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By Richard Hayward

The Ruts looked to be in confident mood with a very strong squad on paper lining up against third placed Eversley. The Ruts needed a win, as before the start of play were six points behind the leaders with a game in hand.

Knowing all this it was predictable that the Ruts would once again start slowly and find themselves one down after five mins. A long goal kick caught the defence by surprise (especially the returning boy blunder Tom Hughes) who missed his header leaving the even more youthful striker to sneak in and lob Roland Heal from 20 yards.

Although being one down it soon became clear the Ruts were a superior footballing side and on a good surface started to create chance after chance. Some were wastefully spurned but not the equaliser that came just after the 10 minute mark.

A good piece of control, a neat turn and the pace of Steve Berry was enough for the home defence as Berry slotted away neatly with his left foot. Chances kept coming to the bald ginger duo of Berry and Nick Munroe - some wasted and others kept out by the heroics of the home goalie. It only seemed a matter of time before the Ruts ran away with the game with the midfield working well and the back four seeming quite comfortable, marshalled by a rather sickly looking Darren Noonan.

Then disaster struck again as the Ruts defence had several opportunities to clear their own box, one ricochet after another led to the ball firing off Roly the goalie’s legs to an Eversley player to blast home at the near post. Unbelievably 2-1 down but dominating the game.

Ruts where then awarded a slightly fortuitous penalty after the ball hit a defender's arm from a close range cross. This was tucked away very well by Berry who answered some of his teammates queries about him being on penalties.

A few minutes later a deep cross was turned in by a home defender to make it 3-2 at half time and surely meant victory for the Ruts if they continued to play in the same fashion.

The second half petered out as in the heat it became clear the Ruts couldn’t play at the same earlier tempo. A few chances came and went at both ends before Jeremy Capper headed in tremendously from 10 yards to seal the win and extend the Ruts record to two wins on the bounce.

By Graham Clayton

The Ruts turned up late due to a fire on the A3. Well, the gaffer did anyhow, following some duff advice from the ex-orange slicer.

Having beaten Pyrford two weeks prior to this game, the Ruts were confident although it was expected they would be hard to break down again.

The Ruts started the game on top, but after 15 minutes and a number of squandered Ruts chances, Pyrford scored following some questionable defending by the Ruts. It still looked like if we could score one we would go on to win the game though.

However, after some more missed chances an attack down the right from Pyrford found three of their players standing at least six yards offside. It was deemed that they were actually in the second phase of the attack though, which apparently means you're not offside even if you are standing in front of the keeper (it's not only women that don’t understand the offside any more J ). 2-0 down.

The Ruts were still pushing on, and how the game was not 6-2 to the Ruts only the football gods will know. However, following two more bizarre decisions the game effectively ended. From a great cross from the left, the Ruts nippy winger Thomas Hughes ghosted in from way out on the flank running past at least two defenders to score a superb header only for the ref to give offside from the point were he headed it (it seems it is not only women and me that don’t understand the offside rule anymore). From that Pyrford went up and finished the game off. Following a collision between two Pyrford forwards, the resulting free kick initially saved by Roland Heal was tapped in for 3-0 and it wasn’t going to be our day.

Nick Munroe finally got off the mark to give the Ruts hope, but although the Ruts continued to press, £35 and a trip to Bedford Hill wouldn’t have seen them score again.

Manager's quote: "It is very disappointing when you should win a game by double figures to actually lose. If we are to retain our title we will have to react to this in a positive manner."

By Darren Noonan

The Reserves welcomed table topping Woking and Horsell to Poplar Road, who many believe are second favourites for the league title this year behind our very own Superfish eleven.

After last week's disgraceful team performance against Pyrford we were to see a couple of changes - Vidal was summoned for the first eleven with Bezza returning to the Dream Team and jet-setting left back Scott Hawley returned to the starting eleven in place of flag waving Richard Hayward. The belated call up of the 'best keeper in the club' Matt Burton was the third change but these changes were overshadowed by the return of ex first teamer and housewives favourite Phil Rea for his first game of the season.

