Hempnall FC

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Now for something completely different !! Firstly my apologies for the delay in the write up, a combination of Computer technical problems and a lack of motivation have contributed. You would think that losing would become easier to take as you get older but I am finding the opposite, Saturday left a deep disappointment that we had let 3 points go.

After some analysis, I believe the answer is that the more experienced you become the clearer the reasons for losing are. There was lots of talk around we were ‘unlucky' to lose and we were the better side and this was even a comment from a gracious in victory opposing manager Chris Wigger. But I don't buy we were ‘unlucky' or that we deserved more, in my opinion we got what we deserved, nothing! Yes I agree that we had the upper hand in terms of possession for much of the game. Yes we created more goal scoring opportunities than the Cromer and on another day we will take more of these.

However, in my opinion, we never had the control of a game that given our superiority on the day we should have had. In my opinion we were naïve, playing far to open (despite halftime instructions), we took unnecessary chances and in doing so lost our shape and discipline, leaving gaps that a good attacking side like Cromer could exploit and so they did, punishing us to the maximum.

However, a young side like ours can and will learn as we go forward. What a loss also does is make people on and off the pitch look for reasons (excuses) as to why we lost, normally those reasons are nothing to do with them.

I am not saying this was evidenced on Saturday but more of a general comment around losing. People start to consider their own futures, asking if they should be there, winning tends to keep this line of thought away from peoples minds. What I do know is that a loss can often be significant, in that it ignites a desire to work harder.

Because invariably the ‘true' winners will mourn a loss then move on to rectifying the problem. From a manager's point of view this often means some painful decision making as you identify good honest people who are giving you everything they have got but you realise that isn't quite enough. But if you are true to yourself these tough decisions have to be made, as ultimately you have no choice, as you governed by one overriding desire, to ‘Win'!

Enough of my preaching, the game its self we lost 4 - 3. 3 times behind, 3 times pulling back showing good character, before conceding a killer 4th goal with 10 minutes remaining, which fully illustrated the lack of discipline I mentioned above.

Carl Harwin again won man of the match with a good defensive display, piping Sam Wenham, both are in a rich vein of form.