‘When I was a young man I was involved in the building of the Thames flood barrier. I think you’ll find some flood gates in Fulham are NOT the reason that place doesn’t get flooded.’
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| The temporary market structure starts to be taken down. |
Another week, another win. With every game that passes, we are looking more and more like promotion material. There, I’ve said it. I’ve not seen a better side than us this season, and another commanding performance put Bradford (the division’s most in-form side) to the sword. We’ll ignore the 1st 15-20 minutes where we couldn’t get out of our half, for the simple reason that Bradford still didn’t create owt. Lindsay was dominant, blocking or clearing 2 or 3 good balls, meaning Davies had nought to do.
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| It's all downhill from here (for Bradford). |
Before that though, we got on a train at St. Pancras. Not possessing reserved seats, we fought our way on sharpish to find a table – to be greeted by some bloke across from us peeling off his outer layer, a la Superman, to reveal a Reds’ shirt. ‘Ah, some fellow Reds fans!’ he exclaimed as he saw our shirts. For a good second or two, we were speechless. For a start, this chap was the wrong colour! Then it dawned. ‘Whose dad are you?’ I asked. ‘Ethan’s’. Well, I still had some working out to do, cos I’m not instantly familiar with the forenames of our players. (Whatthehell is Lindsay’s 1st name? No idea off the top of my head.) Yes, it was Pinnock’s dad, sat with his mum opposite (Ethan’s mum, not Pinnock snr’s). Mrs Pinnock wasn’t wearing a Reds shirt.
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| The teams are about to come out... |
Anyway, we all had a good chinwag, learning about Ethan’s development. Millwall let him go at 15 for ‘not being aggressive enough’, which sounds about right for Mi’wa’. He signed for Dulwich Hamlet, having the odd trial at league teams until the Hamlet manager more or less told teams not to dick around - either sign him or not; he’s good enough. So off he went to Forest Green, while managing to finish his degree at Greenwich (Sports Science, I think). Upon going up to sign for Barnsley, dad went with son to Oakwell and both were mightily impressed with the facilities. His agent hadn’t mentioned the Oakwell layout, possibly to have maximum effect on Ethan (it did, he signed.) As for what everyone wants to know – No, he’s not leaving Barnsley. This is NOT the Pinnocks’ farewell trip to Oakwell! (Course, this presumes we don’t accept a staggering bid; perhaps the sale of Potts makes this even less likely.) Either way, we left the Pinnocks under no illusion as to how popular Ethan is amongst the Londontykes. We were first on that bandwagon, weren’t we!!??
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| The Ponty v Bradford. |
Back to the game, we destroyed Bradford. Pinnock didn’t have much to do (or did he make it look easy?) The midfield movement left the Bantams standing, all quick, one-touch passing. Those pre-match warm-ups, knocking a ball about in triangles, actually seems to be put into practice by us. This was capped by a glorious second goal, as Mowatt did a little give-and-go, chested it to Thiam, who flicked it backwards for the onrushing Mowatt to knock the ball across with his left for Kiefer to prod in. Blimey – are we Man City? I wouldn’t mind, but about 3 seconds before that, I’d been bemoaning (to myself) the lack of movement on that right wing between Cavare and Brown. Maybe Mowatt was too, so took matters into his own hands…
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| The teams line up. |
We were already one up. I can’t remember how Mowatt was free on the left (another slick move? Probably.) but he had space to cross the ball onto Jacob Brown’s head. Brown, in for the aforementioned departed Potts, was playing his 3rd position of the season, right midfield. But he showed his centre forward poacher’s instinct, getting into the box at the right time for a simple header. We went in 2-0 up and it was nothing more than we deserved.
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| 3,500 Bantam hordes. Well done Bradford! |
The second half was one-way traffic. It was just a shame our approach play wasn’t matched with finishes. Without doubt the ‘highlight’ was Thiam being played in, having all the time in the world, one-on-one…and dragging it a foot wide with no-one near him. The ghost of Odejayi lives on. (How will Chris win his bet with finishing like THAT?) Having said that, Thiam was a threat on the left, and one burst had him powering into the box. Mamadou, using intellect previously hidden from yours truly, pulled a superb ball back to the penalty spot for….well, for no-one to be there. All 4 of our attacking players had legged it into the 6 yard box, along with the witlessly scared defenders.
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| The Ponty from the left side of the East Upper. |
With injury time looming and it looking like we’d have to settle for two-nil, the breakthrough came. Brown charged into the box, one-on-one and got clipped by a defender. Showing he’ll never get a Premiership contract, he attempted to stay on his feet and, off-balance, stabbed the ball wide. Nevermind, the ref called it back, sent the City player off and a minute or so later, Mowatt capped another classy performance by rolling in a cool finish for 3-0. Still not quite what the performance deserved, but it’ll do. Let's not get greedy.
*** Mowatt. At the time, I agreed with the official MOTM, but as I digest the goals and digest how Mowatt was fundamental in each…there can be only one.
** McGeehan. Official MOTM. Along with Mowatt, he RAN midfield. Who is this Dougall bloke the rest of you keep going on about???
* Thiam. Tough one. I agree with Farnham – any of 9 outfield players could get an honourable mention, but I’ll go with Thiam, as he worked hard, made good runs and played his part in one of our goals of the season.
Londontykes' MOTM: TBA
Onwards and upwards!
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| The Ponty. |
Despatches:Starting at the back, Davies had nowt to do, but he did catch a cross and he kept all of his kicks on the pitch until the 93rdminute. As faultless as he can be. Lindsay sorted them out 1st half, so you never saw their attack again. Pinnock was his effortlessly classy self, while Cavare was switched on for the full 90. Williams had another promising game at left back. Brownwas decent, though there’s naturally more for him and Cavare to work on regarding understanding. Kiefer was ok, without stretching himself, while Woodrow was strangely anonymous now Moore was back. Later on, we tried giving Bradford a chance, throwing on the youngster Adeboyejo and misfit Moncur, but they (Bradford) really weren’t capable.
On the journey back, we were again joined by a very pleased Mr and Mrs Pinnock. The latter hadn’t been to the game, preferring to hang with the grandkids, but they both partook in a celebratory JD and coke. I look forward to sharing a journey with Mr and Mrs Thiam next!
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| Where's everybody gone? There's a match still being played... |
Drink du jour: wheat beer in the #7, wheat beer in the Sheffield Tap (‘Schneider Weisse’ is ringing a bell); JD & Coke for the train; IPA in the pub in St. Pancras. (Why can I still not remember its name after all these years?)
Away: 3,560 some. Biggest of the season (thus far). Well done Bantams!
The Damage:£32 train£6 BFC mug£3 prog= £41
The Tunes:
Leave Them All Behind EP (Ride)I’m New Here (Gil Scott-Heron)
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| Panorama v Bradford. |
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| Panorama from the Ponty (cheers Jonesy). |
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