‘Why are you not drunk?’
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| Barnsley, yesterday. |
I may well remember this game forever, who knows? Or at least the aftermath. Having been on the bus and crossed the river on the way home, and congratulated myself on still being awake…I fell asleep. Woke up in an unfamiliar part of town (it was only the other side of Peckham, I knew the Nags Head rang a bell). And so, while I headed back towards home, looked right, waited for a car to pass, I crossed…and, while f***ing around with my headphones…stopped in my tracks as a car came straight toward me from my left…and time stood still. It was bizarre. I could see it coming, it braked…but not enough that it didn’t stop before hitting me and throwing me a metre or 2 backwards, onto the road. I’ve never been knocked over before, it really was freaky. Luckily, it hit my bad knee (true: ask Kings College Hospital physio) but the driver sat motionless. Now, I know someone who knocked someone down through no fault of their own (not me) and it was quite traumatic. So, having got up (I was fine - ish) I found myself apologising profusely for being knocked over. The driver (an African lady) had stopped but needed encouragement to wind down her window. Probably expected me to punch her. (She opened her door, looking shocked). I think she’d thought the worst. ‘I’m really sorry, it wasn’t your fault.’ The driver behind had stopped too, causing a bit of a tailback (we have those late at night in Peckham) while the doorman at a nearby club saw it all and couldn’t believe I was simply walking away from it. And I wouldn’t mind, but I wasn’t even on the vodka tonite. A close shave all round.
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| Matching his and his jackets on the way to the match. |
Well, all good things must come to an end, and come to an end they did today. A bad day all round, as, apart from being knocked over, the train from Donny was cancelled (signal failure) and we had to get a taxi, the Super Reds lost…and I didn’t see either of the goals wot beat us. Sarfend scored early doors and I could hear the ripple of a cheer as I reached the corner of the East and Ponty. Still, nice to give them a head start, considering we’d won 11 in 13 and they’d lost their last 3 on the road. I got inside to see Jeff Stelling tell us ‘there’s been a goal at Oakwell’. Great – a lack of Premiership action today sees Sky Sports pay a rare visit, just in time to see us go down. ‘Route 1’ he said, Sarfend picking up the pieces from a hoof from the keeper. (This was a shame, since I thought Marc Roberts has continued his recent improvement…but whose fault was it if not the centre halves?)
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| Welcome to .... |
Their 2nd, deep into injury time, I missed cos I wanted to beat the rush, having an early train an’ all (it was 25 minutes late – told you it was a bad day all round). ‘And the scorer is…..’ the tannoy announced. I thought ‘I already KNOW the goalscorer. Oh, they’ve got a 2nd.’ I s’pose I’m not gonna add owt the other Londontykes haven’t already said. We huffed, we puffed…we created naff all. Winnall hit a 25 yarder I screamed at him not to (‘you’re never gonna score from there!’) and I was right…tho it fizzed narrowly wide. From memory, I think Mawson hit a free kick down the keeper’s throat. (On that note, why did Hourihane walk away from said free kick? Surely our best chance of scoring is in unnerving the keeper as to who will take it…the left footer or the right.) And Hammill cut inside and hit one…but didn’t connect too well, easy save. And someone on the backpost heading into side netting (Watkins?) from a peach of a Hammill cross. From the East Stand it looked a goal. Otherwise, despite all of our possession in their half, and some promising breaks, the clear cut chances didn’t come.
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| Penalty area action |
Oh yes – and we missed a penalty. Fletcher rounded the keeper and was brought down. Clear penalty, and presumably a sending off, since it looked like he was about to tap it into the empty net. Now, I haven’t seen it on TV, so I’ve no idea why the keeper wasn’t sent off. Was it running away from Fletch? Were the ref and linesman clueless? I dunno, but I’m not blaming them for Hourihane kicking a ball wide from 12 yards. (That's the 3rd penalty he’s missed for us – that I remember). Must have been the pressure, 3rd division fixture, at home, in front of a 6000 stand populated by 300 and odd. Bless. And I’m not blaming the ref for our further inability to bag for the hour that was left either.
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| Hourihane blazes his pen wide |
*** Fletcher of Man U. Looked good as the figurehead up front. Woulda been even better if anyone had given him a chance. Twitter MOTM.
** Roberts. Looks better and better. Though it helps I didn’t see either of their goals!
* Mawson. As above. The ying to Roberts yang. Or something.
Londontykes' Top 3:
1. Fletcher
2. Mawson
3. Williams
Despatches:At one point today (when Fletch was subbed) I started panicking: I thought we only had one loan player on the pitch. Being late and unobservant, I had no idea we had some Everton player in for Bree at right back. I’m pleased we’re not bringing on our own players, especially when there’s the readymade answer in our own team: put Williams at right back and bring back Smith on the left. The writing must really be on the wall for George Smith these days. Rated by seemingly nobody at Oakwell, even after Little Lee has left. I am dumbfounded, given he was one of the brighter lights in our appalling 1st few months. Another quality return was that of the Winnall hissyfit. Losing one-nil and time running out, a decision (rightly) goes against him. Cue said moron blasting the ball into the crowd for a yellow card. Sarfend, who have spend considerable portions of the 2nd half timewasting must have been p***ing themselves. Pr*ck.
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| The Southenders |
It was good to see another couple of blasts from the past too; Hicksy made it to the Old Number 7. Chin up, kid! And I bumped into Caton in the gentlemen’s at Oakwell. Chin up, kid! (Non) marital breakups, strokes…thank goodness we have the Super Reds to cheer us up!!!!!!!!
Drink du jour: Oh yeah. Train delayed so no time for Sainsburys; instead an East European offy in Wakey; £2.99 bottle of red, which was almost drinkable. Almost. At least the non-existent earlier train allowed us to jump into a taxi and be in Barnsley even earlier than usual, so an extra Erdinger or 2 pre-match.
Away: 396. Not bad.
The Damage:
19 train
5 taxi
49 tracksuit top
49 tracksuit top
20 t-shirt (x2)
20 t-shirt (x2)
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| The lesser-spotted BFC unofficial merchandise stall. |
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| The Ponty (backside) |
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| The Ponty (frontside) |
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| A small girl shows Hourihane how it's done |
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| The old Main Stand |
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| At least one area of Oakwell is full |
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