God only knows what was going through referee Andy D'Urso's mind in the final few minutes of Tuesday night's game against Morecambe.
I've certainly never seen anything quite like it. Having awarded us a 93rd-minute spot-kick which prompted a penalty area mêlée – resulting in a Shrimps player sent off for a headbutt – he then had a long chat with his lino before having a change of heart and booking David Wheeler for diving.
Given D'Urso was considerably closer to the challenge that sent David tumbling than the lino was, I've not a clue why he might change his mind. Surely, if he was in any doubt whether it was a penalty then he should have consulted with the lino before pointing to the spot?
It was doubly frustrating because we played pretty well and had already had a couple of decent penalty shouts turned down. What's more, had we gone on to record a second successive win we would have started to build some real momentum ahead of the home games against Rochdale on Saturday and Wycombe next Tuesday. As it is, we'll have to content ourselves with stretching our unbeaten run to five games.
Fortunately, there were no such controversies in Saturday's game at Southend. Eliot Richards' winning goal might not have come until late in the game but, make no mistake, we were much the better side and good value for the three points.
Jimmy Keohane put us ahead early on and on another day might have had a first-half hat-trick.
Nevertheless, a little less than 10 minutes after taking the lead, we found ourselves 2-1 down. They say you're always at your most vulnerable when you've just scored and that again proved to be the case – too many times this season we've found the back of the net only to concede one within the space of a few minutes and, while we got away with it on Saturday, it's a habit we need to kick.
It was great to have Matt Oakley back in the centre of midfield pulling the strings and, while it was disappointing Artur (Krysiak) was sidelined by injury, it was exciting to see Christy Pym – yet another product of our youth set-up – make his first-team debut.
I thought Christy might have got a chance in the JPT game against Wycombe back in the autumn but, while he's had to be patient, we'd seen enough of him at the Cat & Fiddle to know he wouldn't let anyone down. For sure, none of us had any worries when we heard he was going to start.
It's a shame Christy didn't know he was going to be playing until just before 2pm and his parents didn't have time to make it to Roots Hall but, be that as it may, I'm sure it's an experience he will never forget. He was proper happy afterwards and we were all chuffed for him.
On a personal level, I was delighted to get on the scoresheet for a second successive week and made up it came courtesy of such a good strike.
I'm not sure if it's the best goal I've scored – I've pretty fond memories of the one I got in our 5-1 win over Sheffield Wednesday at the Park back in 2010 – but, without a doubt, it's right up there.
A few people have asked me if the set piece from which it came was something we'd been working on at the training ground but, I have to be honest, it wasn't.
Jimmy had been on corners but, having just gone off, I took this one short to Grimesy and told him to lay it back to me. The rest, as they say, is history!
Someone told me this week that Phil Brown described it as 'a world-class goal' and while I appreciate the Southend boss isn't everyone's cup of tea – Danny Coles and our groundsman Clive Pring aren't big fans – you've got to be happy when someone with his experience says something like that.
I've scored four now this season and three have come in the yellow kit so it's becoming a bit of a lucky omen.
That's even more the case when you consider we've taken nine points from the four games in which we've worn it (Wimbledon, Scunthorpe, Portsmouth and Southend). All the players like wearing it too, so we will be encouraging Tis to let us do so whenever the opportunity allows.
Eliot's match-winner was another great strike, reminiscent of Gowser's goal at Accrington in 2012.
It should give him plenty of confidence to kick on for what's left of the season..
I've seen a bit more of Eliot now and it's obvious he's got fantastic feet. Given he's only 22, I think he can be a great signing for us. He's going to create a lot of chances between now and the end of the season and I'm sure he'll weigh in with some more goals too.
As things stand, we're nine points off the play-offs and, while it's going to be a big ask to extend our season beyond May 3, if only we can start winning our home games we could yet give ourselves half a chance.
With that in mind, please make every effort to come along to the Park for Saturday's game against Rochdale and Tuesday's evening's game against Wycombe. I appreciate three home matches in the space of eight days is a big ask financially but, clearly, we're destined not to get a whole lot of help from the officials. Therefore we could use all the support we can get!
