And so to a home match against Grays, one place below us in the league table. I was hopeful of a good result and things seemed to be going well until the 27th minute, when Opinel, in his first match back after suspension for his red card, decided to slide in with a terrible two-footed tackle, getting himself sent off and leading to us conceding a goal from the resulting penalty. I rejigged the formation and moved people around to try stop us from conceding any more, but five minutes later Grays scored again.

That was my cue to tell the team to attack more. That may seem like the height of idiocy, being down to ten men and with only a lone striker upfront, but I really wanted to try and narrow the gap. It didn’t work. We didn’t have a single shot on goal (and only one off target) and near the end of the game Oli scored again, completing his hat trick and leading to us losing by three goals.

I’m really going to have to have words with Opinel. He’s been a cornerstone of the team, but if he’s going to get himself sent off all the time then he’s simply a liability. I’m going to give one more chance. After that, the reserves beckon.

To add to my woes, Waterhouse, who did so much in the first twenty minutes of his first game with us, was completely anonymous today.