The team gathered in the home changing room and all tried to figure out how Clayts was going to play all the centre halves he had selected and despite the huge laugh it produced he stuck to his guns and played Blunder and Razor together in the centre of midfield! I must say that I wouldn't have played any of them in the middle but Razor was subbed after 70 minutes due to exhaustion after a huge game and Blunder was unfortunate not to get the MoM award after winning 100% of all tackles and headers until getting carried off after a knock to the knee.

Woking started with wingbacks and three in the middle against our usual 4-4-2 but struggled to get hold of the ball as the Ruts were solid with Bezza and Courtney Sewitt keeping their wingbacks pushed back. The back four of Mark Kerwick, Noonan, Marc Hawley and Scott Hawley ensured new number one Matt had nothing but a couple of back passes to deal with.

Going forward Neil Whyte showed some quality touches in his hold up play and was rewarded with a goal after a Courtney free kick was parried into his path by a shaky looking keeper. The Ruts could have been further in front if we had capitalised on one of the huge number of free kicks and corners awarded, but the half ended 1-0 to the home side.

The team talk was about starting brightly in the second half as we knew Woking could play much better and would come at us. However a well hit shot from Razor was tapped in by his partner Blunder after another parry from the keeper very early on and the game was won.

Woking pushed on but Bezza and Courtney held onto the wingbacks and the back four were winning everything so despite the extra possesion, chances were very limited. Razor got caught on the edge of his own box doing a Maradona and Noonan passed to the centre forward 20 yards out, but Matt didnt have a real save to make in the whole 90 minutes.

Tiny became the third centre back to play in the Makelele role after Rea went off and Fenton came on for the impressive Neil to make his first start of the season after his summer harpooning whales in Tenerife!

Overall an impressive team performance - the back four were solid, supported well from midfield and the front two looked good, particularly Neil. A big pat on the back for Clayton as his gamble on housewives favourite and Blunder worked very well in the middle of the park, but the skipper picked up a very close run MoM award to get the Fantasy Football season off and running!

By Graham Clayton

The Ruts followed up their convincing win against Woking Park & Horsell with a trip to sunny Hampshire and the new boys in the league, Shottermill & Haslemere.

With Kevin Foster returning for the working Courtney Sewitt, the shape of the team stayed the same.

The game got off to an even start and for 10 minutes there was nothing in it. Everything was in the midfield which is how the dogs of war Razor Rea and Boy Blunder like it, with the defence again looking solid, if not a little worse for wear after the pop quiz the night before. It was left to 'Vidal' Foster and Steve Berry to create any space down the flanks.

With the Ruts getting on top a goal looked inevitable, but after some wasted chances from set pieces and a couple from open play, another Pyrford looked on the cards. However after 25 minutes Vidal collected the ball 25 yards out, a neat turn and an unstoppable curling shot into the top corner saw the Ruts go 1-0 up.

The Ruts continued to press and 10 minutes before the break they got the well deserved second as some neat passing saw the ball passed to Boy Blunder on the edge of the box. His superbly
cushioned first time ball found Man of the Match Neil Whyte 7 yards out and there was
no mistake - 2-0 at the break.

The second half started as the first had with the same result, this time it was Nick Munroe making no mistake from close in. With the 'monkey' off his back, Neil Whyte started to create space and chances up front. Vidal Foster by now was going through his entire range of circus tricks,
torturing the oppo, so the fourth did not look far away. It came after some nice work form Bezza and Whyte down the right found Nick Munroe and he smashed it past the keeper for his second and the team's fourth.

With 25 minutes to go the returning Ed Reynolds was introduced to freshen things up and it wasn't long before the inspired decision resulted in Ed threading the eye of the needle to get the fifth.

It was left to Neil Whyte to get a well deserved second to cap the scoring which his tireless unselfish performance deserved. However, looking on from the side there definitely seemed to be some jug avoidance going on after that, with the oppo linesman being the busiest person on the pitch.

So another good team performance resulted in three points for the Ruts. The Man of the Match award was won by Neil closely followed by Scott Hawley, who supported Vidal Foster well all afternoon whilst still managing to get beyond him, and Razor Rea who worked his proverbials off all afternoon.

