Crowborough Ath: 1

Ringmer: 2

LAPSES in concentration either side of half-time cost Crowborough Athletic dearly on Saturday.

Player-boss Dave Adams's stunning strike had given the Crows a somewhat undeserved lead against Ringmer. However, the hosts switched off seconds before the half-time whistle to allow Marc Whiteman to equalise and then, moments after the restart, more sloppy play allowed Adam Mitchell to give Ringmer the lead.

Despite battling away, the Crows never looked like getting back in the match, and Adams was left wondering where the next three points are going to come from.

"It's still in our own hands," Adams, referring to his team's slide down the league, said. "We'll see what we can do. It's entirely up to us. There's no point feeling sorry for ourselves. We need to work as a team and dig deep to turn things around."

Adams added: "I thought there were a lot of positives to take out of Saturday.

"We didn't start too badly, but when we took the lead we switched off a little bit.

"The timing of the goals disappointed me. Having said that, I thought there were some really good individual performances.

"Jack (Turner) was celebrating his 18th birthday, Trotts (Jon Trotter) is 19, Hampo (Jon Hampson) is 20 – I thought they were superb. And Ranse (Chris Ransome) came back in at right-back and did really well. I'm obviously disappointed with the result, but we need to take the positives as well."

The Crows were on the back foot from the first whistle on Saturday and could easily have fallen behind on two minutes. Ben Head did superbly to deny Adam Mitchell and then winger Joe Dryer, while Ransome also did well to get a block in and prevent the Ringmer wide man from opening the scoring.

The Crows struggled to get hold of the ball in the opening exchanges, but then took a shock lead on eight minutes.

Impressive new signing Harry Thompson managed to get to the by-line, pulled the ball back and found Adams on the edge of the six-yard box. Adams, facing away from goal, swivelled brilliantly before unleashing an unstoppable shot across Jake Buss and in off the far post.

Adams's reaction said it all and the goal was certainly one enjoyed by the 240-odd people packed into the Alderbrook.

Head had to be alert to deny Mitchell on more than one occasion as Ringmer pushed for an equaliser, while Whiteman, with a woeful finish, wasted their best chance.

However, the visitors equalised on the stroke of half-time. Dryer's cross from the left hit the cross bar, Crowborough's defenders were slow in reacting and Whiteman turned the ball home.

The Crows then fell behind seconds after the restart. They needlessly gave the ball away in midfield, Dryer's shot was parried by Head and Mitchell tucked home the rebound.

The goal stunned Crowborough, but they were nearly on level terms immediately.

Wayne Clarke saw his shot saved, the ball fell to Adams, who with the goal at his mercy, directed it goalwards, only for Buss to stick out a hand and turn it over the bar. No one could quite believe it.

With that miss, Crowborough's best chance of getting back into the game had also gone. Thompson saw a shot fly wide with 10 minutes left, but that was as good as it got.

At the other end, Head was at his best to deny Danny David with his legs, before the midfielder rattled the Crows bar with a 25-yard pile-driver.

The Crows travel to Sidley tomorrow afternoon, desperate to record their first win of 2011.