The eagerly awaited top of the table clash between Bristol Panthers and Brighton Bandits took place in the inhospitable grounds of Hartcliffe School, Bristol, the home of the Bristol Panthers. No sane person would ever wish to get lost in the area, a feat we achieved admirably last season resulting in a police escort to the ground, but it was plain sailing this time round. Quick in, quick out and don’t hang about, is my recommendation. Tantalised by the promise of a better pitch than last season (i.e. one without a drainage channel through the middle that brought players to the ground more often that the opposition did), we relished the opportunity to show our pure silky football skills. Whilst the drainage channel may have been missing, the surface was still the worst we have endured all season. And with a wind blowing down the hill, we expected it to be a difficult first half as we defended the goal at the bottom, and so it proved.

With changes needed to our regular team due to line-dancing (no I’m not joking), holidays and work commitments, an under-strength but enthusiastic and committed side took the field knowing that defeat would give the Championship to our hosts. A massive performance would be required if this was to be avoided. The majority of the early threats were from Bristol’s use of the long ball from the keeper, which caused all sorts of problems for our makeshift defence, although there were flashes from the Bandits to give us hope at the other end too. The opening goal, however, went to Bristol, a corner which dropped under the bar to be headed in unchallenged.

A soft goal to give away, which made it all the more demoralising. However, their second was anything but. A run past two defenders and a pass inside gave Clive the opportunity to drill the ball into the top corner, leaving Theo in the Bandits goal with no chance. A difficult half made more so by an injury midway through to our star striker Aidie, the league's leading scorer, meant that the home team had a thoroughly deserved 2-0 lead at the interval. The half was marred only by a number of fouls by the opposition centre half and two dives in the box by the second goal scorer in an unsporting attempt to get a penalty. These went unpunished by the referee, but raised the blood pressure of the Bandits' manager, who made his feelings known to the referee in no uncertain terms. These two non-decisions were to turn out to have a major influence on the final result.

With the wind behind us, and Aidie going in goal for the Bandits for the first time due to his injury, hopes were high for the second half, but an intercepted throw from the keeper, a couple of mistimed challenges and a bit of dancing rather than football from our lovely Mr Keedy, meant that the ball was in the back of the net for a third goal to the hosts. An embarrassing scoreline loomed. But, for probably the first time ever, we decided that we were going to roll up our sleeves and regain some pride. And that is exactly what we did. A lob over the keeper by the impressive Matt Heywood reduced the arrears and raised hopes, but the award of a penalty against us looked as if it was all in vain. Fortunately, the pressure of the moment got to the opposition striker, who blazed it high over the bar.

The Bandits were back on the offensive and another high bouncing ball caught out the opposition centre half, who pulled Matt back from behind to prevent him from racing clear on goal. A booking was the right result, but had he been booked in the first half as expected, this key player would have been sent off. Not to be deterred, however, the Bandits pressed forward again, and from a corner, a header and flick-on gave a simple opportunity to Simon Hawker to get the second goal back. More drama was to come. Following another Bandits attack, a shot from Matt was handled on the line by 'Clive the Dive', giving us a penalty, but only a yellow card rather than the expected red card was given to this ex-professional player. Even this blow would not have mattered if the yellow card had also been shown for the diving, but it was not to be. The penalty was comfortably slotted home by Matt, and with just a few minutes remaining the Bandits were back in contention for the title and requiring one more goal to go back to the top of the table with one game to go. But this is a cruel game. Bristol gathered themselves together as we pushed forwards and another brilliant finish by Clive from the edge of the box sealed the victory and the title for Bristol. Not bad for someone who I felt shouldn’t even have been on the pitch at that stage.

So whilst we contemplate how we might have been playing against nine men, rather than eleven, and probably going on to win the match, the result tells us that Bristol won the game, they take the Championship, and as they say, the best team wins the league over the course of the season. Bristol certainly played better than they did in Brighton earlier in the season and showed us, particularly in the first half, what they are capable of, but you have to feel sorry for the Bandits players. They put themselves through the pain barrier to a man to try to get the result we so desperately needed, and it nearly worked. The manager is proud of their performance. A new level of commitment has been shown, and this is the level needed every game next season to give us a chance of our first 11-a-side title.

But our old bogey remains. We still haven’t won after going behind in almost two whole seasons. We so nearly did it this time and next season we will do it. But before that, there is the game on April 24th against the Yorkshire Terriers. A draw will be good enough for second place. Surely we can do that? Man of the match goes to Steve Taylor, for keeping us in the match in the first half with some outstanding covering and last ditch clearances, and a fully committed second half too. Pushing him hard though was Matt Heywood, who had an inspirational second half and scored two goals.