Hove might be well advised to install a scoreboard when they move into their new home ground.

Either that or make sure Matt Hoare knows which side is leading in the closing stages of a game.

The Hove scrum half bemused players and spectators alike in the dying moments of last Sunday's 23-17 cup defeat by Worthing.

Hove had just clawed their way back to within a converted try of their visitors and were awarded a scrum near the halfway line deep into stoppage time. Just about everyone expected Hoare to launch a last gasp raid down the blindside as he picked up after another solid Hove shove.

Instead he booted the ball high over the touchline, clenched his fists and shouted: "Yes." For a moment he was in dreamland until one of his colleagues broke the bad news: "We lost."

Needless to say Hoare was the target of much post match leg-pulling, although to his credit he managed to share in the joke as he went through his warm down in front of the clubhouse.

Skipper Phil Ward said: "He was about two tries out with his calculations but, in his defence, he had turned up at the last minute.

"At least it took the emphasis off me dropping the ball in front of our posts. We had a bit of a laugh about it and we will be finding a suitable trophy for him."

Worthing coach Tim Mackew was equally puzzled by it all. He said: "I thought they were celebrating the fact they had nearly won."

We have probably all lost count at a match at some stage or other.

This reporter can recall crediting Brighton with ten points rather than 11 one mind-numbingly cold afternoon at Waterhall. There was also an incident last season when Chichester could not understand why their opponents were frantically running penalties when in fact they were a couple of points ahead.

If it is any consolation to Hove's scrum half, at least he pipped Norfolk Arms' Mark Friend-James to Most Embarrassing Moment award.

Friend-James thought he had completed a hat-trick of tries at Barns Green last weekend, only to discover he had touched down on the five yard line.

He did, however, manage two tries plus 13 points with the boot in a 48-12 win.