It shows how much The Ship have improved in recent weeks in that they were possibly more disappointed about this defeat than any other this season. Silly mistakes, bad luck and blatant stupidity cost The Ship who were arguably the better side against a skilfull but disorganised Notting Dale. Once again The Ship had a strong 14 (and once again this dropped to 12 due to a Kwaku squash injury and transport problems confounding Jamie despite everyone else making it) but everyone was on time and fully warmed up (thanks to 12 flat footballs found in the bushes) and foudn themselves 1-0 up within minutes. A raking ball out to the right found Phil and Jon at least 10 yards offside but the ref waved play on and Phil slid the ball across to Ollie Hurrey who cooly slotted it into the bottom corner. Things looked bright for the Ship until bad luck struck and Adam fluffed a clearance to gift their striker a tap-in and then the recently superb centre-back's hamstring curse struck again and saw him replaced by Alan to form a make-shift back four. The Ship battled to the break and were able to re-organise for what was set to be a positive second half. Digger had looked uncomfortable all the first half and decided to relieve his bowels in the bushes during the half-time break but was grumbling more than usual, clearly didn't fancy it and ended up costing The Ship the game. A good move at the start of the 2nd half saw Notting Dale take the lead but a confident Ship sensed a way back in and a superb long-ball from the back sent Hurrey through and although the keeper blocked his attempted lob, Adil was on hand to roll the ball into the net. However, it was then the game changed for the worst. The ref ignored a blatant foul throw and while The Ship appealed, the Notting Dale striker strolled through to side-foot them into the lead. A silly switching-off and poor decision from an otherwise excellent referee was compounded when an idiotic Digger decided to berate the referee, got booked and then decided he couldn't be arsed anymore and decided to get sent off. He trudged off home to wipe his arse properly while the rest of the team tried to reorganise without a recognised centre-back, but then proceeded to play their best football of the game. Man of the Match Rob Waldram was absolutely superb at right-back, ignored the height and strength of the opposition to crash into tackles and headers and almost got The Ship a deserved equaliser at the death, only to see his effort ruled out for hand-ball. Jon Atherton was a breath of fresh air to the midfield and his poise and touch showed what the Ship had been missing. The Raymond brothers fought hard and were a constant threat with their through-balls while Adil ran and ran to give the opposition a torrid time while defending superbly. The new keeper Kostas showed an urgently needed assurance between the sticks and pulled off some very good saves. However, despite being camped in the opposition half and surviving the odd opposition break, the Ship couldn't find the equaliser and were left frustrated about what could have been.
The Ship were confirmed this week as playing again next season and with a side today that included no less than 5 brand new players for this season - the Ship can see from the quality of the opposition that they're playing, that after this transition season - the next could be far better. Especially if certain players sort themselves out.
