As has been typical of the season so far, the Rams welcomed back a couple of players, only for a couple more to be absent. Wearing an unfamiliar yellow kit to support Gold Geese's #gogold campaign, to raise awareness of childhood cancer, the Rams started brightly. Catholic were restricted to a couple of efforts launched into the box from freekicks, whilst the Rams were looking comfortable on the ball.

The Rams got their breakthrough after just 19 minutes. A Stuart Greaves long throw was half-cleared by the Catholic defence, where it fell for Matt Pooley. He didn't quite connect properly with his strike and it was parried by the keeper. From the resulting corner, the ball broke once again for Pooley, from almost the same distance. He managed to dig it out from under his feet and guide the ball neatly into the far corner to give the Rams a deserved 1-0 win.

The lead was nearly doubled just a few minutes later. Skipper Pat Cannon with a diagonal ball over the top for Tommy Pinkerton to run onto. He easily beat his man before pulling the ball back from the byline where he found Cannon, who had continued his run. He guided the ball nicely towards the far corner, and was just about to celebrate, when the Catholic goalkeeper pulled off a very fine save.

Pinkerton's pace was continuing to cause Catholic problems and he drew the keeper into making another good save. Meanwhile, at the other end the Rams' defending was resolute, where they restricted the opposition to shots from distance. The Rams were deserving of their half-time lead.

The Rams started the second half brightly but were guilty of some wasteful finishing. And although restricting the opposition to strikes from distance was working well, they could not afford to be complacent, as a stinging drive from 30 yards whistled only just past the upright. But it was a long throw that was the Rams' undoing. The ball was launched into the box where it was a Catholic man that rose above everyone, glancing a header towards the far post, where it was nodded home.

So, 1-1 but the Rams would have been fairly confident that they could still go on to win the game. They pressed forward again, causing problems in the opponent's box, only for some poor decision-making to prevent them taking the lead. Pinkerton was continuing to cause lots of problems - his break down the left saw him easily outpace the defence before he cut back inside and put his effort just wide.

It was from another set-piece that Catholic got their winner. A questionable freekick was awarded in front of the Rams' dugout, and it was launched into the box but had seemingly been dealt with. It fell to the man in green and white, who seemed to be pretty much horizontal before anyone had begun to close him down but the referee blew his whistle and awarded yet another freekick. This time it was beautifully despatched into the top corner - a great strike but a very bitter blow to the Rams who led for so long and who would have felt they had more than enough chances to have won the game.

It wasn't the best of weekends for the Rams, with both the Reserves and A Teams losing their cockle-shed derbies to Leigh Town and the Saturday Vets losing to Shenfield. It was finished off with losses for the Sunday side and the Sunday Vets.

Onto next week where we hope to turn it all around. #UpTheRams