The winning ticket worth £61 was claimed for the disappointing result v Hitchin – the winning prizes this year are listed on the 50/50 tab.

MORE POINTS THROWN AWAY – “WE BEAT OURSELVES”

Speaking to supporters at the 50/50 stall, all the talk was of the much-improved performance on Saturday but the need to cut out sloppy goals……. Playing Hitchin Town who were without a win in 6 and the 2nd lowest scorers gave The Bards fans hope of another victory under the new brighter floodlights. Jack Storer’s fine control and shot looked to have given Bards the lead after half time only for the offside flag to be raised late and after consulting the assistant, the referee disallowed the goal. Dan Lafferty’s pile driver on 58 minutes after another fine move did put us ahead and moved The Bards close to a play-off position. But another defensive mix up (the sort of goal that makes the Christmas ‘blooper’ DVD’s with defender heading past their own keeper after a punt upfield) drew Hitchin level. After Hitchin scored their 2nd with 10 to go, there were a couple of scrambles in the Hitchin box and what looked like a foul on Sammons in the area waved away by the ref as frustration grew. Hitchin held on as the game neared the 100th minute and The Bards find themselves down in 16th after Hitchin leapfrog us. We won’t win many points conceding an average of 3 goals per game this month, some of which have been avoidable, and we do miss Liam’s presence in goal – hopefully he will be back soon as having had to use 5 additional goalkeepers in 9 games can’t be helping the defence. As Gavin said – “As a Manager I was really happy in how we played, how we created and how we kept our shape but if you’re not clinical in both boxes you won’t win a game you won’t even draw a game. For 85% of the game we dominated the game and played some great football but we beat ourselves“.

We’ll see you on Saturday 5th November v Basford United playing them for the first time in this league as they have transferred from the Northern Premier League and are sitting near the play offs (after finishing 20th in their league last year). Before then, we travel to 19th placed Barwell on Saturday looking to avenge our 4-0 defeat last year. Come on The Bards!