Since we all last gathered to dwell on life at The Lane, it's been quite a week, one way or another. Chester have been and gone, no doubt with a hell of a smile on their faces, with a point in the bag against all the odds. The Sussex FA Youth Cup got underway, and the reserves took to the stage in their debut Combination season.

Now many of you that attend the home matches will have noticed that the TV gantry scaffolding was removed a while back, after the AFC game to be precise. So one has to wonder, where a certain Mr J Watkins, referee extraordinaire thought the film crew would be situated. He must have been a devasted little bunny when he discovered that all his posturing, strutting, incessant whistle blowing and finickity gesturing was all in vain! Not a soul would witness his bizarre officialdom, unless of course an assessor was there. Mind you, any assessor in his right mind would probably have collapsed in incredulous laughter by the end of the 90 and been unable to write a report for the tears running down his cheeks! The sign of a good referee is you don't notice his presence... Mr Watkins was more than noticeable! He really would have been more at home at an Open Mic night down the local comedy club! JW take a bow.

As the sun rose on the Sabbath, the under-18s took to the road, and one can only have sympathy for the Rebels of Worthing. When I first saw the result I honestly thought there was a touch of dyslexic fingers. 0-6 maybe, but never 0-16! The England One Day team would rip your arm off to be 0-16! Congrats go to Shaun and Jonno on the brilliant start to the new campaign.

If that wasn't enough for the pair of them, then Tuesday evening in sleepy Eastbourne saw the arrival of the Lions of Millwall's reserve squad to enter battle with our boys in red in the Totesport league. I was gutted that the fixture wasn't emblazoned on the main board roadside. I simply wanted to take photographic evidence of the progress of this team! It must have caught the imagination and the 234 that passed through the turnstiles were treated to a good, fast passing game of football. To see Richard Shaw, ex of Palace and Coventry was leading the troops from South London, and to see Messers Harper and Johnson bellowing form the rival dug out made this correspondant feel proud. If the understudies to the 1st team squad keep up displays like this, Garry and Nick will have some very capable prospects in the pipeline yet again. With the like of Palace and QPR to name but two still to visit, I am certain reserve games will bring some new fans to our humble ground. Who knows, they may stay.

The weekend ahead offers us poor souls the daunting thought of visitng table toppers Oxford. Last season ended 6-3. This season? I guess we can take heart, albeit a tiny bit, that little Forset Green Rovers managed to subdue the men in gold and gain a point. It's a task and a half but there again, we all know what we can do on our day. It is also hoped that the "Move along, Nothing to see here" tee shirts will be making their first appearance at The Kassam. I will explain all next time.