BFC 3-1 Accrington Stanley, Saturday 21st January 2023

‘He doesn’t have a right foot. Or a left.’

What just happened there? We’re 19 minutes in and winning by three goals to nothing. The game is effectively over….which is roughly a 100% improvement on the last home game (Bolton) which was over in 10 minutes. We were 2 up in 8 minutes. I know this cos I went for a p*** after Norwood opened the scoring with an overhead bicycle kick (have I really just written that?). I mean, there’s no way we’re gonna score 2 in 2 minutes, especially not this early in the game. The cheer went up as I re-entered. Nice to have the recognition, I never thought.

The 2nd was by Aitchison (I’m told). I’ve since seen it on telly and I think most of us would have scored it, the keeper dropping the ball to him to roll into an empty net from 20 yards. Can YOU kick a ball straight from 20 yards? You’ve a few yards leeway either side, so give yourself SOME credit. Aitchison later wins a mystifying MOTM decision, presumably based on his role in the 3rd….as he fails to hold a ball up and Connell’s subsequent throughball for Phillips splits the defence and allows Williams to run onto the return ball. The control and sidefoot…beautiful. A sweet, sweet move finished by a player with the utmost composure. Nevermind selling him to Preston, get him up top!

The other 71 minutes was disappointing comfortable. I’ll be generous. The game was won and we played within ourselves. Hopefully, conserving some of that energy and them there goals for another game. Cos the alternative was we failed to drive the nail into Stanley’s coffin and p***ed away our chance of improving our goal difference. Worse, in injury time, the ref gave the most bizarre penalty decision in a while, as Larkeche was barged over, their player went down with him…and the ref pointed to the spot. Ah, 3 nil, what does it matter? Well, it matters to US. A clean sheet, the goal difference….but to the ref, it’s just giving the little team a sop for getting to our box. How many penalties against us is that now this season?

Onwards and upwards!

*** Connell. Love the way he controls it, flicks it past 2 opposition players and breaks the line. Twice. Fast becoming my favourite Reds player.
** Norwood. Led the line superbly. Held it up, brought others into the game, scored.
* Williams. Love it when your wingback is furthest forward in open play (and scoring).

Official MOTM: Aitchison

Londontykes’ MOTM: 1= Norwood / Connell 3. Jordan Williams

Despatches:
Kane played very well, kept midfield ticking over. Aitchison was decent (but not decent enough to be MOTM) while Thomas had an outstanding game on debut in a back three with Kitching and Mads. Notable points about the performance for me was our ability to win every second ball, and Kitching and Thomas confidently bringing the ball out of defence. Collins had nought to do, save saving a penalty….which he didn’t. Let’s not beat about the bush…for all we’ve conceded, he hasn’t saved a penalty all season, has he? The latest one went straight through him.

I also note that in 2 games against Accrington, we have scored four goals, and conceded two – both extremely disputable penalties. I wouldn’t mind, but I’m still fuming at the one NOT given to us for a blatant foul on Cadden in the away game. If we got the rub of the green (and had a forward line) we’d be running away with this division. (Well, we’d be a place higher than we are now.)

Drink du jour: A lovely IPA in Spiral City. Mind, the small print decreed I couldn’t read it without my glasses on.

Away: 247

Today’s take home: Cole dropped. We score 3. Coincidence?

The Damage:
c.£30 travel (petrol)
£3.50 programme
= £33.50

The Tunes:
BBC 6Music (Radcliffe and Maconie / Huey Morgan)
BBC5Live
BBC 6Music (Craig Charles’ Funk and Soul Show)

BFC 2-0 Accrington Stanley, Saturday 9th March 2019

‘The last time we lost at home, gravity hadn’t been invented.’

