It's getting tasty at the top eh? Hermitage Reserves are right on our arse too and haven't lost since September - though that was one of those games where we were all over them for 90 minutes and came out with a draw wasn't it?

It'd be funny if it came down to us v them again but I think there will be more teams in it this season.

The John Sills write up follows - adapted from a Matt Atkins report as I was in Torquay this weekend...

The sun rose over the Henwick mist like a lava lamp in Genghis' living room, hallway or bathroom. Shefford took to the pitch against a team they'd already destroyed 5 - 0 in arguably one of their best performances ever, but finding themselves a place behind them in the league. 3rd placed The Swan would have approached this game confident in their own ability but with bad memories of a footballing lesson from Shefford earlier in the season.

What better way to start then, than with Matt Atkins growling around the box from a corner and shouting "this is for you Shane!" before stabbing the ball in from close range.

Shefford enjoyed the confidence this early lead gave them and after half an hour of almost non-stop one-touch passing, Dave Lewis threaded and incisive ball through to Andy Miller who yelled "this is for you Shane!" before beating the advancing keeper.

This seemed to spur The Swan into some resistance and they clawed their way back into the game just before half time with a powerful strike into the top corner. He didn't shout anything.

Half time regroup with the game in the balance. The Swan started strongly but Shefford restored their two-goal cushion when Gareth Withers worked his way down the left wing and crossed for Simon MacIntyre to shout "this is for you Shane!" before finishing with a tap in at the far post.

But The Swan didn't want to give up and forced their way back into the game with a decent passing move to create an opening that was finished well to make it 3-2.

Shefford kept their heads up well and one dangerous ball forward required The Swan keeper to charge out of his area and head the ball clear. But it fell to Atkins and in the mode he's in at the moment it couldn't have fallen to anyone better as he shouted "this is for you Shane!" and coolly lobbed the ball from 40 yards out, over the retreating keeper and into the net to once again restore the two-goal advantage.

The Swan now had two goals to catch up and had seen how much effort it takes to put two past Shefford, so they faced a big mental battle to stay in the game. Basically, they lost that battle, when Withers produced some good skill again to feed Adam Davies on an venture forward. Davies received the ball, shouted "this is for you Shane!" and finished from close range.

The Swan players looked at each other and knew this was the end. All their training, all their hard work, for this. What a crock of shit, they probably thought to themselves. So imagine how they felt when the diminutive Ben Kirkham was somehow allowed to take a free kick from the edge of the area (this will be discussed in training) and launched and unstoppable goal of the season contender into the roof of the net, after shouting "this is for you Shane!" during his run up.

"Fucking cock off" probably said the goalkeeper, under his breath.

All that was left was for Chris Brown to finish off the scoring, shouting "this is for you James!" before lifting a deft lob over the keeper from 10 yards out to make the final score 7-2 to Shefford and send out a chilling message to the rest of the league.