NEWS
30 October 2005
[quick apology: I haven't got my notes available, so I'm relying on memory for this report. And as I was NLPing it, and having to concentrate on the game, it may be a little bit more "dry" than usual]
Every so often, you get a performance like The Duke of Edinburgh 0 The Sportsman 4. Not so much as a rip roaring peformance, that will be released on DVD and sell like reduced cakes at Tescos, but one of those professional type games where you couldn't even see us concede an un-necessary corner. Ray Harford's teams were good at these sort of games, and now, it seems, DA's side shows signs of it. Real football continues its return.
First things first. W&E were crap. Seriously crap. Can't imagine Sky ever sending a camera to tape their relegation dogfight against Redbridge somehow. Second things second, we needed this sort of game more than ever after Bromley. Another difficult game yesterday, and we'd be out with the cyanide pills again. As it was, we could have gone home on the hour mark and still be 4-0 up as you read this.
And, third things third, we started to look more and more like a team. Presumably we're now back to only needing two more players as opposed to needing seven (as was suggested against Bromley only last week). Yeah, it was only against the second bottom side, and doubtless somebody will say we should be winning these games 6-0, but you have to be seriously grumpy* to moan about a 4-0 win away...
* - no smart arse wisecracks, please. I rather enjoyed yesterday.
The game? Oh, that. Well, Matt York opened it up, pretty good header though. Not so good was their shot that hit the post and rebounded out. And to further ruin their day, a bit of shit defending gave it to RB to round their goalkeeper and net from an acute angle. And by the time the Plummer got the third (though did anyone else think their goalie saved the penalty?) that really was that.
Oh, and we scored a fourth. MC Harvey's cross to RB. Anyone who put money on the scoreline would have headed to the bar by then.
Anyway, moving forward...
Plus points: Win. Away. Clean sheet. More or less everything. RB. And Dwayne Plummer (apparently, both were carrying injuries and shouldn't have been playing). Even MC himself.
Minus points: Not many, though the A3 southbound nearly fucked up my attendance of the game.
The referee's a....:
Despite totally failing to send their player off for his GBH scything
tackle from behind on DP (or was it SB? Told you I'm noteless) about 4 minutes
in, he had about as much to do as Andy Little.
Them: Redbridge revisited on the pitch, Hastings revisited off it. I've done plenty of games at this ground, and I've never been exactly taken by the place (though this was my first ever non-Slough visit, bizzarely). Seem to be a bit of an elderly gentlemen's outfit, although their top bloke was pretty appreciative. Not so much their fans though, reports of an act or three of small-time chants abounded. Mind you, there didn't seem that many of them..
Point to ponder: Was it me or was it a pretty poor turnout? OK, 1012 isn't that bad I suppose. I know some people who couldn't - as opposed to wouldn't - go, and the A3 didn't help, but I would hope that we are capable of doing better. Slight Fi$heresque numbers by W&E didn't help.
Truth is stranger than fiction: (1) On 29 October 1988, we played Derby County away and lost 4-1. Nothing so exciting about that, except the weather, pitch and level of facilities were exactly the same then as it was yesterday... (2) Didn't it seem strange going to W&E's ground and not play Slough? At least Slough give the impression, like Wealdstone and Hendon, that they have legit potential. Not on our scale, but could be a decentish Conference South club with the right backing. Can't really say the same for W&E, H&R and Fi$her.
Anything else? Yup. A couple of cars in the car park behind the ground got done (ie had their windowscreen scratched/shattered) - at least one belonging to RB and another one to one of the top bods at AFCW. Seems like the area around W&E has its own little wannabe Headhunters (ie 12 year olds who act the part until somebody remotely looks threatening at them). Nothing will be done of course, although I bet that would change if human rights lawyers and fuckwit social workers got their property damaged on a regular basis...
So, was it worth it? A nice day out in deepest Berkshire? Quite possibly.
In a nutshell: God shave the Queen.
22 October 2005
UPDATE (2250 BST): I am fully aware that when I say below that we haven't won a game at KM since the first game of the season I mean LEAGUE games. Feel free to email me with more points of pedantry, so I can flood your email box with animal porn.
