Brantham slump to eighth loss in a row - but whose fault it that?
The for the eight time since the turn of the year Brantham lost.
For the seventh time in this eight defeats they failed to score, their only goal in 2024 came in a 5-1 home defeat back in January.
Goals in each half from Jamie R Smith and a Luke Young penalty were enough to give Lakenheath victory over a young Brantham side. who were praised by a Brantham official on their version of Pravda on Twitter.
As is usual Brantham officials blamed the player going down under a challenge and the referee for giving the penalty.
But it is no good blaming, officials, heavy pitches, bad luck, us in the media, or even their own letter-writing fans mocking their behaviour.
It is time chairman Roger Peck, chief executive Darren Smith, fellow committee members and their acolytes, looked in the mirror and accepted responsibility for their failed policy.
Financial irregularities aside, and more is bound to come out of this, this clueless committee has damaged the club's reputation, not just within non-league football, but in its own back yard, where they are not particularly well-supported as it is, and gates continue to dwindle.
The collapse in form can be traced back to issues with some players over their pay. That led to unavailability of players, the disruption saw Brantham go on a four game losing streak under Pip Boyland and Alex Drennan and a combination of events led to them leaving, along with some players.
While there is no real pressure on getting results now as the demise of Norwich United means Brantham will not be relegated, even as they slip down the division, however, there could well be other unintended consequences.
We know blooding youngsters is all part of a football club's progression and their development, there is a right, and good way of ding it. Putting too many in too quickly without enough senior players to guide and protect them, often leads to this sort of disastrous run.
While Alan Hansen may have been shown to be wrong by Sr Alex Ferguson's Manchester United, Brantham are proving the accuracy of his theory that 'You don't win anything with kids' by not just failing to get a point, but not scoring a goal either.
It is not the players' fault, or even the interim management team, who must been feeling extremely frustrated in the dug out,
Concern too for the players that are clearly been forced into playing at this level of football too soon for their own good.
No one will doubt their enthusiasm, energy or effort, and wise heads will help them but it is clear to many within the game the policy is more about saving a few quid, than player development.
Losing week in, week out, is not good for their confidence or well being.
Luckily Dan Hart's development squad have something to look forward to on Friday night when they take on Stowmarket's Under 23s in the Suffolk Reserves Cup semi-final at AFC Sudbury's MEL Ground.
It will also be interesting to see what happens when Jack Sibbons and Tom Austen take over towards the end of April, how they make positive changes during the summer, ahead of next season.
Personally this reporter would love to be able to write positive match reports, like the one below when Pip Boyland's Brantham actually beat Lakenheath 2-0 just before Christmas, with goals from young strikers kai Fletcher and Reece Josselyn, but that is clearly not possible at the moment - and we know whose fault that is?
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