I don’t think I was the only one who left frustrated today. It wasn’t a great game to watch, and I imagine it wasn’t particularly enjoyable to play in either.

Let’s start with the positives.

There was a huge amount of effort from all the lads. They wore their hearts on their sleeves and dug deep to try to get something from the game. For the majority of the match, our defending was determined, Jesse made some cracking saves, and Chester looked very assured on his debut.

I didn’t need to go through the negatives with the boys afterwards because they already knew what our biggest problem was: we let them get inside our heads.

We allowed them to beat us today.

Right from the off, some of the boys seemed to arrive with scores to settle. As the game progressed, the frustration then shifted towards the referee, the opposition and, at times, even our own teammates.

That is not the team I coach.

The team I coach gets on with it. We roll up our sleeves, stick together and make things happen. We don’t sulk, we don’t moan and we don’t allow things outside of our control to affect how we play.

There is a fine line between being fired up and losing control, and today we crossed that line.

It’s an unfortunate lesson, but one I sincerely hope we learn from if we want to continue progressing.

The game itself

We were scrappy from the off. We weren’t necessarily playing badly, but we weren’t getting the ball down and playing the football we know we can.

We fell behind to a very good Arnold goal and couldn’t have too many complaints about it. That seemed to increase our frustration, and it wasn’t long before we found ourselves 2-0 down after giving away an avoidable free kick. Jesse made a good save from the resulting free kick, but Arnold reacted quickest to the rebound and dispatched it.

Around 20 minutes in, I was looking at a team that didn’t really resemble the team I know. Something then clicked.

We started to play. We got the ball down, moved it better and began finding the feet of our forward players.

That was summed up perfectly when Joel got hold of the ball and went on a rampage down the left before cutting inside. Mayson was then on hand to dispatch it in what is quickly becoming his trademark type goal.

We went into the break playing much better and only a goal behind. We knew we were still in the game.

The message at half-time was simple: keep your heads, play our game and get the ball down.

We started the second half well and, for a while, it really did feel like game on. We were playing better and were well in the match.

Unfortunately, we conceded again from another set piece. Initially, it looked like Jesse had secured the ball in his hands, but the referee determined that he hadn’t and allowed play to continue. Arnold capitalised and scored. It was very unlucky for us.

To our credit, we responded quickly.

Isaac finished off a very well-worked long throw from Henry to get us straight back into the game.

As the match wore on, though, our discipline completely disappeared. We gave away free kick after free kick, and it was no surprise when Arnold eventually punished us again, scoring a carbon copy of their second goal by reacting quickest to the rebound from another good Jesse save.

The game finished 4-2.

Not the result we wanted. Personally, before the game I thought both teams would be in or around the top spot come the end of the season, today’s result now gives us plenty to do if we are to make that a reality.

Player of the Match: Chester

A very solid debut. Composed, strong and a real positive for us.

I don’t want to single individuals out, so I won’t name them, but there were a handful of players today who refused to get sucked into the fouling, arguing and moaning. Well done to those boys. That is exactly the mentality we need from everyone.

Today was a frustrating lesson, but it’s one we need to learn from quickly.

Thanks, as always, for the support!