Now THAT'S more like it. It's a shame that Fisher Price 1 John Fisher 0 wasn't more, as it would have sent a real middle fingered message to the rest of the division. As it was though, this was professional enough from start to finish. Solid tackling, having a clue what to do with the ball once we had it and snuffing out a very highly rated attack to boot. Just like the good old days.
It was one of those sort of games where in the cold light of day we weren't going to lose. Yes, I would have preferred it if Barry "the new Dennis Wise" Moore's free kick right on HT had hit the stringy bit of the goal as opposed to the white painted wooden thing. I would have certainly preferred it if we could have snuck something away late on, so that we could spend the last 10 minutes gloating over Franchise. But this is our first win at KM since the first game of the season (seriously), and I bet you would have taken it before the game started as well.
Quite simply though, I didn't think much of Fi$her at all. Come to think of it, I haven't thought that much of the "big" teams in this division. H&R were there for the taking, and I certainly didn't think Rickay were special. And aren't Heybridge supposed to be a big side as well? It's the smaller sides in the division that have caused us problems, and even then much (most?) of it is self-inflicted.
Which probably rubbishes a theory that I had last month, that of going for the moneybagged approach. It's clicking more and more each game, and quite simply it's the confidence thing. Perhaps the balance has been finally struck to an effective degree? The way that the players and DA clapped us after the game said it all....
Anyway, time is short. So...
Plus points: Probably everything stated in the first paragraph. Oh, and Dwayne Plummer as well.
Minus points: Think we're still a little bit less sharp up front than we need to be.
The referee's a.....: Good grief. Look up the word "inconsistent" in the dictionary and there'll be a picture of him chickening out of sending off their players. Ably abetted by his lino who decided to give offsides at random, regardless of accuracy or advantage.
Them: Big, physical with it, attempted a bit of the intimidation but it didn't exactly come off. Their #5 especially, who is probably spending this evening back at his usual job as a doorman on some moody New Kent Road boozer. Can deffo see why they and H&R discussed the weather in vigourous terms after their game.
Incidentally, I should point out at this time that I used to watch Fisher occasionally when we were in the Prem and gameless. Then, they were about the level we were last season, although a bit on a downward spiral. They had fuck all support even when they were playing in Rotherhithe, averaging about 50-70 per game. Curiously, a lot of their facilities closed down as far back as 1999, including quite a big bar area, which wasn't the worst bar I've ever set foot in (in fact, it was quite newly built). Which makes their current moneyed state even more remarkable. Although he left some years earlier, they had a manager called Dogan Arif who, if this is anything to go by could sort out Rio Ferdinand. Believe he went to jail for drug trafficking, and a quick bit of research suggests he was holed up in Northern Cyprus as recently as 2003. I wonder if Fisher's demise co-incided with his need to scarper? More to the point, I wonder if the ref today knew something we don't?
Point to ponder: If you feel the need to argue over whether this is a better side than last year, just compare today's result with last season. We're certainly not too far off parity with any other team in this division. Of course, Braintree and Chelmsford may scupper that theory.
Truth is stranger than fiction: (1) Lenny Piper returned. I seem to remember him doing a goal-line clearance in the Intertoto at Brighton all them years ago where he turned away a certain goal and collided rather painfully with the post. Anyway, he didn't have nearly an effect today, though it was pointed out to me that he sounded just like a gangster's mate. There is NO connection with Mr Arif. (2) Our first win at KM since the beginning of the season. Worth repeating it again, just in case you're feeling slightly complacent. (3) How fucking slow was the TE tea-bar queue? And the tea was crap. Personally, I blame the West Bankers, who demand inferior products...
Anything else? Yeah. Was today flag day? I saw an Ulster/NI one today, which I've never seen before. Either DA's family came over for the day or somebody got whiff that our opponents started life as a Catholic boys club.
So, was it worth it? Oh yes.
In a nutshell: Here, fishy fishy fishy....
