Sounds thrilling, eh? And it was, till we killed the game off after 64 minutes with a second goal. When have we ever looked so comfortable whilst playing with 10 men? Well..errr….Cambridge away, actually, earlier this season. That game Kitching got sent off at 1-0 and we steamrollered them, triumphing 3-0. Today we just did a job, Jordan Williams killing them off with an excellent 20 yard volley as The Cams (whatthehell is Cambridge’s nickname?) half-cleared a corner.
This is to ignore the main talking point – how STUPID is our new centre forward? 37 minutes in we’re winning 1-0 and loanee Watters has scored our goal. So what is he doing leading with his elbow approximately 17 seconds after the ball has gone? Their player crumples into a heap and I fear the worst. Watters’ only hope is the apparent slow motion of it all. But no, the ref’s got his red card out – and rightfully so. What a pr*ck. (I haven’t seen a sending off like this in 20 years….then I watched the EFL highlights Sun morn and there was another one in the same division!)
Earlier, Watters had been Johnny-on-the-spot as Cole brought down a long ball, turned and hit a shot across the keeper which was palmed to Watters to prod into an empty goal. Unlucky for Cole, who’d done all the work, but it was nice to imagine (for a few minutes at least) that we had a CF who knows where to stand. With 8 minutes to half-time following the sending-off, Super Michael Duffy decided against immediate changes and we saw it out to half-time. And here’s where the manager earned his corn, dragging off Cadden for Norwood, going flat back 4 and keeping 2 up top. Well, it worked in similar circumstances at the Abbey Stadium.
New (Huddersfield?) signing Russell came on in midfield for the anonymous Phillips too. (I’ll be honest, I wasn’t aware Phillips was playing till I heard the PA announcer saying he was being hauled.) But this Russell bloke. What a player he looks. He is MASSIVE for a midfielder, has a great touch and can beat players with some actual soccer skillz. I see from his CV he started out at Chelsea, while Loko says Terriers fans are up in arms about losing him. I’m not surprised. I’d hoick Phillips out NOW to get this lad in the team. Not since that Norwich loanee (where’s he these days?) beat 3 players and hit a 20 odd yarder towards the top corner earlier this season have I seen a Barnsley player do same. Let’s hope Russell isn’t a similar flash-in-the pan.
Oh, nearly forgot. In a game MADE for Brad Collins and his unsurpassable time-wasting abilities, he was injured, replaced by Walton replacement Isted. And he did make one contribution, making a triffic reflex save from a header. However, I never once saw him come off his line…for either of Cambridge’s crosses. Christ, they were terrible. As Slacki said at half-time, we’d have to go down to 8 players for Cambridge to win this game. And it’s not often I hail Ian’s opinion on football.
Onwards and upwards!
*** Jordan Williams. Down to 10 men and Jordan is still up and down that right wing and great technique for the bag.
** Cole. Ran about and gave the defence lots to think about.
* Mads. Won everything, read everything. The usual.
Official MOTM: Jordan Williams. Though I see we're now calling it 'player of the match'. The world has gone PC mad. It's a man. Playing in a game with other men. Hence MAN of the match....oh my God, don't start me. I'm going to sound like a Daily Mail reader.
Londontykes’ MOTM: 1. Jordan Williams 2. Cole 3. Connell
Despatches:
The atmosphere. Where did that come from? Not great, but a vast improvement on the norm. Oh, hang on, our CEO Khaled wotshisface was in the home end. Did word get round and the fans decide to put on a show? Maybe. Cos it wasn’t cos we were down to 10 men, as there were no complaints about the sending off, none of the usual ‘the world and his wife are against us. Plus the ref.’ Words were bandied about at half-time along the lines of ‘f***ing’ and ‘idiot’. Clear as day in the East Stand, where Watter’s elbow was heading had that Cambridge bloke’s face not got in the way.
With our continental crew in town, we were out early drinking and out late, drinking. And what a bizarre name for a niteclub…’Funny gals’. Turns out it’s 3 blokes in drag playing tunes from their ipad. (And no, I don’t mean Bob, Slacki and I.) It was as s*** as Slacki will tell you it was great, though let’s just say with his beer goggles, Slacki should never visit the bars of Bangkok.
Full marks though to young Ian for taking us to that Brazilian all-the-meat-you-can-eat place. Really enjoyed that. But I am a pig, so no surprise there.
Drink du jour: Grover hazy IPA in Spiral City. More Grover hazy IPA in Spiral City. Red wine. Neck Oil. More red wine. JD and coke. ‘Baby Guiness’ in Eadens. (Whatthehell is THAT?) Stella (well, I was in Barnsley’s premier niteclub).
Away: 602
Today’s take home: Is it possible to find a worse forward than we already had? Yes. Yes it is. Fat overweight pr*ck. (I reserve the right to change my mind when he hits the winner in the play-off final at Wembley.)
The Damage:
c.£30 travel (petrol)
= c.£30
The Tunes:
BBC 6Music (Radcliffe and Maconie / Huey Morgan)
BBC5Live (Fighting Talk)
No comments:
Post a Comment