Manager's quote: "We played well as a team and there were some good performances from individuals all round today, but the work rate of the two boys in the middle of the park for the second week was once again the foundation for this victory."

By Scott Hawley

The Old Ruts Reserves started their Surrey Cup campaign away to Hammer Utd Reserves on a cold and wet Saturday afternoon on a pitch that can be best described as a bog on a slope.

The only thing worse than a 45 minute trip to play on a pitch which was not worthy of the Ruts in recent weeks was the rambling of the former third team manager repeatedly saying that he had been brought into the squad for his experience of Surrey Cup football, which was met at first with laughter, then after the eighth time with "Are you still speaking lino?"

We went into the game with a formation that could have been out of the scientists book of formations with four defenders in front of four defenders. Manager Graham Clayton said that the formation was down to how the defenders had played in previous games and he did not want to disturb a back four who had kept clean sheets in their previous two games.

Formation:

The Ruts started the game very positively, knocking the ball around the best that they could due to poor condition of the pitch. They had a number of early chances which were wasted by poor touches and misplaced shots.

The Ruts finally broke the deadlock when Tom ‘Boyblunder’ Hughes managed to lob the keeper from four yards having missed his first shot with a right footed effort.

The Ruts had several good chances in the next 20 minutes with Nick Munroe and Steve ‘Bezza’ Berry rounding the keeper only to go too far and fail to get his shot on target.

Nick Munroe made the score 2-0 with a well taken shot in which the keeper had no chance. The Ruts were in full control now - knocking the ball around the poor surface well with only a few wayward passes to mention - due to the tough tackling of Phil ‘The Housewives Favourite’ Rea, who at points in the game looked like he was giving the ball away on purpose so that he could tackle someone and roll around in the mud.

Roly the Goalie pulled off a good save towards the end of the half from 20 yards, which was the home side's only effort of the opening period.

At half time with the score 2-0 and not really having had any trouble, the talk was about whether we wanted to go inside the changing rooms to escape the rain (Noonan was the only sissy who wanted to) and who wanted to come off and let Yilmaz have a game. Some suggested that this seemed to indicate that the volunteer should hang up their boots (Tiny).

In the second half the Ruts were starting to look a bit tired and with a few knocks to some players, Richard ‘Tiny’ Hayward was replaced by Erol Yilmaz. Yilmaz immediately showed some good strength and baffled his opponent to get to the byline and produce a good cross which no one could get close to.

Then with twenty minutes to go and the Ruts tiring, Hammer got back into the match via a mistake by Darren ‘Nooninho’ Noonan, who gave the ball to a Hammer striker on the edge of the box and he placed the ball in the bottom right hand corner to stop a run of two clean sheets for the Ruts.

The Ruts then stepped up the gears and restored the two goal advantage five minutes later when Munroe met Rea’s through ball and slotted the ball to the keeper's left. The Ruts then comfortably saw out the victory and moved into the next round of the Surrey Cup.

Marc Hawley was named Man Of The Match for a good performance at the back, although he was not alone as the Ruts battled well on an unforgiving pitch.

All thoughts are now re-focused on the league this week as the Ruts try to gain another win to put them back in the title race after an indiffent start to the season.

By Graham Clayton

Another good team performance against a very youthful Chiddingfold team saw the Ruts collect another three points.

A much changed line-up saw the return of a number of players, once again showing good quality in depth at the club. A solid defence of Trowbridge, Noonan, Hughes and Scott Hawley gave the team a good platform to dominate the game and left the Roly the keeper a virtual spectator for the majority of the match .

The returning Peter Pan of football John Wood and Phil 'Razor' Rea dominated the midfield supplying good service to the wide boys Vidal Foster and Bezza, who gave excellent width all game whilst being a constant threat to the opposition. The movement upfront of Sewitt and Smith was also first class all afternoon.

Although the Ruts dominated the game with some outstanding wing play from Vidal Foster and Bezza, early missed chances kept the score down to 2-0 in the first half - a close range effort from Smith and a well placed penalty from Bezza was the only reward when it should really have been five or six.

