TASTE OF THE TERRACE: Forest Green defeat was a bad sprain, not a broken bone

The date was marked on my calendar as soon as the fixtures were announced and my ground ticket was purchased the day they became available.

I booked my seat on the coach but then I didn’t even travel.

Muggins here was clever enough to get injured at walking football believe it or not.

I lost my balance and fell backwards badly spraining both wrists.

The concrete under the Astroturf is unforgiving and the injury was (and remains) exceedingly painful.

I’d had a couple of requests to publicise the sessions but that wasn’t what I had in mind.

I am relieved to find that I don’t need to dictate this column and maybe also that I wasn’t able to make the journey to the Forest of Dean as it turned out to be one of those games when the Reds didn’t turn up.

The travelling support was strong so I’m sure they would have been very disappointed that we were quickly overrun in midfield as Forest Green carved out a good number of scoring chances.

Like the recent visit to Kenilworth Road to face leaders Luton Town our backline must have felt they were defending the Alamo.

Rovers converted a couple in the opening 24 minutes and it was game up.

Reuben Reid showed why the club wanted to sign him after James Collins’ departure and inevitably Christian Doidge scored the second.

Our hard work was not matched by flair and we ended up with nothing to show for our efforts, bar a remarkable number of corner kicks from which we failed to take any advantage.

Disappointing though this result may have been it should, in no way, been seen as a defining moment of our season and there is certainly no reason to panic.

Harry Kewell recognises his squad is a work in progress and we all know that we are a better team than we were last season.

Everything is relative so we must ensure that next season we show further improvement.

The opportunity to bounce back is there as we next face high flyers Wycombe Wanderers whose own result on Saturday was even more chastening as they suffered a second defeat to relegation threatened Morecambe.

We also have the chance to again reach the final of the Sussex Senior Cup as the semi-final against Saltdean United is scheduled for tonight (Wednesday) although, given the severity of the weather forecast with sharp frosts and snow, both matches could be in jeopardy.