And finally: As you heard over the PA at half time, it's my birthday on Tuesday. And I won't be at Bromley, so I'd like one of you kind souls to write me up a match report. Please?
18 October 2005
Well, I thought I wasn't going to get any report on our Kings Lynn game, but lo and behold... see below anyway.
While I'm here updating, a few general thoughts: firstly, things seem to be ticking along nicely now at AFCW. W&H really does seem like a long time ago. It's got to the stage where there is hardly any grumbling from various opinion formers. God help us if we actually win a game in the next month.
What's changed? Simple - we look bothered. That first major hurdle of readjusting to being a "real" team again has now been cleared. By both fans and team. I was told that KL felt like a cup tie - which sounds strange, except when you consider just how dead W&H felt. Who knows, perhaps Fi$her will get a nice little surprise...?
Secondly, you may be
interested to know that somebody from H&R is having a bit of a pop at
us (it's mentioned in the KL report as well). You can read the hysterical
posteuring angry barbs here
(scroll down a little bit). Now, the name sounds like a dodgy porno site,
and needless to say the content is the equivalent of scat.
Why am I bothering mentioning this? Because the author isn't doing himself many favours, and it would be fun to hand him the rope. A few things : until you can prove that it's our fault with witness evidence, police intervention etc, making claims that "Hampton's main stand was left battered and bruised after 90 minutes of abuse by travelling AFC Wimbledon thugs. Dons fans have managed to rip out sections of the wall of the stand, perhaps using something to assist them as the lines appear to be pretty clear-cut" is likely to get you a bit of attention.
There's more : "the HRBFC videotapge of the match reveals the faces of two of the culprits guilty of kicking our tunnel and clipping the linesman round the ear as they walked off the pitch. AFC Wimbledon will be shown this video and our message to these scumbags is: YOU WILL BE GETTING A BAN. If the club doesn't show the video to AFC Wimbledon, we will". Now, leaving aside that "scumbag" is what the Sun uses because it can't get away with stronger language, we are of course very grateful for this videotapge. Although a couple of eye-witness reports suggest something slightly less sinister, we do have a small minority of morons following us. Par for the course for our size of support.
And AFCW has learnt from the pathetic way it tried to deflect blame at the first AFC Wallingford game (for those with short memories, it said that neither sides' fans were to blame, contary to many eye witness accounts). How many other clubs put up on their OS a mere 24 hours after the alleged incident a Crimestoppers type appeal? Who knows, perhaps if H&R spent as much time ensuring that alcohol wasn't taken outside, and a few more stewards were employed - to keep an eye on the mass roofing contractors, naturally - none of this would ever be necessary.
Now, no doubt this heroic Beaver will take the fight against the AFC Wimbledon thugs and bring justice and truth to all. But wait - there are links to the Football Factory. Aha, surely this guy runs with Chelski, threw seats at Lansdowne Road in 1995 and gets nods from some of the top boys at West Ham. But wait again - turns out that around 2004/05, the site was having trouble updating due to limited time. Was the site's owner in jail for battering a mouthy Villa fan? Er, not quite : "Work continued (very limited time due to GCSE Exams at school etc)"
So, basically, H&R's version of the Suicide Squad is in fact of A-level student age. Doesn't stop him making this veiled threat : "In a just and ideal world, AFC Wimbledon would pay for the damage their lying thugs have done, but of course, it isn't an ideal world. I wonder how they would like it if we returned the favour in April?". So, thanks junior. You'll now make AFCW's find for whoever damages the WB in April far, far easier. Hell, we know exactly who to blame for incitement at least. Free word of advice : when you write anything down in print, you are responsible for it. Trust me, I'm a journo.
Of course, I have no doubt that the Beaver Patrol will express their hardness in April by hiding behind a copper and shouting Milton Keynes at us. Just like all the other small timers. You know the sort of thing : small club, big attitude...
Oh, and needless to say, the photo of the damaged stand is broken. How odd.
And finally, I'm not at Bromley next week. It's my birthday and I'll be coming back from France, so I don't want to ruin my day by hanging around Pikeyville. So, by all means, do me a report (given up trying to be nice to you). After all, you can get your work in lights as you can see below...
