BFC 2-1 Norwich City, Saturday 10th December 2016

‘That’s retribution fo’ 2002’

The view from the away end.

The omens were against us. 11 games without victory v the Canaries (9 defeats) and without a win at home in 7 (3 draws). The Geordie Al ready-reckoner worked out we therefore had zero chance of winning, 5 chances of a draw (2+3) and 13 of defeat (9+4). Hopefully, my wearing of the 3rd kit would cancel this out. After all, it’s the only kit we win in these days. ‘Dad, will you settle for a draw?’ ‘Yes’ he said, unequivocally.

There were however some positive omens from the previous week’s Chron, courtesy of Salisbury: Best player in the league (Hourihane – inc 3rd most tackles per match!), most saves in the division (Davies), as well as lesser known stats such as blocks and clearances (which our centre halves dominate) while Yiadom was 3rd in blocked crosses. Just shows what we already know: our defence are playing really well DESPITE the number of goals we concede. Oh, and we also had the most dribbles of any team, but quite how many of Kent’s efforts have ended up in goals…I can probably estimate at one. If that.

The view from the away (ladies) toilet.

Of course, I wanted to win this one. When your better half and father-in-law are Norwich fans, it would be nice to have bragging rights for a change. So I really enjoyed watching Scowen and Bree skin them down our right and a low cross being sweetly turned in 1st time by Bradshaw from 12 yards. Bradshaw! A proper centre forward! Actually, the move was reminiscent of the last home game, when Bree dropped one on Winnall’s head.

We continue to pile forward (though Norwich look dangerous on the break) and as we hang on to a one goal half time lead, Hourihane puts his foot through a 20 yarder and the slight deflection takes it into the top corner. F***ING YES! Hopefully we’ll score a hatful second half. I should have known better.

Norwich come out and nearly score within a minute. Alex Neil’s double substitution looks like paying dividends as they swarm all over us for the 1st few minutes. Then, just as we’ve weathered the storm, their guy hits a 25 yarder which goes THROUGH Davies. I feel sorry for our keeper. He had the perfect 1st half, and all anyone can remember is the shot he should have saved.

Davies on the alert

Thereafter, it was all hands to the pump, not helped by our side’s complete inability to pass the ball when we had it. I don’t think we put together more than 3 passes until the 80th minute. The team were panicking from front to back and no-one in midfield was prepared to put their foot on the ball. Yet in the last 20 mins or so, we had so many chances to break…3 on 3…but we wasted everything. The best chance we had of putting the game to bed, Kent broke 2 on 1, which became 3 on 2 as he slowed up, looking for the right option. Do I cross for Bradshaw? Do I pull it back for the onrushing midfielder? Do I go for goal myself and slice the ball so badly that Bradshaw ends up heading it back across goal for ? (Winnall?) to tap home. Of course it’s the latter, and the goal is chalked off for offside against Bradshaw. I’m not even convinced he was offside, but certainly that was entirely Kent’s fault for delaying too long and being s***. His time is up for me; either get Hamill or Janko into the team or drag Isgrove back from Soton. He’s not doing owt, is he?

Thankfully, Norwich miss all their (half) chances and Roberts makes the tackle of the match to prevent them being clean through. And if that was my favourite tackle, 2nd must go to Scowen, who nearly broke a player twice his size, who proceeded to limp, wince and moan till he realised he wasn’t getting anything…then trotted 30 yards to take the throw-in. As Wadd says, their ‘gamesmanship’ was amongst the best (worst?) we’d seen all season. ‘Premiership’ class. How many times did Reds fans have to tell the ref they were pinching god knows how many yards at EVERY throw-in, before the ref did owt? (Then he continued letting them do it. What’s the point?) Mind, he did everything to avoid booking anybody, including ignoring Hamill chucking the ball behind him to waste time.

Canaries!  Canaries!

*** Scowen. Josh only has 2 games for the Reds this season. Brilliant or dogs***. Today he was outstanding, running himself into the ground and making tackle after tackle. Twitter MOTM..
** Yiadom. What can you say? Fast, skilful, great tackler…and amongst the highest dribblers in the league (according to them there stats again). Basically, not only is he an outstanding defender, he’s also a better winger than we currently have.
* Roberts. Awesome in the second half, but can I be the only one to point out that the best chances Norwich had in the 1st half seemed to come from half clearances from our centre halves!

Londontykes' Top 3:
1= Scowen
1= Yiadom
3. Roberts

Mind, our resident Norwich contingent were convinced Bassong was our MOTM. Tis true, their centre halves and keeper were trying to play football that was beyond them. Reminded me of the good old days of...every BFC centre half and keeper partnership we've had till this one. (McNulty plus any 2, for a start; or 'Dangerous Bri' and friends)

The view towards the away end (or how useless my cameraphone is).

Despatches:
Davies caught and saved everything till he conceded, then he lost all confidence and never left his line. At least he made one decent save, diving low to his left. Bree recovered from a tricky start and then had the winger in his pocket. Hourihane showed his class with the goal, but I wish he’d had a greater say in the 2nd half. MacDonald defended stoutly that 2nd half, while Bradshaw and Winnall barely saw the ball. Kent was rubbish (I’m sorry, I can’t take it anymore, watching him dribble nowhere or simply fail to have the ball). You can only flatter to deceive for so long before you’re considered incapable. Morsy put himself about, and was able back up to Scowen’s scurrying.

Oh, and maybe there was another good omen for today; on the Donny to Meadowhell train some young lady in front of me kindly sat scrolling through her selfies on her phone, just for me.  She had quite the lingerie selection too. Shame some bloke got on at Rovrum and ruined my fun by sitting next to her.  She turned her phone off sharpish.

Drink du jour: This was annoying. Had to meet my dad pre-match for my season ticket, so missed out on an hour of drinking. Then, when we turned up, he said hello then had to leg it to the ground for a p***. Charming. So I decided to take the in-laws to celebrated watering hole ‘Redfearns’ only to be told to queue up! Likely. They should be grateful I’m bothering. So we didn’t. Previous journeys’ leftover vodka for the journey back. Saved a few quid.

Away: 1,287.

The Damage:
£21 on the train. Or free if the Captain has failed to make yet another journey. Add ‘the sh*ts’ to every other excuse he’s come up with so far this season.

West Stand lower.

Get well Patrick Cryne!