The Ruts dominated the second half as they had the first. But all their hard work only provided one other goal when a superb cross from Reece Smith found Bezza on the far post and he made no mistake with a rare headed goal.

The club skipper Darren Knott, returning from retirement, should have had another when he poked the ball past the keeper from close range. However, despite the shouts of "leave it" from his team-mates, Sewitt prodded the goalbound ball in leaving the linesman no choice but to flag for offside.

Man of the Match come down to a choice of four - Courtney Sewitt who terrorized the defence all day; Phil Rea who won just about everything there was to win (even giving it back to them a few times to give himself something to do); Vidal Foster who continually put in quality crosses; and then Bezza. After discounting Rea for allowing Chiddingfold's 'Village Idiot' to get him booked and Sewitt for trying to nick a goal, the decision finally went to Bezza who along with his two goals worked tirelessly and unselfishly for the team all day. Although if Vidal Foster continues this form a well deserved MOTM award cannot be far away.

Managers quote: "My thanks to Darren and James for coming on the long journey to help out today, and also to Lindsey for running the line and doing a great job. Although it was another easy-on-the-eye performance with some excellent football played, I would like to see us start converting more of the chances we are working hard to create.”

By Graham Clayton

The Ruts visit to Ripley was a case of deja vu early pressure that should have seen us four goals up within 20 minutes. Despite the impressive Courtney Sewitt causing a constant problem for Ripley as he had the previous week at Chiddingfold, the chances were squandered by all and sundry (as they were in previous weeks) and the score stayed level.

Along with the wasted chances in front of goal, the Ruts were being far too charitable at the back and in midfield and were giving the ball away or picking the wrong final ball far too often, and this gave Ripley the belief they could win the game.

As the game progressed, Steve Berry and Kevin Foster continued to provide good width on a big pitch. However this left a lot of room in the middle of the park for John Wood and Ed Reynolds to cover due to the 'dogs of war' being out for the week (Phil Rea getting a deserved recall to the first team and Boy Blunder being punished by his mum for getting in late with two tickets to Crystal Palace). The result was the Ruts never got control of the game and in the latter part of the first half Ripley were the better team, although with skipper Noonan marshalling his defence well, Roly the goalie was never really tested.

The second half was much the same, although the Ruts finally got on top with Man of the Match Sewitt (no voting required) scoring a good brace. However, in true Ruts fashion shortly after Neil Whyte replaced Nick Munroe, injuries to Marc Hawley, Scott Hawley and Kevin Foster meant it was never as comfortable as it should have been.

Manager's quote: "We have to start to focus and concentrate more in games - we should be killing teams off much earlier and will need to if we are to overtake Yateley. However I have full confidence in the boys and we have players returning for both the first and reserve teams which should help focus their minds."

By Kevin Foster

A goal feast at Poplar Road saw the Reserves beat a poor Ockham team which was lucky not to have lost by more then the eleven goal thrashing, with even the likes of Noonan scoring.

Neil Whyte was back in the starting XI after impressing the week before, Luke Creates was promoted back to the 2s and BoyBlunder got an 18th birthday present of a linesman's flag, meaning we were as strong as we had been all season.

We started brightly passing the ball around and causing lots of problems with Vidal Foster, Powder Puff Creates and the right back runner Bezza causing all sorts of problems with their crossing and distribution. Johnny Wood got the ball rolling scoring from a corner and Man of the Match Foster got the 2nd and 3rd in quick succession, so the game was wrapped up after 20 minutes. Neil Whyte and Courtney Sewitt also grabbed one each before the break.

The second half was much the same with Whyte grabbing a second half hat trick and Woodsy, Noonan and Marc Hawley wrapping up the 11th tapping in a header from a corner (last I heard he was still talking about it in the bar café at midnight on Saturday). Scott Hawley also unluckily hit the bar with a long range free kick

Overall not much you can take out of games like that, the only problem is as a whole team we need to be more clinical in font of goal, and against good opponents must start taking our chances. Must feel sorry for poor Matt Burton in goal who could have stayed in the bar for the game!

Big Surrey Cup game next week, who will certainly be better opposition than Ockham were.

