It was back to the action tonight after last week's revolutionary mid-season break gave everyone a chance to reflect on the first-half of the season. Jiggle had got off to a great start beating The Blues and Motley Crew in impressive style during the first two weeks. Draws against Livingwell and Southern Celtic coupled with a defeat to Caledonian had thrown a spanner in the early momentum so tonight needed a solid, resolute and composed performance to get Jiggle back to winning ways. It would be a tough ask as tonight's opposition arrived in the shape of Crawley Casuals who after beating Jiggle to a Finals place in the summer enjoyed a run of success that ended only in a 1-0 semi-final defeat to eventual runners-up Ifield Eagles. The two sides have been evenly matched again this time around as just a point and one place separated them going into this match. If you thought there were fireworks at the Leisure Centre last Friday you ain't seen nothing yet!

FC Jiggle 2 Crawley Casuals 0 (Sam Cohen 1,17)

The Jigglers picked up their first win in four as two Sam Cohen strikes secured victory over Summer Fives semi-finalists Crawley Casuals in a fiery and bad-tempered match.

Quite why this turned out to be such a niggly encounter is a bit of a mystery as the meeting between the two sides in the Summer Fives was a good-natured match. Two bookings and a sending-off later this was anything but. Jiggle however kept it together well in the heat of the battle and having avoided getting anyone sent-off were by the end of the match well worth a win which would have been by a greater margin but for some near comical finishing.

The pre-match activity suggested fun and games ahead. For Jiggle, Jon Hawtin won the toss of a 2p coin and stepped in for late withdrawal Nick Rapley. Jon linked up with Sam Cohen in attack while Andy Chong replaced Stuart Macpherson (Manchester) for his first start of the Autumn alongside David Leake in defence. Dave Carling having lost the toss with Jon would provide the back-up ammunition. At 7.30 the opposition seemed like it may consist of one. By 7.35 it had swelled to three and Roy kicked the match off.

In June Casuals started with four against Jiggle and played very well with the one-man disadvantage. That said when the opposition starts with three you absolutely have to take advantage and tonight Jiggle did just that.

With about 50 seconds Jon Hawtin teed up Sam Cohen on the left of the box. Sam, with the defenders inviting the shot, seized on the invitation and buried a precision strike low inside the near-post.

The breakthrough was crucial, even more so as within two minutes Casuals were up to the full five. The impact was immediate. Jiggle were slow to adjust to the extra players and when Andy Chong strayed across the box to clear a ball, Roy pointed to the spot. Jiggle have conceded two penalties before, both scored but not this time as Phil Laker pulled off a cracking save to keep the lead in tact.

Spurning this golden opportunity appeared to add to the irritation of an opposition already peed off by the late arrivals. Despite this it was Casuals moving the ball around to better effect and on at least three occasions found alarming gaps in the Jiggle defence which should have reaped the equaliser.

The fiesty atmosphere eventually spilled over midway through the half as Andy Chong won a free-kick in a tackle just inside Jiggle territory. The decision was unpopular with the Casuals player who kicked out at Andy (lucky you borrowed those shinpads Andy!). It looked like a straight red offence but Roy chose to let the offender off with a yellow, explaining later he did this as he felt the Casuals player had been subjected to a touch of the verbals, a claim vigorously denied by Andy. Anyway, drama far from over. Andy unaware of the two yard rule which means an opposition player can stand right in front of the kick waited for the Casuals man in front of the ball to move back. Roy interpreted this as time-wasting and promptly booked Andy as well.

The football resumed and Sam had a great chance to increase the lead from Andy's through ball but the keeper managed to turn it behind with the first of three good saves to deny Sam. Roy blew for half-time and everyone took a bit of a breather.

The calming break was no more than a blip as the second-half resumed at frenetic pace. Casuals began the half strongly but though working it around well were unable to find a shot to hit the target.

Four minutes into the half Dave Carling replaced Jon Hawtin. Dave was straight into the action, picking up a pass on half-way before being sent to the floor by a lunge from the same player booked in the first-half. This time Roy wasn't going to let it go, two yellows became a red and Casuals having started with three, then gone up to five were now back down to four again.

As Casuals continued to look for a leveller Dave and Sam now quite often had half the pitch vacant to run into on the counter-attack. The result was a bizarre five minute spell which saw Jiggle spurn five or six great chances to wrap the game up. Sam especially could have filled his boots but was on the mark to grab the vital second goal three minutes from time.

That finally arrived but not before Dave Carling had been released by Andy to strike unluckily against the far post. Sam, meanwhile was waging a one-man battle with the Casuals keeper who was standing up well in the face of the waves of attack. Sam though was not to be denied the chance to overtake Stu as top scorer and finally put the result beyond doubt with his 75th one-on-one of the night, released by Dave and slotting his second beneath the advancing keeper.

The first Jiggle hat-trick was now up for grabs and the matchball (yes that flat pathetic excuse for a ball) would have been Sam's but for a very good last minute block by the Casuals no.1.

Roy had by now stemmed his rising blood pressure just enough to blow the full-time whistle and so heralded Jiggle's third win of the season. It was a good result from an untidy kind of game, certainly not one for the footballing purist. The result was better than the performance but these are the kind of games where sides with designs on being in the end of season shake-up have to chisel out results. Tonight the Jigglers did just that but will have to step it up several notches to bag another win against next Friday when CPI Crawley B provide the Week 7 opposition.

Team: Phil Laker, David Leake, Andrew Chong, Jon Hawtin, Sam Cohen. Subs. Dave Carling (for Jon Hawtin)