We can’t deny that it has been a tough month so far. For the Cray game we had an illness before the match and then Alex’s (Mulrooney-Skinner) back went when warming up. I (John Embery) had travelled up to London to meet with Ronald Sobowale who had agreed to re-join us. The paperwork was completed and signed and went off to the league but was returned as a minute too late. That left us with just two on the bench. Despite conceding an early goal we had started brightly and at the break we thought we might get back into the match. We the lost Tahjae (Anderson) and Ben (Gorham) to injury and Danny Leonard (knee) and Jake Embery (hamstring) were passengers for the later stages and Cray piled on the pressure and scored the goals. To put things into perspective Cray’s bench are probably on more money than the whole of our squad. Now, I’m not moaning, and you can only work with what you have got, but some teams have a big advantage before we even go out onto the pitch against them.

Danny Rumbol was not available for the Ramsgate match and we did not want to risk Ben (Gorham) by bringing him back too early. He is simply too good a player and we need him fit for the rest of the season. We had to put Jamie Chamberlain and Calum Adonis-Taylor in the centre of defence, and they had never played with each other. We signed three centre-backs at the start of the season. Matt Fry and Nick Reeves are still out injured, and James White has been loaned to Crowborough Athletic to gain some more first-team experience. Alex and Danny Leonard were still carrying their injuries. The inexperience of the makeshift team showed, and we were four down at half-time. Things were much better in the second half and we were pleased with the return of Harry Miller who scored a great headed goal. He made a couple of appearances for us in August 2017 but was out injured for the rest of the season and the first half of this one following a couple of operations. Harry is a great prospect, good with both feet and as tough as nails.

We would love to have a core squad of 16-17 players but have had more than our fair share of injuries and its just not easy to draft in players of the right calibre. We have some quality players in the Under 23s, who had a great 4-4 draw at Lewes during the week. Victor Aiyelebola scored twice and looks to be one for the future and we will be following closely. It is important not to throw them into the first team too quickly if they are not ready. Necessity has meant that we have had to do this a few times that season and maybe it has not always worked out.

We had a near full-strength team at Haywards Heath and went into the break a goal in front. In the last 20 minutes we failed to deal with their direct approach, and they equalised and then in the last minute we conceded again. We deserved something out of the game.

Looking ahead to Saturday and the visit of Ashford we have some concerns about Alex Mulrooney-Skinner (back), Raphe Brown (back) and Danny Leonard (knee). We will need to see if they recover over the next couple of days. Ben Gorham is due a scan on his knee on Friday but are hopeful that he will be able to play alongside Danny Rumbol and Connor Wilkins. If we can put out a strong side, work hard and show the desire then there is reason why we can’t get something out of it. We are talking to another centre back, someone who has loads of experience at this level and above. At present it looks promising and he has shown some good interest in joining us, but like all these situations nothing is ever certain.

We are confident that we can get the points to rise up the table, if we didn’t think we could do the job we would have already walked away. Thanks to all the fans for following what we believe are a club with so much potential and look forward to seeing you and hearing you (cheer on the team) on Saturday.