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By Richard Hayward

Following a humbling defeat away at Shalford, everyone in the team knew it was important to get things right this week. A few harsh words from manager Graham Clayton made it clear in no uncertain terms that there was a bitter taste in the big fella's mouth and no-one would be safe from the dreaded chop if they didn't start putting in 100%.

With the Ruts contending for a title in the league above and Guilford struggling in the league below, a rout was the likely outcome. Still, with GC's words stinging ears the Ruts got out of the traps fast and were 4-0 up within 10 minutes - job done!

Hully and Bezza were working well, tearing huge gaps in the away defence, well supported out wide by the pace of Foster and Woods!! The home defence were rarely troubled in the first half. The only real goals of note were a dipping, bouncing, bobbling 30 yarder from Whizzer Wilkes and a tap in from Courtney after a decent curled effort from Bezza hit the bar.

The Ruts went in 7-0 up at half time. GC wasn't pleased but the general feeling around the team was that questions had been answered early on. At this stage Clayton began to look along his quality filled bench and saw young talent Ryan Stephens (but unfortunately also flyweight Goldsmith and heavy toes Burnside). All had earnt call ups from the 3rd team and were looking to impress.

All the fizz went out of the second half and Scooter Hawley was rolled off still feeling the effects of the night before (by the way he was offering outrageous betting on himself at the 10k run by midnight). Noonan limped off nursing a shoulder injury and the shame of carrying sexy Stu's golf bag, while Hully was given a semi earnt rest.

This brought on the hungry trio of Bernie, Ryan and Goldsmith. That led to the only highlights of the second half - Goldsmith being muscled off the ball by Lester Piggot's smaller brother; Bernie’s gallavanting run and general Toblerone head and feet action; plus Ryan blasting a six yarder into a nearby Fiat Punto.

This livened up a dull game that even GC had lost interest in, looking forward to stiffer competition next week. Courtney won Man of the Match, nudging ahead of Whizzer and Marc Hawley (Marc was nominated just for finishing his first game of the season).

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By Graham Clayton

Following some dodgy directions from the injured skipper Keown, the Ruts arrived for the return match against Woking just in time to get changed and have a very brief warm up.

Despite this a new look reserve team following further injuries and first team call ups started the game quiet well. Courtney Sewitt was looking lively in the middle and with Vidal Foster and Ryan Stephens working the wings well it was looking promising.

Early good chances saw Vidal ignore the gaffer instructions to shoot with his right foot and see his effort deflected just wide, and then have a nicely curled corner cleared from a yard behind the goal line. Other good chances also went begging before the curse of the Old Ruts Reserves returned to haunt them. Neil Whyte then controlled a nice ball only to see the keeper make a great point blank save 5 yards out.

Against the run of play Woking got a corner which was cleared, but only to a Woking player standing all alone on the edge of the box. His neatly struck shot beat the outstretched hand of Roly the Goalie and it was 1-0.

The Ruts then had a mad 15 minutes where Woking put them under increasing pressure and before long the Ruts were caught ball watching and the result was an easy tap in from six yards for 2-0.

Young Ryan Stephens - who had been pushed up front to allow the veteran John Wood to drop back to organise things - then saw his first goal for the Ruts chalked off by what has to be the worst descision I have seen in many a year (sorry Gavin) and it went in 2-0 at half time.

Early in the second half the injured Leon Trowbridge made way for debutant Sam Bethel to come on up front and he showed straight away that he will be a good player for the Ruts - a couple of good efforts on goal and some nice link up work gives confidence for the future.

Unfortunately, although the Ruts had got back into it a goal that would have put Woking under pressure never came and with 10 minutes to go Woking got the killer third which was probably offside but the Ruts lino (fat git) had no chance of keeping up with play so couldn't give it.

Although there were a few good performances the Man of the Match award was given to Stephens for his tireless work up and down the field, always offering hinself as an outlet. Unfortunately for him his performance was slightly marred very late on by a yellow card.

Manager's quote: "We have to start working as a team and defending as a team which is from the front. Ball watching has killed us all season and players are going to have to start taking responsibility for their own actions on and off the field. Hopefully we will get some players back from injury and first team duty over the next few weeks which will allow us to finish strong and have a major say in the title race - which isn't over for us!"

