortly after, the referee blew for full time.

This was a disappointing result, and we really need to start picking up points soon. We face a tough game next Saturday when we host Whyteleafe, who are currently second in the table, with a 3 pm kick-off. We need your support more than ever, so why not come down and see how we get on?