Bluetits 1 - Linnets 0. What a great game. Well, no. It wasn’t a great game. It was hard work. They brought a decent amount of fans (200+) for the FA Trophy 1st qualifying round. The crowd of 1700+ was small in our terms but large in the overall picture of the competition. About 1000 bigger than anyone else. [To clarify this round, its the first qualifying round. There are two more of these before we reach the 1st round proper. Then its 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, Semi1, Semi2 and final. The longevity of this competition causes many teams to not bother with it. Its just too damn long. We could end up potentially (if we had got a replay out of this round) playing 17 games. The final is the only round of note. ]
Kings Lynn had decided to try and bore us out of the cup and we in turn tried to out bore them. Most of the Kings Lynn players went down rolling around with what seemed career threatening injuries after most fouls before miraculously recovering once the physio had stuck a wet sponge down his shorts and he had reached the by-line. The number 3 even managed to get a warm applause from the main stand. Oh ye fools, he wasn’t injured. Lets boo these time wasting cheats. Sportsmanship disappeared when Mirandinha first fell over when someone sneezed.
The goal came with about 15 minutes remaining. The Tempest(uous) hardcore thought that Matty York had scored from a rarely well placed corner, but it was Frankie Howard that rose above the giants of the Kingdom of Lynn to head into the top corner. Funny really, as some fans were wondering when we last scored from a corner. Some young fool reckoned it was a year. It might well have been with the 'cornership' on display.
There were only a few chances from the Linnets, the most noticeable when Howard scored for them from a similar position where he scored the winning goal from. For some bizarre reason it was disallowed. After that they just tried to outdo each other with new injury rollabouts. Perhaps the casting director for Goal2 was in the stands.
Remarkably, their time wasting ended after Howard had put us 1-0 to the good. "Thank goodness" the crowd yelped. We had been so unlucky again in the game with a couple of shots being deflected and one striking the crossbar AGAIN. No replay and thank fuck we didn’t have to travel to somewhere near Norwich on a Tuesday.
Noteable performance of the day was from the new boy Dwayne Plummer. He looks to be a very cheeky signing and at times did look to be the player we’ve been missing due to Kouman and Urse being injured. He also performed a spectacular dive to get booked. Some thought it was harsh, the ref immediately produced the card, I’l give the ref the benefit. However, Plummer did get better as the game matured.
Them: 1. Their fans. A good bunch by all accounts, real genuine fans who travel. They brought 'real fans' rather than those day tripping twats from Walton & Hersham and Hampton & Richmond who had no idea who was playing for them and where they were. Only downside was a few choruses of "you've got no history".. hardly a dreadful and wholly innaccurate song. Technically correct, I suppose. Especially if you are an AFC Wimbledon fan, but werent a WFC fan (that will happen more and more y'know.. fans will be tempted along who werent WFC supporters). But i think it was said 'tongue-in-cheek'. Also worthy of note was that a few of them bought fanzines, so they MUST have been from a decent sort. Lets hope we get to play more clubs like them with real fans, real songs and big flags..
2. Their team. They weren’t THAT good. Some people hark about the Southern League being the better of the three 'Premierships' so I was expecting them to be a real challenge where we'd be lucky to win. But to be honest, We didn’t struggle against them. But I believe we haven’t been getting the results we should have got recently. They were big and their number 15 was a monster but they tried to spend most of the game on the floor. The real test will be against Fisher on Saturday.
Franchise Watch: What? is this a merchandising special to help subsidise the building of their two sided stadium that they wont own and may have to share with Premiership Luton in 2007? They didn’t win at home again. That’s always a good result but they did edge out of the bottom 4. Promotion favourites Tranmere dropped to 2nd bottom. Moral justice for those pricks when they put out a weakened side to keep the franchise scum up last season. I hope you go down and Brian Little gets sacked. For he joins the list of shame. (Brian, you might have gone up with Tranmere if you had kept the momentum.. lets hope you get relegated with them this season.)
Truth is stranger
than fiction: [1] The
police apparently aided the Linnets fans in putting up their monster flag.
