We had a potential banana skin away against Crowborough Athletic Colts. We were without captain and top scorer Ben Spring, as well as goalkeeper James Faulkner and Chris Phillips, and heavy rain the day before and overnight made conditions difficult. The pitch was heavy and strength-sapping, and we had no substitutes. We started brightly. Chris Newbury made a strong run down the left of the penalty area and crossed for Ross McCarter to open his account for the season in the second minute. If there is such a thing as scoring too early this was it, because we became complacent and took our foot off the pedal almost immediately. In the 7th minute Chris Stewart gave away a free kick for a push near the left touchline. Stand-in goalkeeper Jack Holden came for the ball and didn't collect and Crowborough scrambled an equaliser. Worse was to follow in the 24th minute when a mix-up between Martin Hill and the goalkeeper led to the ball being only half-cleared and although Jack Holden made a great effort to tip the ball over the bar, it dipped into the top left-hand corner of the net. That proved to be a wake-up call for the team, who had become as sluggish as the Crowborough mud. Two minutes later Max Turner hit a ball towards the Crowborough penalty area, one of their defenders back-headed it and Mike Ide was on hand to score his first goal of the season. Three minutes later Ross McCarter claimed his second goal with a powerful and well-directed shot. In the 36th minute Oli Leigh shook off his hangover and somehow managed to score with a cross-cum-shot from the left-hand touchline. Two minutes later he scored again when he got his head to a Jamie Wickham corner from the right. With the score at 5-2 we were able to relax a little more in the second half. In the 45th minute Chris Newbury received the ball from a throw-in on the left and burst into the area to unleash a powerful shot that beat the Crowborough keeper at his near post. In the 54th minute Jamie Wickham got on the scoresheet when he hit a left-foot shot past the goalkeeper after latching on to a long ball from Martin Hill. The game then went into a quiet spell, and the Crowborough goalkeeper may have nodded off as he let a tame shot from Greg Byrne trickle through his legs after 65 minutes. Vice-captain Tom Ryan had been granted his request to play in midfield as he was keen to score a goal and he got on the scoresheet after good work from Jamie Wickham on the left. Tom Ryan hit the bar after meeting his cross but reacted quickest to scramble the rebound over the line. For the last five minutes of the game Jamie Wickham was pushed up front and he scored in the 76th minute with a powerful left-foot shot from the edge of the area. Three minutes later he completed his hat trick with another powerful left-foot shot, this time from closer in. There was still time for Crowborough to grab a late consolation goal with the last kick of the game, despite the linesman flagging for offside. There were a few players playing below their best, but luckily they didn't have to play at 100%. Jack Holden filled in well in goal, Martin Hill was strong at the back, Greg Byrne won everything as usual in midfield, and Ross McCarter and Mike Ide worked well up front and rarely strayed offside. Jamie Wickham can count himself unlucky not to win man of the match after three goals and two assists, but Oli Leigh just got the nod.

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