Whilst this was clearly not the result we wanted, I am far from down-hearted about things. On another day, we would have nicked the equaliser that we were pushing for in the second half and would never have been caught out at the back for their third, as we chased the game.

I gather Bourne were pretty much at full strength, whilst we had a squad full of last season’s regulars missing for one reason or another. Not only that, but Bourne had been aiming for promotion to Div 1 last season and only missed out in a very tight league when they ran out of players after Easter (sound familiar?!). So this was always going to be a tough opener in our new league.

We played an extra man in midfield to try to make up for the fact that a) we knew that this was where they were strongest and b) this was where we were fielding most of our five debutants. I wanted to keep things solid, at least for the first half. I felt that we were pretty comfortable for the opening 20 minutes but they began to turn the screw with some really cute passing down the channels and behind the back four. Their goal came with their first shot of the game on about 25 minutes and was right in the corner, with Dave unsighted. They were the better team after that but I don’t think we looked particularly vulnerable, albeit as the half went on we were seeing less and less of the ball, with Andy very isolated up top.

Second half I thought we began pretty well and the game was very even, with us looking increasingly dangerous, particularly down the flanks, where Barnes and James R terrorised their full backs (their right back was absolutely fukked when he came off). The second goal was soft- we had a throw in the final third, ceded possession to easily and got hit on the counter. These things happen but we were a bit slow to react.

Cosser made an immediate difference when he came on, and we went two up top, giving Andy some much needed help. I thought Andy ran himself into the ground for the cause, which was great to see. Good work from Barnes down the left and Cosser turned in the cross to half the defecit. Game On….. and we could have equalised but a couple of half chances went begging before the penalty in the last minute gave them a flattering scoreline. From where I stood it looked like a penalty but the guy clearly made the most of it. Next time Jim- hit him harder to make sure!!

I doubt we will play many better sides this season, and with a little more match sharpness all round, and maybe a bit of lady luck, I feel we could have got something out of the game.

MOTM: Andy gets an honourable mention for putting his body on the line and terrorising them at the back, but Paulo gets it for his work down both flanks and new levels of fitness.