On another cold February afternoon at Preston Park, the two teams prepared for their second encounter of the season. Brighton Bandits warmed up by running across the pitch and engaging in some strenuous stretching exercises. This was followed by some rousing words from our manager and our captain. By contrast, London Leftfooters could be observed lying on their backs and waving their legs in the air. This was soon followed by some communal singing and the hokey-cokey. Clearly, Alex Ferguson has been sharing his manual of the dark art of football psychology with them. The form guide showed that Brighton, riding high on 11 points and yet to lose a league match this season, ought to maintain their winning form against London, who in true Eurovision style, were on nul points.

London Leftfooters were in typically buoyant mood and worked hard at containing the efforts from Brighton Bandits. Having started the game with high expectations, the lack of an opening goal began to cause even higher frustration amongst the Brighton team as the first half progressed. Not unsurprisingly, the half-time team talk involved a good deal of unprintable language and a reminder that points mean prizes.

The second half began much as the first had ended. Unfortunately, the continued lack of a goal was beginning to cause a mixture of nervousness, frustration and high blood pressure for Brighton. This was further compounded by Dan Allen scoring for London Leftfooters, who now entered a state of near ecstasy. Matt Haywood, having taken himself off due to injury, made a manager’s decision to go back on and vowed to get a goal back. The clock ticked away and still no goal. Then, Brighton won a corner. Matt swung into action and the ball sailed across to Paul Smith. The whistle blew and the referee was pointing to the penalty spot. He judged that Paul had been impeded from jumping by a particularly friendly Leftfooter who had been giving him a hug at the wrong moment. Matt scored from the spot and managed to keep his vows.

After the final whistle, having expected so much from this game, Brighton remained disappointed with the draw, as I expect did London, who had seen two out of three points slip from their grasp. Consequently, Matt decided that he would not award a Man of the Match, although he jokingly said that the referee deserved a special mention. As someone who usually plays in defence, I am probably biased, but I thought that both Steve Taylor and Jason Hall put in good performances.

I do not intend to take anything away from London Leftfooters, who showed considerable speed and commitment. However, on reflection, I think we were probably defeated by our own high expectations of ourselves. That nervousness and frustration stopped us playing the football we know we are capable of. We need to remember this in our final two league games, which will be two of the most important matches we have ever played.