"Football can be a cruel game and last Friday it got about as cruel as it can get. We played better than we have all season and absolutely battered the opposition. But we made three mistakes and got punished every time and ended up losing a game we should have won by some margin. It was a real Dick Turpin job by Bishops Stortford, masks and all. I was absolutely gob-smacked and I’m still scratching my head several days later, and working out what happened. The truth of the matter was that we had to work bloody hard for our two goals, and we gifted them their three.
Siggy scored a well-worked goal after 20 minutes, and we were absolutely dominating the game. We could and should have had another: we hit the bar, and the post, and the keeper made save after save. Then, on the half hour, came mistake number one: Leon Legge air-kicked the ball, and their guy was through: he finished well to equalise. Just after the restart came mistake number two. Leon went to clear the ball and their striker picked his pocket and lobbed home. We couldn’t believe we were down. But we reacted well, and kept on attacking. Everybody was giving 100%: I can’t fault any of the players for their effort. We could have had two penalties, the keeper made another world class save to tip the ball over the bar - I still can’t understand how he managed it, it was a real Gordon Banks number - and finally Siggy rose up to glance in an equaliser, with twenty minutes still to go. At that point I thought there could only be one winner."
Then came mistake number three - a catalogue of errors, actually - which led to their winner in the 87th minute. One of their guys trod on Leon Legge’s foot and he reacted by pushing him in the chest. That was naive: you’re not allowed to raise your hands, and they got a free-kick, on the 18-yard line level with the post.