By Steve Nicola

Old Ruts kept their slim title hopes alive with a workmanlike win over Shottermill & Haslemere.

First team call-ups and injuries meant an unfamiliar looking line-up took to the field and after a brief introduction session for the three youth players and debutante Daragh Corrigan, the Ruts certainly weren't on the same wavelength for the opening 10 minutes as they let in a soft goal to go 0-1 down.

Slowly but surely the Ruts got their passing together and began to get on top. They equalised on 25 minutes when Neil Whyte sent strike partner Paul Hull through and he calmly lobbed the advancing keeper from 18 yards.

The only other incident of note in the first half came when Hull went on a mazy dribble in the Shottermill box, and in attempting a double drag back managed to stand on the ball and fall flat on his ar$e! This got a bigger cheer than any of the goals and even any of England's tries from the clubhouse.

Immediately after the break Steve Nicola sent Hull scurrying down the inside left channel and he played a perfect ball across the six yard box which bobbled just before Whyte went to tap it in and he shinned it off for a goal kick (Whyte claims the bobble put him off, although it could also have been the shock factor from receiving a pass from Hully).

With 20 minutes left Whyte made amends when he picked up a through pass, drew the keeper and slotted home for 2-1.

The Ruts sat deeper and deeper as they looked to protect their lead. They had to survive a penalty shout and were grateful to keeper Roland Heal for making a good one-on-one save late in the game, but hung on for an uninspiring yet valuable win.

Youth player Josh Allen just edged fellow centre half Jimmy Wilkes for the Man of the Match award.

With Shalford losing their first game of the season and coming to Poplar Road in two weeks, the title may not yet be out of the Ruts reach. First though they have to concentrate on next week's League Cup quarter final at Horsley.

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By Richard Hayward

This away fixture did not start in the most organised of fashion with four players not arriving until five minutes before scheduled kick off, including Roly the Goalie and skipper Tom 'Boy Blunder' Hughes. Despite the early concerns from the kick off, the Ruts tried to play their usual passing game and looked good for the first 10 minutes with Knaphill failing to really get hold of the ball.

This did however lead to some over confidence. Some short passing at the back lead to a mis-placed pass and ended up with a foul on a Knaphill attacker. The home team played a short free kick which was fired low past Roly for 1-0. Sloppy error all round, get the ball back to the centre spot and get on with it.

Looking around there was no real alarm. Richard Lines in his comeback game was pounding the hapless centre back pair, Ed Reynolds and Boy Blunder were winning everything in the middle and there was genuine pace to use out wide with Daragh Corrigan and Luke Creates.

The equaliser did not take long - some good link up play down the left saw Corrigan beat his marker, drive into the box and fire past the keeper. A good finish and reward for some threatening early runs.

This encouraged the Ruts and with some fine build up play and good movement all over, Lines was soon put through to score two almost identical goals. Pace took him away from the back line but the keeper’s positional sense on both occasions left huge gaps at the front post and they were tucked away nicely. From 1-0 to 1-3 within 20 mins - great effort. This first half burst from Lines deservedly won him MOTM.

More chances came and went as did half time. The fourth goal came from Hayward, who intercepted a pass just over halfway, beat one player and drove into the box. Fortunately he came up against a centre back the wrong side of 30, who crudely tried to bring him down, but staying on his feet Hayward managed to beat two other defenders with a trademark body swerve before tucking the ball past the goalie with his right foot. [Webmaster's note: And I get stick for glorifying my goals?!]

The fifth goal came from a good header from Ed Reynolds at the back post - 5-1. This was the final score, but some sloppy defensive work led to Knaphill having two or three good chances they could not convert. The Ruts continued to press but 5-1 was a good result with league leaders Shalford visiting next week. A good team performance with every plaver doing a solid enough job.

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By Graham Clayton

Although having previously retired from writing match reports, I felt the overall commitment from the players on Tuesday night deserved reporting on.