Are policemen finally returning to the good old days of aiding old ladies
across the street and telling people the time or giving directions. Rather
than ‘encouraging’ men with dark skin to have accidents in custody?
[2] Matty Fowler cannot head the ball. He’s shit. Just watch him. I’m
not knocking his overall performances, I like him in the team over Vanessa
Sveltz, but the guy did not get where he is today by impressing people with
his heading.
Point to ponder:
[1]We are improving and thankfully those who were being 'bored' by the football
have fucked away to find something to watch that's more iinteresting. I cant
find anything much more interesting than following your team. Surely the quality
of football is secondary to being part of a story this fucking great. I got
a big kick out of DA's programme notes. He was very emotional at how the fans
treated the team after the game at H&R. In my opinion, that result wasn’t
a big deal. It was seeing the players play like they wanted it. Down to 10
men yet dominating and getting more and more unlucky just proved what we as
a club are all about. Yes. A CLUB. Perhaps we all need to study that ethos.
Its not just something to do on a Saturday, its a CLUB. Not a football team,
or a merchandising operation. A CLUB. That’s happening more and more
these days, so perhaps it was teething troubles early on. But if we play like
that every game personally that’s enough for me. Results will come but
sometimes we will need luck.
[2] Hamster & Richwank have been wibbling about how we wrecked their precious
ground. Supposedly they have footage too of our fans attacking the ref. Well,
I cant answer for the attack but the ground being wrecked? Apparently asbestos
cladding was smashed? And now because it is asbestos they had to close part
of the stand down. Shouldn’t we be suing for exposure? I personally
think its all been made up by them to squeeze some more moolah out of us.
And also why didn’t the stewards stop these Womble demolition experts
in their thuggish behaviour? Oh, I forgot. there weren’t any stewards.
How I laughed as I stood on the terrace supping from my pint, whilst smashing
my gun handle against the asbestos cladding..
[3] Why is it, that our three strikers had the “theres only one ….
….. “ sung at them. What a shit song. Its shit for Richard Butler,
let alone Fowler and also the tune for “One Kiwi Womble”. Please..
any songsmiths, come forward and present songs for players!
In a nutshell: Fuck off woodwork..
12 October 2005
I'm fucked off. Seriously fucked off. No, not in a sort of play shite and get totally thumped way, nor in a can't enjoy the football because of the club's off field retardation manner. No, Beavers 2 Beef Curtains 1 fucked me off because right now, I should be writing about a win. I should be writing about probably our best performance of the season. I certainly should be writing about the fact that for probably the first time this season the team and fans seemed to be on the same wavelength.
But I'm not. I'm pissed off because in the record books it will go down as another loss. And it will go down as the most gross misrepresentation of facts since Wimbledon FC's submission to that 3 man commission. It pisses me off because right now, some Frenzie or W&H non-fan will be beating their tiny little cocks on their keyboards at yet another non-victory. Had we'd won, we would have stuck a perfectly straight middle finger up to everyone else, said "fuck you" with the sufficient amount of swagger and venom and pointed out that we'd beaten the league leaders away with only 10 men. But we didn't. And not being able to say that fucking hurts.
While we're nowhere near there yet, anyone thinking our season started yesterday isn't far off the mark. We battled, we looked up for it. Yes, we were the better side. We will play worse than that this season and win. We know where our weaknesses still are - our defence can't concentrate and we do need another decent striker just to take the pressure off RB and the Kiwi. And I'm still not convinced Harvey should be in an AFCW shirt.
The game? I can't give justice to our goal, you'll have to wait until Dons Online comes, er, online for it. But, in pure football cliche mode, it was no more than we deserved. And typically of the season, all our best laid plans went to pot. SB got sent off for some reason, our defence yet again acted as slow as your average local councillor and we lost the advantage.
And when you're playing without quite the level of confidence/luck we need right now, playing with 10 men becomes just that little bit harder. But even so, their second goal was a travesty to the game. And when Daly's loop over the goalie somehow not go in, you just know it ain't going to be your day. And was it only me who thought we ran just a little out of steam towards the end?
