Well, I am very pleased to announce some good news from Priory Lane this week. The drainage works. The money invested over the past two seasons to prevent flooding has finally paid off. After last weekend's debacle with Salisbury, many will say, if only the bleeding pitch still got waterlogged!

It wasn’t a pleasant afternoon to stand and watch a game of football and I can only imagine how the 22 on the pitch must have felt. I doubt it was an awful lot better in the dug-outs either, bearing in mind I haven’t seen the windows being fitted yet! But the game did go ahead, somehow. It was always going to be a lottery in conditions that swung from sunshine to rain, hail to hurricane, and the fact neither keeper could manage to punt the ball much further than the edge of their own penalty area bears testament to the strength of the on coming breeze.

Unfortunately, and I know a few of you out there will groan at this, but once again, the man in black took centre stage. As is my want, from time to time, I get in from a match and sit and reflect. Sometimes I even go as far as researching one or two things in preparation for my ramblings here. Well, in the words of Julius Caesar “Veni, vedi,Googli“ I came, I saw and I Googled. Mr I Cooper, referee.

I find it quite interesting to read archive material relating to the official of the day, and more often than not, the wording “bizarre decisions, curious decisions, et al” seemed to frequent the pages more than “the referee didn’t put a foot wrong”. Sadly, it seems to be more widespread than just in the Blue Square premier league as the Irish will confirm following Wednesday night's howler at the Stade de France.

Many times at Priory Lane we have felt hard done by but nothing we have endured can match that of the lads from the Emerald Isle. To miss one handball is bad, to fail to see two is awful and the fact that the man on the far side with the flag didn’t see them either beggars belief (and I won't go down the “two players in an offside position” route).

At our lowly level, and I classify the fifth league as lowly only in comparison to World Cup qualification, we have the three men pitch side and their colleague near the dug-outs making instant decisions. Surely the time has now come for the technology available to homes throughout the land via satellite broadcasting to be made available to the fourth or maybe a fifth official when such devastating mistakes are made at such high profile games.

It works in rugby when the “try or no try” is checked. I am not advocating each and every close call is analysed, or we would never get to half time, but when the play has stopped for a goal, then any hint of infringement can be verified accordingly. Unfortunately, Monsieur Henry will forever be tarred with the same brush as Diego Maradona, and the Hand of Frog will live forever in the mind.

Oh yes, I was discussing Mr Cooper wasn’t I? Suffice to say that he hasn’t endeared himself to the Eastbourne Borough faithful. I think it's safe to say only one official has managed that. Take a bow Mini Me, aka Mr Mathew McLaughlin, Bedfordshire’s finest.

The reserve section went off to South London to face the Eagles of Crystal Palace in the return fixture of the Totesport Combination. Having suffered a 1-2 home defeat, some may have felt trepidation on the outcome, but news filtered through that Palace had indeed won but another close score of 3-2 in their favour shows that Shaun and Johno have a bright set-up with some first team squad members and fringe players combining well. Did I enjoy the game? I have to admit that I missed this one, and spent a cold windy afternoon in Tunbridge Wells with school sports. It was rugby, of all things. I have to confess it is a game I don’t understand, and is played by guys with odd shaped balls (I am not sure if that is politically correct when discussing kids rugby, but I will risk it).

The Stags of Mansfield will be welcoming us to Nottinghamshire this weekend. It is game that on paper offers us little, but following the antics of Forest Green Rovers in the cup, it proves that the form book is there to be re-written. Oh I can’t wait to report back on the happy band of stewards. Let's see if they have moved upwards and onwards in the ascent of man to being human this season! One can but hope.....