Meeting at 4.30pm on a Tuesday following Easter weekend was never going to be plain sailing and sure enough, from having 13 players who were definitely available we were down to 10 at 5pm. Kevin Foster was one of the casualties succumbing to knee problems having played two games on Saturday and one on Monday (respect) on rock hard pitches (how long ago were they waterlogged?!) along with Courtney Sewitt also out with a knee injury caused by the other absentee Steve Andrews, who was probably busy designing some dodgy line of bobble hats. 15 frantic calls later Elmo and another one of our youngsters Lee, who was making his debut, answered the call.

It was obvious watching the oppo warm up that we would struggle in the air so instructions were given to challenge the first ball but to make an extra effort on the second ball. Whilst trying to play our normal way to feet this may be obvious, but with six non regulars in the team, not so easy.

The game started well and for 25 minutes although not getting enough of the second ball as instructed, we were on top. Marc was marshalling the new look defence keeping the youth team goalkeeper Sam surprisingly un-busy. New boys Bernie and Lee fortunately settled in quickly whilst youth player Josh was continuing to show why he is so highly thought of playing beyond his years.

In the midfield Bezza and Luke were giving good width (I hear their number 9 is still trying to escape Bezza) supported by hard working Leon and Ed in the middle whilst supplying Sam and Ryan up front who were battling against bigger players but still coming out on top.

On the 25 minute mark a corner from the right taken by Bezza was volleyed in from six yards by Lee on his debut giving the Ruts a deserved lead.

Rather than pushing on from this the Ruts took their foot off the pedal probably believing the game was going to be easier than it was, and for the next 20 minutes we were under the cosh. The balls to feet for Ryan and Sam to hold onto turned into long aimless high balls which were easy for the 6”3 defenders to deal with, which lead to our midfield and defence being under constant pressure.

This finally told when an aimless high ball from Virginia saw both Marc and Josh go for the same ball (both missing) leaving the number 9 in acres of space. He only scuffed his shot which was probably a blessing for him (I think Sam would have saved a proper effort) as the ball hit a divot on it’s 6th bounce before going into the goal.

The rest of the half saw the Ruts under constant pressure without looking like they would concede, but were made to pay when the second goal came with literally the last kick of the half to give Virgina a 2-1 lead.

I will describe the goal backwards as I think this goal highlights why the offside rule as it is today is a total farce. A nice passing move saw their midfield player one on one with the keeper and he gave Sam no chance, hammering the ball into the top corner - full marks to him, great goal, however Ron the Ref if you read this maybe you can comment. The ball was received by him following a nice interchange between VW players, but the final pass to him was played between the legs of one of their players who was clearly offside and reacted to shouted instructions to ‘dummy the ball’. The ref ruled that the offside player was not interfering with play - how can that be right? (I agree with Cloughie, if he isn’t interfering what is he doing on the pitch)

Half time was surprisingly upbeat seeing as we had just conceded, but it was felt if we could give them less time on the ball whilst going back to feet football we could still win the game and to be fair to the players the second half was almost entirely one way. The wide boys got their players on the back foot, Sam and Ryan were both using their strength to hold the ball up giving their defence problems and Lee on his debut was continuing to impress.

With 20 minutes to go and the light fading young Josh was sacrificed through no fault of his own to make way for another forward - the Gaffers nemesis Elmo come on with the team switching to a 3-4-1-2 formation. The result was almost instant with Elmo helping create two chances in quick succession for Sam only to see the keeper make two saves that deserved to win any game of football.

With the light fading fast the Ruts pushed everyone up. The look on Leon's face was a picture when he was told to forget the two forwards when we had a corner and get forward! Luckily they chose to come back with him. The last few minutes saw corner after corner and constant pressure from the Ruts but the goal never came.

Although the game was lost the gaffer could have no complaints as all 12 players gave everything they had, it just wasn’t to be on the night. Special thanks to keeper Sam who travelled up from Camber Sands (respect) Steve, Luke and Marc who had played the previous day as well, and young Lee who was voted MOTM by a landslide on his debut - hopefully many more such awards are to come. Finally to Elmo who showed that when he is not with the beer monster he is a true OR (cheers mate, but next time you do the line as I still cannot walk!)

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