Seaford Town 2 - 1 CHUFC
Goal: Tobe Uzor

This was a tough one to take as we deserved at least a point if not all 3 and the manner in which we ended up with nothing was a huge blow for the lads who had performed so well.

We were up against it in the first 10 minutes but defended well and had a little bit of luck in not conceding, but after that, it was pretty much an even game. We probably had the best chance of the half and you could sense that our play was causing a few nerves around the ground for our hosts who I sensed expected to ease to a win.

At the break we spoke about dealing with an expected early onslaught and that if we saw that out and tidied up our play a bit, particularly in midfield we could get a result. That played out almost exactly as we thought but the game was getting ever more scrappy with some big challenges coming in from both sides.

We took the lead following the award of a penalty when we had worked the ball well into Kai who was tripped as he attempted to take on the Seaford defender. Tobe had his initial shot stopped but the ball fell kindly for him to hit home at the second attempt. Shortly after with the challenges still flying in Seaford was correctly reduced to 10 and the game was there for us if we could see it out.

I felt we were comfortable for the next 10 minutes and had a great opportunity to double our lead with the home keeper making a good save to deny Asher. Whilst Seaford was throwing everything at us we never looked like conceding. With about 20 minutes to go an innocuous long ball resulted in a missed clearance and suddenly we were level and it was all to play for.

To the host's credit they weren’t settling for a draw and continued to search for a winner and with the game stretched there were opportunities at both ends, probably again with the better chances falling to us.

As we entered the final minute of stoppage time we thought we had won it. John timed his run to perfection and whilst he was denied initially he composed himself to round the goalkeeper and shoot goalwards. The ball had clearly crossed the line, a fact confirmed by their goalkeeper and nearest players after the game but with the linesman for some reason in line with the 18-yard box he was unable to see what most could see from the halfway line. If I was being totally critical John should have put more on his shot but it had gone in and we didn’t get the decision. From the resulting punt up field we weren’t as organised as we should have been and when a shot from the left was saved Seaford was the quickest to react to score the winner.

I'm very proud of the performance but it got us nothing and maybe we lacked a bit of know how at times to manage the game better. We need to learn and to improve in a couple of areas but despite having lost the last 4, our performances haven’t been bad and with another opportunity tomorrow away at Reigate Priory I hope we can get a win as we start the last third of the season.

Gaffer Glynn Stephens
First Team Manager