Tuesday night under the lights as we travel to Hoddesdon Town, who sit rooted to the bottom of the table, albeit they do have a lot of games in hand on teams around them.

There were a couple of noticeable absentees for this game, with Harvey Livings and Harry Brown missing the game through suspension. There was also no place for goalkeeper Martin Arnauchkov, Tyreece Robertson, and Ergis Shala, who all had work commitments. Still, there was a place for Dan Jones and RIgers Kabashi after both players returned to the club last week.

The game started slowly, but we were always controlling the ball and trying to keep it on the floor. When the pitch is this heavy and boggy, though, it becomes challenging. On the other hand, Hoddesdon took the long ball route into the channels, but they did not cause any problems. They resorted to kicking lumps out of our players to try and stop us. A very late tackle on Salim Nassor left him in agony on the floor, and he had to be substituted. In a game like this, you need a firm referee. Surely, there would be a booking for the Hoddesdon player, again, though all he got was a telling-off.

In truth, the half ended without much action in front of the goal, some dangerous moments in the wide areas and a last-ditch goal mouth scramble which saw the Hoddesdon captain save the ball instead of the goalkeeper, but apart from that, we could not create anything, partly down to resolute defending, and partly down to our play in the final third on a difficult pitch.

We tweaked a few things at halftime, with Herman Mwanza also picking up an injury, immediately changing our play. Khadean Campbell picked up the ball wide and left two defenders in his wake. With the goal at his mercy, the Hoddesdon defender somehow managed to get his body in the way and deflect the shot over the bar. We would not be denied from the resulting corner, though, as Elliot Scott was there to prod the ball home from a Joe Thomas corner.

Within 5 minutes, the game was level when we left the smallest man unmarked in the box, as he glanced home a header to bring the match all square. The game had now become stretched, with Hoddesdon players starting to tire. But in the 75 minutes, they nearly took the lead but for a fine save from the deputising Ben Loftus in goal, who kept it at 1-1.

In the 85 minute, we got the goal that should have won the game. A dangerous cross into the box saw the Hoddesdon defender head the ball into his net, a goal that any striker would have been proud of. A slice of luck, but we will take it. As we moved towards injury time, the referee indicated that there would be an additional 7 minutes left to play. The 7 minutes came and went as we entered the 10th minute of injury time. Hoddesdon pumped the ball forward in desperation, and a long shot scuffed out for what was a goal kick, but unbelievably, the referee had pointed for a corner. He then clarified that this would be the last action; the game was over as soon as it was clear. The cross came in, and the keeper punched the ball in the air under pressure. While jumping for the ball, the Hoddesdon player then used his hand to direct the ball towards the goal, and Hoddesdon equalised; how on earth has the referee not seen this? Why were we still playing in the 101st minute when there was only 7 minutes added?

The referee immediately blew for full-time, and that was it; Hoddesdon celebrated, and so they should, given the circumstances and their league position. It felt like a loss, but it was not our night, and we could not get going. As the old saying goes, if you cannot win, make sure you do not lose. We will get games like this where the pitch levels things out, and the game becomes very scrappy. It's why we love non-league so much.

We now dust ourselves off, and with players returning for the weekend, we will look to get back to winning ways when we take on current league leaders, Dunmow Town.