I say poor: perhaps "unlucky" as, to my mind, the Robins had a perfectively good late equaliser ruled out.

I thought it crossed the line, as did many of the callers on the post match phone-in.

Perhaps goalline technology will eventually come and in and mistakes like this will be rectified.

Having said that, down the years I've been following the Albion, we have been on the end of some dubious decisions.

So perhaps it's all part of Ron Atkinson's theory that these things have a habit of evening themselves up over the course of time.

As for the crowd, just over 3,700, given the terrible weather, it was probably the best the club could have hoped for.

I do wonder what the club have to do to attract supporters.

They slashed admission prices for this game and, even allowing for the rain, one must remember that tickets are pre-purchased, and it wasn't raining when they went on sale.

I'll concede that some might buy a ticket, look at the rain and not come.

Looking at advanced sales, this happened on Tuesday to at least 300 supporters.

But with ticket prices being what they were, I'm still a tad disappointed the club could only shift just over 4,000 at a very attractive rate.

It almost begs the question: do the local footballing public want a professional football team?

Perhaps we will get another answer on Saturday when Carlisle United roll into the city for a top of the table clash . . .

Memorabilia

The Albion Collectors and Historians Society has its annual fair this Sunday at the Hospitality Suite at the Withdean.

Included are an auction of Albion memorabilia featuring a genuine limited edition Kerry Mayo testimonial plate, a mint-condition set of 98 Gulls Eye fanzines and a number of other attractive Albion-themed lots.

For more details contact Tim Carder on 01273 503810.

Don't poo on the pitch

And sadly, I have to report that we have a group of people in Worthing who are prepared to risk the health of our town's youngsters.

Last Sunday at the Manor Ground, Peter Hayward, my Worthing United colleague who manages the Under-8 team, had to remove nine separate 'collections' of dog mess from the north pitch before his fixture could commence.

Dog mess that, if it were to get into a child's eyes, could cause blindness.

I am a dog owner and, yes, I pick up her poop, and I know that one dog does not do nine 'deposits' in one walk, so it's not just one dog owner on the Manor, it's several.

Are they that thick that they don't realise the danger they could be creating?

Or are they just genuinely irresponsible?

Let's hope its doesn't take a Herald front page of "Boy blinded by dog mess" to get these dog owners actually behaving responsibly?

Failing that, if they are caught in the act, fine them heavily or even think about taking their dog away from them altogether?

Are they really capable of looking after an animal?

Come on parents

And finally, it appears that adult literacy among footballing parents in Worthing is, perhaps, not what it should be.

After my appeal last week to see if parents could actually help their respective management in their youth football team, a leading Worthing football club, with FA Charter Status, had an Under-13 game where the manager had to referee and his assistant had to run the line, while eight or nine parents looked on!

Perhaps they can try again to help this week?