Still...
Plus points: About 80% of the game. Rapport between fans and team seemed genuine.
Minus points: Steve Butler's sending off. Fucking twat. Losing. Giving all and getting diddly squat.
The referee's a....: Clearly a Franchise fan and must be proud of his evening's work. Reportedly, some people went for him afterwards which is wrong and cowardly. After all, he didn't stop to take his punishment like a man. Is it true that the lino got a slap?
Them: Why does the phrase "form is temporary, class is permanent" spring to mind? Utterly jammy and they knew it. It was as though the Home Secretary himself gave them a get-out-of-jail-free card - there was nothing there to suggest that they were likely league winners. Certainly took the level of professionalism at the end to a new level - at least not the level one would expect from a genuine promotion candidate. Off the pitch, they were OK enough, and the PA bloke was helpful, though they did close the gloriously named Beaver Bar "on police advice". Just as well, as Guinness was £2-90 a pint. Reports some fans of theirs were giving us grief though...
Point to ponder: I'm sure we all agree that we are clicking a lot more and that somebody is about to be systematically taken apart by us. It will happen any game now, perhaps even the next one. A cursory glance at our fixture list tells us that our next league game - at KM no less - is against a certain club who play in black and white and who usually play in Rotherhithe. Now, wouldn't that be a nice DVD to sell in the club kiosk?
Truth is stranger than fiction: (1) When was the last time we got 2000+ in an away game and forced the kickoff back? (2) Some local chavs (as chavvy as you can get for Hampton anyway) deciding to sneak in over the barbed wire fence. True to form, one of them cut his leg on the wire. No idea whether another one caught his bollocks on the wire, although it's doubtful he would have noticed anything down there. (3) Speaking of Hampton, is it the most poshe place we've ever had a game in? It makes Wimbledon Village look like Mitcham. (4) During the game, when it was 1-1, I made a note that it just felt we'd come away with a victory last night. Judging by the reaction afterwards, maybe that wasn't so far off the mark.
Anything
else? Aye. As the picture to your left shows, some H&R fans decided
to "welcome" Harvey by printing out this rather interesting poster
on him. This was taken in the bogs, and did cause quite a bit of amusement.
Harvey found it quite funny as well, when somebody gave him the poster in
the dugout. What I want to know is, isn't it just a little bit dubious to
post a picture of an athletic young male in a public toilet...?
For those who can't read, the text says:
For imitating a "Gangster Rapper" from the "Ghetto" despite being born and raised in Hertfordshire. Dispicable lyrics include "There's always a snake, Wanna get in my gate". And "Wanna double my cash, Wanna double my dough". And accusing opposing fans of being from council estates, despite his own "street" background and repeatedly kicking bins
This of course coming from fans of a club from a part of London where you are considered a pikey if you don't own two 4x4s and an authentic 1990s Argo cooker
So, was it worth it? If you can forget the result, absolutely
In a nutshell: Ever get the feeling you've been cheated?
8 October 2005
(photo courtesy DSF)
Yes, I know I didn't do a report for Wealdstone. Shit happens (actually, I wasn't ill or anything like that, but I was busy doing some things that were really quite interesting....)
On the surface of it, Paaaaahhhhht 1 Rickay 1 sounded like every other game this season. Go a goal down early on, murmurings about whether DA should stick to van driving and then getting back into it and everyone feeling all right with the world. Scratch the surface and you're half right. First half saw us concede a soft goal. It seemed to happen in slow motion (or was that our defence?) and it felt like deja vu all over again. Nothing was quite happening. Passes never going to the right players, that sort of thing.
And yet, in the second half, we had a David Cameron type metamorphication (is that a word?). We threw everything at them a la old style WFC. High balls. Low balls, sweet and sour balls, the kitchen sink, the waste disposal unit and the contents of a Mr Muscle oven cleaner bottle to boot. Barry Moore's free kick straight after the second half started was the sort of goal you'd get on 90 minutes and everyone wondering why we couldn't do that for the rest of the game. Today, we really should have won. And he even got booked for giving it to the 'Rickay bench......
