Olney 1 Wing Raiders 1

Bah Humbug ! Terrible pitch, terrible conditions (same for both sides), terrible Ref (questionable as to whether this was the same for both sides). I don't think turning 43 has made me more cantankerous ? I do find poor refereeing / officiating though completely unacceptable, have a bad meal in a restaurant and you don't pay for it yet we had to swallow this tripe today. It was never going to be a great footballing spectacle in those conditions and on a very heavy pitch, it was one where we needed to roll our sleeves up and get stuck in. We took the lead through a great strike from Ben Lucas, just reward when you think the offence that lead to the free kick was almost common assault. We came in at half time very muddy and 1 nil up, could have been two but Joel never got the chance to slot home his one on one !! (I could have knitted a scarf in the time it took for the linesman to put his flag up, having said that he ran 15 yards to get level with Joel before flagging). Wing equalised in the second half and could have had a second but for a great save from Jon. We never really hit top form today but we are a footballing side and these conditions were never going to be in our favour. As I say we need to stay positive and look at the positives............Wing beat us twice last season.............We never lost today..........there were some really good individual performances............A year ago would have lost a game like this. Jake Stokes was superb today and Toff played really well but the MOTM went to Calvin. Sorry to any parent who may think my match report is far from sporting, certain incidents today were verging on cheating and for some of the challenges to go unpunished was not acceptable. Football is and always will be a passionate game, watched by passionate supporters, played by passionate players and teams run by passionate managers. I don't think our lads openly displayed their frustration or annoyance to the Ref and that is something that I am proud of. My soap box is now being put back in the garage.