This was the match that surely must frank the form, the match where Sawbo’s season of battling performances without luck, narrow even freaky defeats, unfathomable officiating and home Saturday fixtures as rare as a dodo bird could finally be put behind us and the fight back begin.

Sadly, we simply got more of the same.

A good half-time lead from a great move and header from Teddy Hall in an open match with both sides squandering gilt-edged chances, a decent, loyal crowd cheering the home side on.
The second half started brilliantly, with constant Sawbo pressure and chances, culminating in a great move which saw Teddy Hall sidestepping the keeper, with just a tap-in left to increase the home teams lead. The keeper chose to wipe him out instead, he receives a yellow only under the double jeopardy rule, Sawbo miss the spot kick and instead of being 2-0 ahead have nothing to show for it and Shefford still have a keeper with no more than a yellow. What a stupidly constructed rule. What is that proverb about a room full of monkeys with a typewriter?

Anyway, it was as if that flipped a switch, Shefford, buoyed by the miss, soon levelled with - yup, you guessed it, a hotly contested penalty for handball. I could not see it, many tell me that it was clearly 100% unintentional, but that isn’t enough of course under the current rules. Back to the room full of monkeys again.

The penalty was duly buried and Sawbo, still game for the match, found themselves facing a very different Shefford, full of purpose and intent, who ten minutes later, after a period of pressure, netted the winner with 10 mins or so to play. Still Sawbo pressed on gamely,
but the game was gone.
And, just to keep the ball rolling, Sawbo now head into an entire month of away fixtures. Even the monkeys tapping away in their room couldn’t make it up.