Team: 1. Mike Moore; 2. Pete Jones; 3. Mark Lees; 4. Jake Jacobs; 5. Danny Cheetham; 6. Ryan Hewitt; 7. Keith Martin; 8. Gareth Chew; 9. Matt Taylor; 10. Jeff Whittaker; 11. Wayne Broadbent; 12. Chris Moore; 13. Lee Rainford; 14. Mark Jackson

Sometimes a match report looks after itself, sometimes its difficult to know where to begin.  This one falls into the latter category.

It would be all too easy to frame this report around Diggle's grievances with the match referee or to complain about how this should have been 3 points easily wrapped up.  However, we won't take that approach.  We need to focus on the failings of the Diggle players and staff on this bitterly disappointing afternoon.  Only then might some good come out of this shambles.

I guess it is right to begin with an apology to the match referee and also to the players of Hepworth United.  Diggle's players and staff managed to reduce the later parts of this game to a Punch and Judy show with constant carping to the referee and mickey taking of the Hepworth players - neither of which you would normally associate with any Diggle side.  We managed to whinge and swear all the way through the game, neither of which helped Diggle's efforts to win the game.  The Diggle approach is to be as professional as our limited means will allow us to be.  That approach does not include some of the stuff that took place on Saturday. 

Yes, we had issues with the referee; yes, things got heated with the Hepworth players as we searched for a goal, but we have much better standards than we showed on Saturday. Some sides do intimidate their way to victory, but this Diggle side will not be one of them - not while the writer is in charge.  Therefore: Mr Referee - we will be more respectful next time round; and Hepworth - we look forward to a good return match later this season where the football will be the winner.

The longer the game went on, the less we controlled ourselves in the way that winners control themselves.  We did have plenty of 'passion' - that word that people who know nothing at all about football use when they've run out of rubbish to say - but we didn't use it wisely.  [Listen to any radio show phone in, and their will be a stream of people who have nothing to say apart from complaining about 'passion'].

Reader, please don't get this report wrong - we've not gone all 'holier than thou'.  However, there are ways to influence matches; there are ways to win matches; there are ways some managers want to play matches.  The way we went about it on Saturday was the wrong way.  Throw into the mix one or two players who can't or won't do as the manager asks; one or two players who's attitudes need some alteration and one player - allegedly - who thinks it OK to tell his teammates - privately - how drunk he was the night before.  If the latter is true, that particular player won't be figuring in the first team much longer.  We either do things properly, or not at all.

Anyway, back to the game!  If last week's report for the Cumberworth game suggested it was one sided, then this was even more one sided, as Diggle controlled most of the play and had the lions share of chances.

The game began with Hepworth playing 'downhill' on their sloping pitch.

Sloping it may be, but the playing surface itself could not be faulted and will certainly be one of the best that Diggle play on this year.  Diggle took the game to Hepworth and for the large part of the first half pushed their hosts back into their defensive third. 

Diggle used the ball to good effect and found space on the flanks which they could exploit.  However, as with the week before, Diggle found scoring a goal very difficult.  As with last week, the finishing (in the first half at least) was not 'bad' but nor was it good as successive Diggle players failed to react quick enough, or with enough power, when it mattered in the Hepworth box.  Added to that the Hepworth  keeper - impressive for the whole afternoon - proved a tough barrier for Diggle to breach.

At the Diggle end of the field, Hepworth took their time to get into their stride.  However, they almost scored from their first attack as the Diggle midfield and attack ignored the Manager's demands to be 'touch tight' and allowed Hepworth to move the ball from right wing to left wing, before settling for a corner.  Diggle were far to lax in their attempts to win the ball back - ignoring the principles that have been preached since pre-season.

Hepworth grabbed a goal from nowhere after 30 minutes.  The goal was well executed from a Hepworth viewpoint - a neat move down the right, pass into the box, neat turn from striker, goal from close range.  From a Diggle perspective, it smacked of complacency and players not really thinking that they have to concentrate and do the basics right when the opposition have the ball.

Diggle reasserted their control after the goal, but for all their domination looked unlikely to score.

At half time the Diggle team received an unprintable wake up call ['con men and cowards' being 2 of the descriptions] from the Manager who reminded his team of the standards he expected.  Diggle responded to the call and, playing with the slope pegged Hepworth back into their own half. 

Both sides were reduced to 10 men after 55 minutes when a tackle turned into a pushing match.  Both dismissals were fair enough, both players should know better.  The Diggle player should know that if you are hit first never hit back - that way he gets red, and we keep 11 on the field.  That's how you help to win matches.

As the half wore on, chances for Diggle came and went with alarming frequency.  Unlike the first half, it was dreadful finishing, rather than good goalkeeping that was doing the damage for Diggle. Throw into the mix 2 goalline clearances and at least 3 shots that came off the wood work, and you can imagine the frustration that Diggle felt.

The Diggle staff thought it was a matter of time before the goal avalanche came, but, as the minutes ticked by, and the chances came and went, it looked as if Diggle were never going to score.  The longer the time went on, the more frustrated Diggle became, the more than Hepworth believed in themselves and the greater the tension got for all concerned.

On the hour mark, Chris Moore and Mark Jackson were put on as Diggle subs.

With 75 minutes gone, Diggle went 'positive' and moved to a 3-3-3 formation, throwing Lee Rainford on as a makeshift striker.

Just as it looked as if Diggle would never score, they scored 2 goals in 3 minutes.  The first, on 80 minutes, was bundled in by Keith Martin from a Jeff Whittaker corner.  The second, on 83 minutes, was scored by Whittaker who forced his way through a tired Hepworth defence to slide the ball past the Hepworth keeper.  Diggle had got their reward - finally.

From the restart Diggle recovered possession and pushed forward again.  At least 2 further good chances to score were pityfully wasted.

Deep into injury time (Man U v Man City style) Hepworth grabbed their scarcely deserved equaliser.  Diggle contributed to their own downfall not only by giving a free kick away to the home side, but also in their inability to keep the ball away from their own goal for the injury time period.  The free kick was perfection - driven into the one spot of the goal that the Diggle keeper couldn't reach.  FT 2-2.  Neither side could believe the result - but for differing reasons.

Many of the Diggle group blamed the referee for his contribution to the afternoon's drama.  However, that is a bit lame.  OK, we disagreed with some decisions and some of the offside's were questionable (but then again, with no linesman, aren't a lot of those decisions going to be arguable?).  But, the ref didn't miss all those chances - the Diggle players did.  We had no one to blame but ourselves.

Pete Jones was head and shoulders the best Diggle player on view, both technically and in terms of temperament.  Hewitt was solid throughout, and Broadbent and Martin got through an enormous amount of work.  Whittaker worked tirelessly up front and forged many of the chances that fell to him.

Diggle did so many things right, and even though their behaviour at times was not really what we wanted, no one could doubt their desire to win the game and the effort that they put in.  The football - at times - was very good; chance creation was good; control of possession good.  However, a couple of key players were off the boil (and clearly not in the mood to listen to the Manager) and too many players confused desire with lack of control.

Our inability to score (2 from 20), and ability to concede (2 from 3), remain huge concerns for this talented, but, as yet, unfilled Diggle side.