Robbie Mason: Soham Town Rangers are in ‘a very dark tunnel with only a small light at the end’

Soham celebrate Cemal Ramadan's goal. Photo: Andy Burford (Image: Archant)

The Greens were handed their fourth defeat of January at the hands of Dereham Town last Saturday, and when Mason was asked if he would be happy to see the back of the month, his response was clear.

“You can say that again!” he said.

“We’ve had a difficult time this month and Saturday was another frustrating performance.

Lewis McDonald played his last game for Soham before he goes travelling. Photo: Andy Burford (Image: Archant)

“It was a case of same old, same old; we started well but then conceded three sloppy goals.

“It was another of those games when I went up to Lloyd [Groves, assistant manager] and said ‘what have we got to do to win a game?’”

Mason was also left aggrieved at the referee’s decision to disallow an early Cemal Ramadan strike; a decision the Soham boss believes would have changed the game.

“Cemal was pushed off the pitch and the ref didn’t give a free-kick, he came back on and struck it into the top corner but the ref brought it back.

“Cemal’s head went down after that because he’d just thought he had given us the lead and it was difficult to pick ourselves up from there.”

Ramadan did eventually find the net in the second half, but his goal was only a consolation as Soham were sent to a 3-1 defeat- their seventh in nine Ryman Division One North matches – meaning they remain in the bottom seven.

“The chairman was asking questions afterwards but we just don’t have the answers at the minute,” Mason admitted.

“We’ve lost some quality players and no disrespect to them but the players we’ve got to replace them aren’t as good.

“At the minute we’re in a very dark tunnel with only a small light at the end but we’ve got to keep going and move forward.”

Soham travel to 15th-placed Witham Town this Saturday (3pm).