We hit the post through our #16 (some sub-editor is currently using the headline "So near and yet so Farr"), came close more times than is healthy and I'm sure we hit the bar. To quote a Womble after the game, "that was proper Wimbledon in the second half". And it was. Whether it's the new TE* or not I don't know but today something started clicking. We looked hungry for a start. On another day we would have put four goals in the second half. And really, that's all we ask.
* - is it possible to have some advertising hoardings on the roof, just like old times? I for one would kill to have the big John Lelliott sign back up again. Judging by the way they went out of business and ended up having to do a tie-up with Bovis, they clearly weren't building a better London.
Oh, and wasn't the
handbags mass brawl kewl? Even better when their coach got sent off
- reportedly started giving it some to our fans though...
Anyway.
Plus points: The second half - even our defence looked a bit more solid. More passion. The will to win.
Minus points: The first half. Defence still shit. Shooting as good as David Beckham's attempts to keep his temper.
The referee's a.....: Rather than waste your time and mine describing him, here's how I transcribed his performance in teeline shorthand.
I'm sure you all agree that no further comment is necessary.
Them: Considering they were full time (as in, some of their players train full time), they weren't that much better than we were. OK, they whipped us with a leather strap at times in the first half so much that we started calling them "master". But there seems to be a lesson here - no matter what the team, get at them and they look as vulnerable as we do. I said it last time and it's worth repeating - why shouldn't we do to the money teams what everyone else has done to us for the last three years? Oh, and they lose one mark for the MK stuff - the song of small timers everywhere - and Justin Edinburgh loses 100000 marks simply for being ex-Spurz.
Point to ponder: Why was the game 1.30pm? Yes, I know you're going to say "cos of the Ingerlund game innit?", but what I meant was, why not 1pm? Or 12.30pm? Or even a Friday/Sunday effort instead? The reason I say this was because there quite a few mutterings about saying how little time they would have had to get home to watch the most important international game that day. Hadn't the heart to tell them that Cyprus v RoI kicked off at 6pm :) In all seriousness though, while international weekends give smaller crowds anyway, and the desire to keep people in the bar is of paramount importance, perhaps pissing some people off isn't entirely worth a few extra quid..
Truth is stranger than fiction: (1) Had my first ever chicken kebab from that stall in front of the bars before the game. And yes, I do recommend them, although £4 is a little steep. (2) The amount of people looking forward to H&R away on Tuesday. Did somebody say "awayday"? Also, it's quite amazing what a couple of semi-decent performances can do. (3) The realisation that we've drawn yet another game 1-1. What's the record for most drawn result in one season? And more to the point, have we beaten it yet?
Anything else? Yeah - anyone see one of their subs giving it the big one at half time? Deliberately aiming the ball into the crowd proves really why footballers are fast becoming the most hated sportsmen going. Pity he wasn't arrested for incitement (hell, if Vinny Jones got a ticking off at QPR once by a copper on the field for swearing...) I know there's an argument for players being able to dish it out as well as take it, but I wonder if they'll act the hard nut if there were no barriers between the crowd and themselves...?
So, was it worth it? Hmm, maybe. H&R will be be good though.
In a nutshell: Should have won.
2 October 2005
Yes, the photos are back. For now, anyway. And if somebody can tell me how to make sure the ALT tag works on Firefox, I'll be most grateful.
Those of you with
long memories may remember in the PL days when we had one of the worst performances
ever against Luton Town. It was so bad that Bobby Gould had to bring in Steve
Anthrobus for the next game to face the league leaders at the time, Aston
Villa. Anyway, we went up to Villa Park and stuffed them 3-0, and ITV even
showed it twice (Paul Miller's goal was one of the best ever seen in a blue/yellow
shirt). The look on Roger Elton Welsby's face was classic...
Fast forward to 2005 and there was something not too disimilar about Swifts 1 Swallows 1. Ignore the fact that the result yet another draw away from KM. Ignore the fact that they could have had two goals within the first 20 minutes (then again, so could we). You really couldn't tell that this was the same collection of players that surrendered so meekly to Worthing and W&H.
