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| A local celeb admires the local signage. |
This match will not live long in the memory. The game kicked off, Winnall missed an easy header, the ref blew for full time. True, I am missing the time Yiadom dribbled past someone. Or McDonald heading a ball clear from the edge of his box. Or that time Davies took a goal kick. Honestly, it really was like watching paint dry. I thought we’d got Keith Hill back, to be honest, all the sideways-sideways-backwards-hoof we had. I said at half time we should have had another pint in the pub but what I didn’t foresee was more of the same, second half. It was a pitiful afternoon’s ‘entertainment’.
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| What a shower. |
True, Wigan came for the draw and showed zero enterprise. Well, why not? They were (are) second off bottom and have a new manager and they’d been panned last week 0-3 by Reading. What I DID hope and expect was that we’d show more than we did. The longer the match went on, the longer I watched Kent and Winnall do not very much, the more I realised Heckingbottom was as happy with the draw as they were; after all, it meant we cemented the cushion between ourselves and the relegation places. But, really, this was a chance missed (about the only chance that was, ho ho).
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| Impeccably observed minute's silence. Note Toby Tyke in foreground. |
Oh yeah, we did have a chance to score. Yiadom whipped a ball in and Winnall missed when it was easier to bag. Phew, that fifty quid of mine was starting to panic. He did though find the net in 1st half injury time, but he was flagged for offside. Oh well. Get him off. Why did we buy Bradshaw? Scored loads for Walsall last season (a side who, lest we forget, finished higher in the table than us) and we never play him. He must be on a small fortune. And even if he isn’t scoring, at least he can hold a ball up.
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| Looking towards the away end. |
Then there’s Kent, who couldn’t take on a player or cross a ball all day, then when he finally did (a great ball in from the left) he was dragged off. It was like Hecky had told him he could stay on until he’d done something. 75 minutes it took him. Still, it meant Hammill could come on. So he did, and promptly ran straight into a couple of defenders and that was it from him. Really, it comes to something when the closest you come to scoring is a blazer from teenage full back Bree, which deflected wide.
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| I'll get the hang of this cameraphone one day. |
Wigan even had their keeper carried off, Bogdan replaced by Bolton legend Jussi Jasskelainen on the hour mark. Isn’t he like 92 or something? (Factcheck: he’s a mere strippling of 41). I don’t remember him making a save. Mind, I barely remember not-Bolton legend Bogdan making any decent saves either. Did he save from Marley early on? The worry was, that with 5 mins injury time announced and the Londontykes all making an early exit for their train, that the match might liven up. I presume it didn’t. 6 hours on trains of various lateness today, for the worst match of the season. About the only controversy of note was the ref’s inability to red card one of theirs for going straight through our player, rather like Scowen t’other week (minus the 2 attempted fouls on Scowen before he lunged in). I doubt it would have made a difference though. We had little ambition and they had none.
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| Oakwell under lights. |
*** Scowen. Cracking game, winning balls, driving forward, passing it to teammates. Possibly had more to prove than anyone, coming in for Wigan Loanee Morsy. Proved it.
** Yiadom. Made one mistake the entire match and that’s why everyone remembered it, cos he was outstanding otherwise.
* Roberts. Not that he had much to do at centre half, but he did it.
Despatches:Davies can count himself unlucky cos he never put a foot wrong, but nor did he have owt to do. Jackson again looked comfortable with McDonald, so much so that the pre-match chat was whether he’d be the one to partner Roberts when he returns. (Or if Roberts would even get a game.) Hourihane had a decent 1st half before slipping further and further back. Curled a free kick over just after the show of support for Cryne (the Ponty chanting his name, while folk held up the lights of their camera phones) Armstrong again looked our best attacker, though all he had to show for it was dispossessing the right back before cutting inside and curling it over from 25 yards. Might I add, Hecky has been moaning about the travel some of our players have had on international duty, yet he still picks Armstrong, who played for England under 20s in South Korea or somewhere. Marley again looked our best winger, one run in particular looking promising, as he skinned the defender for SKILL. Twitter MOTM, but the problem is, the better he looks in this position, the more he’ll be played in this position. Bree had his moments, but a few mistakes too.
Oh, and following the errant Burton bugler t’other week, we had perfection personified. I wish I could namecheck the band he came from (Worsborough Band, I'm told). Tho since when did EVERY club have a ‘Remembrance Day fixture’? I’m sure it used to be only Remembrance Day weekend. We seem to have a minute’s silence/applause every week as it is.
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| 'There's only one Patrick Cryne.' Get well soon, Patrick. |
Drink du jour: Erdinger and on the train, vodka and orange or JD and coke. Rhys made a rare foray up with us (and probably regretted it) but at least he turned up; The Captain missed his bus from Hicksville (again) while Jonesy ‘had the trots’. Lads – you missed nowt. Tho’ once back in London we went to Lynne’s wedding party (?), thereby giving us a chance to drink even more alcohol. Luckily, I caught a bus back with Reedy, which meant I didn’t fall asleep. Sarah thinks Andy should do this every week.
Away: 962. Since when did Wigan have such large away support? A generally decent atmosphere, especially 2nd half as we kicked towards the Ponty.
The Damage:
21.50 travel
The Tunes:
Until the Hunter - Hope Sandoval and the Warm Inventions
Mixmag Oct15 ‘Past and Present’ - Loco Dice
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| The Wiganers. |
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| The Ponty Enders. |
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