The barriers lift at Jumble Lane

I’ve not got much time, apologies.  We rocked up to Barnsley, but no Nozzer.  He’d gone to Redfearns ‘to pick up my Donny match ticket’ AKA take advantage of the club’s £2 a pint pre-match offer.  A nice reciprocal touch, considering the hospitality offered at their place.  So we came out of the station to be met by a sign for a new bar, promising craft beer.  Why not!?  It may or may not have been called Roubelle’s, but I do know it had a welcoming owner, free peanuts (or ‘p1ssnuts’ as Slacki called them; I haven’t seen free peanuts on a bar since 1991.)  Oh, and popcorn, and summat else.  Bottomless tea too, for Mrs Reed (but that may have been a one-off to satiate the rest of us who were on the beer).  We also had a nice big roundtable for the 6 of us, which was nice.  And we could hear each other…cos we were the only ones in there.  So a distinct lack of atmosphere and a place I can’t see us returning to until it does.  But it won’t, cos people like us won’t return. 

Ahhhh, there she is.  

The match?  We controlled it from the outset, and Stanley struggled to get out of their own third as they foolishly (I thought) tried to play their way out instead of going for the hoof. Unfortunately, we appeared incapable of breaking through, missing someone who could unlock a defence (George Moncur, anyone?  Only kidding!)  That was till about the 41^st minute when Cauley put through a sublime throughball which Cavare, of all people, ran onto to sidefoot past the keeper.  

Arrive late.  Beat the queues.  

Then I went to the toilet and, while queuing for a tea (for someone else; I’m not one to stand in queues at football matches for myself) I heard a cheer.  Hurrah!  2-0.  Then word got round…Stanley had scored.  ‘That’s a lot of noise for 80 people’ said the bloke behind me.  Indeed.  Though that away end DOES have good acoustics.  Turned out it was true – Stanley HAD scored….in their own net, a defender bundling the ball across the line from Thiam’s cross, with Jordan Green somewhere in there making a nuisance of himself.

The Stanley hordes.

In fact, Green made a nuisance of himself throughout.  The new JCR?  (Will Stendel make him centre-mid?)  He’s definitely lightning over 10-20 yards, though anything further and someone with longer legs outpaces him.  And little did we know when he hit his 20 yarder off the post, but that would be the closest we’d come for the rest of the match.  I don’t know how many 3-on-2 breaks we wasted, but waste them we did.  This was  a real chance to claw back the goal difference on Luton and really, this game shoulda seen us score 5 or 6.  Instead, Stanley came closest, when their top scorer Kee, on as sub, found himself clean through and he blazed wide.  That would have been an interesting last 20.

Onwards and upwards!

*** Cavare.  Twitter MOTM. Go on then.  Got upfield, made some excellent runs (WITH the ball) and popped up to break the deadlock. 

** Green.  Excited me for the hour he was on. 

* Lindsay.  MOTM 1^st half, winning everything.

Londontykes’ MOTM: 1. Cavare  2. Mowatt  3. Lindsay

Spot the ball.

Despatches:
Davies was faultless…if we don’t include kicking the ball off the pitch.  Penniless was solid, though didn’t get up in attack as much as Cavare.  Can’t say I noticed Pinnock much, but when I noticed Dougall it was when he gave the ball away (several times).  Bring back McGeehan!  Mowatt was his usual tidy self (do I ever describe him otherwise?)  Thiam…did he flatter to deceive?  Got our hopes up once or twice when shooting…but they were tame efforts.  Bahre had some good touches and flittered around Cauley, who led the line superbly.  So much so I toyed with the idea of giving him MOTM…but for that, I’d have hoped for a notch or 2 against this bunch.

Drink du jour: Birra Moretti, Pilsner Urquell, JD and coke (for the train), Sierra Nevada

Away: 281

The Damage:
£23 train
£33 tracksuit top
= £56

The Tunes:
Supernature (Goldfrapp)
Hacienda Classical (Graeme Park, Mike Pickering, Peter Hook and Manchester Camerata)

East Stand panorama.

Half time Ponty pano (cheers Jonesy!)

Looking towards the away end.

Midfield action in front of the old Main Stand.

The Ponty v Stanley.