No, yesterday wasn't perfect. We didn't win, we need a leader or two on the pitch, and our final ball still lets us down. But we saw the style of play that people have been gnashing their teeth to see for ages - passing to feet, using the widths etc and other such pseudo-intellectual bollocks passing itself off as football analysis.
And most importantly, we looked bothered. Players and fans come to think of it. When we went 1-0 down, heads didn't drop. The applause given at the end (both parties) seemed symbolic.Yesterday had an air of relaxation about it. Even when they got their penalty, you just knew that we weren't going to go away empty handed.
Maybe, just maybe, the team plays far better (read: relaxed) away from the increasingly poisonous KM atmosphere? I'll be honest here - I'm dreading going to KM on Tuesday. It's as though we've taken certain bits of London Prem teams to make our own club : the success of Arsenil, the public image of Chelski, and the chip-on-shoulder support of Spurz. I don't want a fanbase that thinks the sun shines out of AFCW, nor do I want one that treats defeat as though they've been gang raped. I just want a bit of perspective. Please? Oh go on....
The game? Well, it was 0-0 at half time, their player got booked for falling over quicker than a Premiership footballer on a night out in Croydon. Second half we came out all guns blazing. Then they broke away in their first real attack and scored. Bastards. It felt like meeting a beautiful woman in a bar, she gives you her room number and slips away early, you go up and you find out she's currently in the middle of a spit roast with Wankelmann and Hammam.
We seemed to lose our way a bit, and they got a penalty. I had in the back of my mind the reaction if we lost 2-0. It would probably involve a hitsquad on Tuesday ready to garrot the Hendon Cunts. Anyway, up popped their goalie to take it. It's quite a risky thing to do, and when Andy Little saved it with his legs, we all wanted a good 90 yard punt up field. For some reason, we decided to pass it.....
Anyway, commeth the 89th minute and commeth the man. The not much maligned RB, who turned and shot to give us the deserved point. Of course, I felt we could have nicked it in injury time...
Got that. Good.
Plus points: Much, much better. Came back. Last 10 minutes. Passion. Desire. Hunger. Quite impressed with the Pole.
Minus points: Defence still looks as slow as a concrete turtle with a wheelclamp.
The referee's a.......: What a [censored]. He [censored] goats [censored] Kate Moss [censored] and [censored] Horse Of The Year Show [censored] I hope [censored] bank account [censored] and [censored] Ford Focus [censored] central reservation of the M25 [censored] and [censored] Waitrose. Bastard.
Them: Good hosts, unsure if they're a moneyed team or not. If so, perhaps we're going to raise our game against these sort of teams. Bit like everyone else does to us. Their goalscorer should have been off long before he scored though. The town of Heybridge (and the village next to it) reminded me of Athlone. For a small town, the ground was in pretty good nick and relatively sizeable as well.
Point to ponder: As I type this, we're 6th, 8 points behind the leaders. We've only lost once this season. We have the second tightest defence in the division. Had we not conceded any goals in the first five minutes or last five minutes of three particular games, we would have been top. All this despite our worst run of form since inception and not "clicking" as a unit. There's a lesson here, I just can't figure out what.
Truth is stranger than fiction: (1) Just how bloody loud was their PA? To quote somebody near me, "it's like a bad Slovakian rave". Not to mention a crappy dance version (is there any other type of dance music?) of a Guns N'Roses classic. (2) Did anyone see the Plough Lane turnstiles? I think I did, they looked a bit of the South Stand/Wandle End edition, painted black. Can't help thinking that little bit of PL magic came back. (3) Steff W even looks like somebody who worked on a Gdansk shipyard. (4) I know of three people who left before the end. Thing was, all three of them live in Essex.....
Anything else? WUP carried an advert for SI's main rival on the back of their latest edition. While I can't really imagine it going down well in the SI/AFCW boardroom, it's quite ironic that the money paid for the ad will ultimately go back into AFCW coffers...
So, was it worth it? The turning point?
In a nutshell: Now, let's keep it going shall we?