Matching logic question

I've been spending over 3 days trying to figure this out. I've looked over the match-3 program that someone had posted here, and I've been trying to apply some of the logic used there to make an alternate version on my own.

I'm not really doing a match-3, but the logic is supposed to be similar (and I thought it would be a lot simpler to do). Basically, depending on what color a game piece is clicked on, then all of those same color pieces that are surrounding it would disappear. You can match 2 pieces or more, as long as the colors are connected. I made a picture to illustrate this:


All of the red dots highlighted in yellow are supposed to be the ones that disappear when you click on a red dot in that section, because they are all connected. However, when I used/altered the match-3 code, not all of the red dots disappear when you click on a red dot. Some of the red dots that are connected still remain, as if the code isn't checking the left/right/up/down positions the further away you get from the original dot you clicked.

As I've said, I've spent 3 days nonstop on this and I can't seem to figure out what I'm doing wrong with the logic/matching part of the program. Does anyone have any ideas?


This is the main part of the match code that I've been messing with:

function Board::checkMatch(%this, %xArray, %yArray)
{


  for (%i = %xArray; %i < %this.xCount; %i++)
  {
    for (%j = %yArray; %j < %this.yCount; %j++)
    {


      //check horizontal first
      %matchCount = 0;

      %a = %i;
      %b = %j;

      //get the matching color
      %c = %this.pieces[%a,%b].pieceColor;

      //get the check start point one position to the right (i.e. don't count myself)
      %a++;
   
      //move right from the gem being checked without exceeding the right border
      while (%a < %this.xCount)
      {
        if (%this.pieces[%a,%b].pieceColor $= %c && !%this.pieces[%a,%b].isSmall)
        {
          %a++;
          %matchCount++;     
        }
        else
        {
          %a = %this.xCount;
        }
      }

      //get the check start point and move one position to the left
      %a = %i - 1;

      //move left from the gem being checked without exceeding the bounds of the left border
      while (%a >= 0)
      {
        if (%this.pieces[%a,%b].pieceColor $= %c && !%this.pieces[%a,%b].isSmall)
        {
          %a--;
          %matchCount++;
        }
        else
        {
          %a = -1;
        }
      }

      //check if at least 2 minimum matches were achieved
      //flag all the gems that match
      if (%matchCount >= 1)
      {
        //get the check start point
        %a = %i;

        //move right
        while (%a < %this.xCount)
        {
          if (%this.pieces[%a,%b].pieceColor $= %c && !%this.pieces[%a,%b].isSmall)
          {
            %this.pieces[%a,%b].match = true;
            %a++;
          }
          else
          {
            %a = %this.xCount;
          }
        }

        //get the check start point
        %a = %i - 1;

        //move left
        while (%a >= 0)
        {
          if (%this.pieces[%a,%b].pieceColor $= %c && !%this.pieces[%a,%b].isSmall) 
          {
            %this.pieces[%a,%b].match = true;
            %a--;
          }
          else
          {
            %a = -1;
          }
        }
      }
    
      //check vertical next 
      %matchCount = 0;

      //get the check start point but one position down (i.e don't count myself)
      %a = %i;
      %b = %j + 1;

      //move down from the gem being checked
      while (%b < %this.yCount)
      {
        if (%this.pieces[%a,%b].pieceColor $= %c && !%this.pieces[%a,%b].isSmall)
        {
          %b++;
          %matchCount++;
        }
        else
        {
          %b = %this.yCount;
        }
      }

      //get the check start point
      %b = %j - 1;

      //move up from the gem being checked
      while (%b >= 0)
      {
        if (%this.pieces[%a,%b].pieceColor $= %c && !%this.pieces[%a,%b].isSmall)
        {
          %b--;
          %matchCount++;
        }
        else
        {
          %b = -1;
        }
      }

      //check if minimum matches were achieved
      if (%matchCount >= 1)
      {
        //get the check start point
        %b = %j;

        //move down
        while (%b < %this.yCount)
        {
          if (%this.pieces[%a,%b].pieceColor $= %c && !%this.pieces[%a,%b].isSmall)
          {
            %this.pieces[%a,%b].match = true;
            %b++;
          }
          else
          {
            %b = %this.yCount;
          }
        }

        //get the check start point
        %b = %j - 1;

        //move up
        while (%b >= 0)
        {
          if (%this.pieces[%a,%b].pieceColor $= %c && !%this.pieces[%a,%b].isSmall)
          {
            %this.pieces[%a,%b].match = true;
            %b--;
          }
          else
          {
            %b = -1;
          }
        }
      }
    }
  }




  for (%i = 0; %i < %this.getTileCountX(); %i++)
  {
    for (%j = 0; %j < %this.getTileCountY(); %j++)
    {
      if (%this.pieces[%i,%j].match $= true)
      {
       %this.pieces[%i,%j].setSize(0,0);

      }
    }
  
  }

xArray and yArray are the x/y coordinates of the current clicked piece on the game board.