The 2015/2016 season really cannot come soon enough for a beleaguered Ramsbottom United, who suffered defeat once again, this time to a Marine side who ensured they would not be joining the Rams with that sinking feeling this term.
It is all about performance now with points largely irrelevant so while the wind assisted last kick of the match thunderbolt from Jean Michel Gueyes that deprived the Rams and their travelling faithful a well deserved win was a deflating moment, it does not detract from a improving display.
The best that could be said is that this was not a bad performance from the Rams. The casual uninformed spectator would have found it hard to recognise that this was a contest between a rock-bottom team now 14 points away from salvation and one still harbouring realistic chances of making the play-offs but all of that would be to damn the home team with faint praise.
A moment of needless, mindless ill discipline in the last 10 minutes cost the Rams what would have been a hard earned and fully justified point and quite possibly the chance of grabbing all three.
Nine day previously, two early goals down at Matlock had confirmed the Rams relegation. A repeat dose in east Lancashire merely emphasised the gulf between an average Premier Division outfit and the struggling homesters, who once again found themselves 2-0 down after just twelve minutes.
There will be disappointment that the Rams were not able to end their long stretch without a win despite being the better team throughout the whole 97 minutes of this match - where the referee found the extra minutes from at the end of each half was as big a mystery as a Paul Daniels magic trick - but there will be much satisfaction to be had in a home performance that was as compelling as any since the draw against Blyth Spartans.
There is the occasional football match which lasts long in the memory and brings warm smiles when remembered. Most often they are the massive giant killing acts or a game of goals and such artistry that demand to put in annals of greatness. And there are then games such as this which are much harder to define, lacking in quality and beauty but played with such raw passion and endeavour as to leave the spectator breathless at an outcome that was so clearly on the cards but also unlikely until the closing breathless seconds.
The Chairman's wry smile and shake of the head at the final whistle was more eloquent than words - the rams has survived a second half battering that defied belief to come away with a point that, while improbable for long periods of a fraught 45 minutes, was on balance well deserved.
Full match report to come.
This was a very disappointing defeat for the Rams who in the opening 15 minutes and the last 30 minutes when they nominally had a man advantage, spurned a number of clear edged chances to win a game against opponents also at the wrong end of the table and struggling for points.
If you were to take away the first 15 minutes and the last ten of this game, it would not be unreasonable to see a Rams performance in which they comfortably matched table-topping Blyth Spartans.
The flickering flame of revival and survival which burst into life with the wins at Stourbridge and Grantham is looking more like a dim glow over the horizon which only the most optimistic could discern following the heavy defeat at Ashton and a dismal performance in the South Yorkshire coalfields.
The eagerly awaited reunion of former Ramsbottom United players and management ultimately resulted in a disappointing defeat for the home supporters looking for some semblance of revenge.
Watching the Rams at present is an invitation to have a schizophrenic episode. Was this a good result or a disappointing one? Is there any promise of improving performance or is that an illusion?
The harsh truth about the outcome of this game which nobody was really looking forward to and where more than happy to come away from at the final whistle is that it could easily have ended up in a score approaching double figures if the home team could have been bothered to get out of second gear, let alone third.
In a game switched to Merseyside due to the recent flooding in Ramsbottom, the Rams exited this year's League Cup at the hands of Marine, following two early goals for the home side.
Saturday 28th April 2018
