Charlton Athletic 1-0 BFC, Tuesday 4th March 2025

‘Christopher, you need to up your game.’

I heard we played at Charlton the other nite. I think I was there, but I don’t remember much of it. I remember having 3 delicious pints in SALT, pre-match. I remember a decent turnout, which included Lord S’s cousin, and Wadd’s old nurse mate Olly. I remember staying up till 2am with Nice Guy Chris. (Drink was taken.) The match? Barely anything happened, did it?

Granted, we lost. In a sh*t or bust game, the Super Reds passion for victory barely registered. Did we have an attack? Connell had a 20 yarder wot skewed wide, but otherwise...? Chorlton didn’t have much either, though they did force Smith into a couple of good diving saves. Sadly, he’d already conceded a soft effort, a free kick wot seemed to squirm through him. I can see why he’s been rejected for, variously, Slonina, Kilip and Gauci. What I can’t see is why we paid a reputed £200k for him. Did Chorlton hit the post as well? I have a vague recollection.

Truth be told, I didn’t see much of the game, spending most of it turning around to chat rubbish. Problem was, whenever I faced the pitch, nothing happened. Indeed, we were 68 minutes in before I realised (actually, before someone pointed it out) that we’d made a bunch of subs. It didn’t matter (the subs, I mean) as the game limped to a conclusion in the same way it had limped throughout.

So there it is, the season ending with a whimper, not a bang. We shuffled out with much the same apathy as the players.

Onwards and upwards!

*** No-one. An early dribble from DKD, a shot (wide) from Connell? It’s not good enough.
** No-one. Him again.
* No-one. The hattrick!

Londontykes’ MOTM: 1. Roberts 2. DKD 3= Connell

Despatches:
We peaked early with that SALT place in Deptford. Perfect. I’m looking forward to Chorlton away next season already (tho Jude tells me we’re now 6 from 6...6 defeats in a row). I hadn’t realised our Valley form, such as it ever was, has completely dropped off a cliff.

XG? 0.74 v 0.38. Sounds like I didn’t miss much.

Drink du jour: SALT Huck A Back NEIPA. Beautiful. Then Chris’s red wine stash.

Away: c.300

The Damage:
£50.10 train
£25 ent
= £75.10

BFC 2-2 Charlton Athletic, Tuesday 22nd October 2024

‘He’s been known to eat s***. Not tonite though.’

Never leave early. Never. It’s injury time, Charlton have taken the lead due to a(another) catastrophic goalkeeping error from Slonina and the fans are flooding out. The rest are only staying to boo the team off. Fortress Oakwell has been breached once again and it’s doom and gloom. From being one-nil up, in control and missing chances, we are now staring down the barrel of a home defeat. Good old Barnsley. Worse, we’ve used all our subs and can’t even bring Pines on to cause mayhem. Who ya gonna call...Ghostbusters Max Watters! (There is DEFINITELY something strange in the neighbourhood if you’re having to rely on Max Watters.)

Anyway, there’s maybe a minute left of injury time and Slonina hoofs one up, Cosgrove gets the flick on and there’s Max to the max, sweeping it home as defenders run hither and thither. YOU REDS! Great finish, and a welcome antidote to all this tiki taka football that’s all the rage these days. Just get the big men on! Launch it! Cause chaos! Hit the target! Score a goal! I wept a small tear for Big Val. We could have 90 minutes of this, if only we’d contemplate bringing him back (please no).

But how did we get into this mess? Whilst not being great, it was certainly one of our better performances this season. Gent had a scorcher tipped over. Humphreys had an effort saved. Russell cannoned a snapshot off the bar from 10 yards and a couple of minutes later was denied by an unbelievable goalline clearance. Then Charlton brought on Luke ‘does nothing everywhere’ Berry. Can you believe it’s 10 years since he signed for us? The only player I’ve ever known purely for the way he’d flick his hair midgame EVERY time he stopped. And every time he didn’t. (Cos, to be fair, he ran about a lot.)

15 minutes later, Chorlton equalise. Craig appears to be having his own keepy-up tournament on the edge of our box, before the ball falls to Berry to lash in on the volley. How many chances did we have to clear this? I lost count. I’ve seen it again on telly and it’s painful. DKD, Russell, Craig (but mainly Craig)...all p***ing about instead of simply CLEARING THE BALL. Another most excellent substitution of our own from Coach Clarke, who’d brought on Craig for Yoganathan just after Berry came on. Please tell me he sent on Craig to nullify Berry.

Then, in the 3rd minute of 5 minutes injury time, Chorlton deliver a hopeful cross from their right. It’s hanging in the air long enough for Slonina to be tempted. After the debacle the other week (when he didn’t jump and a forward nicked in ahead of him) he simply has to take this. Indeed, he crashes through 2 Reds defenders to make it his…and punches it meekly downward to the edge of the box where Berry returns it first time back over his head. He looks quality this Berry bloke. Sorry, we’re making this Berry bloke look quality. How the hell is it possible to concede a goal from a cross that’s only heading towards your goalkeeper and two centre halves? Indeed, Roberts tries ducking out of the way, presumably having got the call from Slonina. Slow Nina. Christ on a bike, there can’t be another team in the WORLD concedes this goal. I am more than slightly narked.

Still, well done to the Super Reds for picking themselves up and having the temerity to grab that equaliser. A draw was the least we deserved. As well as the most. You simply can’t concede the goals we do. You can’t. Our home record is now an underwhelming one win in 6 games...against Mansfield Town, Bristol Rovers, Northampton Town, Wycombe Wanderers, Charlton Athletic and someone I’ve completely forgotten about. Exactly.

Onwards and upwards!

*** Humphreys. Dazzled up top, wide. Beat as many players in one game as the rest (minus Cotter) have all season.
** Russell. Strode forward like a colossus and unlucky not to bag 2.
* Watters. When the going gets tough...well, anyway, when the away side retreat and panic...who ya gonna call!?

Official MOTM: Humphreys

Londontykes’ MOTM: 1. Humphreys 2. Russell 3. Gent

Despatches:
Well done to the club for giving ST holders the chance to drag 2 mates to the game for free. Unfortunately, everyone I spoke to knew of no-one they could even GIVE a free ticket to. Well, no-one who wanted to come. Last nite’s made-up crowd figure was 12,441, and it’s true, there were queues pre-match, but rumours were this was for the free teas and coffees. (I hope the away fans were offered same.) The fanzone was open too, and we arrived to see some poor lady belting out that terrible Cranberries song to nobody. Darrell neatly summed up the offer of half price beer at the ground...’s*** beer at half-price will still be s*** beer.’ Still, the club tried. They are the Luke Berry of administrators.

I’d been hoping a slightly busier than usual midweek crowd might make for an atmosphere and it only dawned on me when I heard someone bleating on about it at half-time that I’d not noticed the (lack of) atmosphere, cos it was THAT quiet. Probably not helped by Chorlton not making a sound either. Still, one peep from the Ponty in the second half and THAT warning about racist, homophobic...blah blah...came on the PA. I’d not heard owt of this nature, but I can bl**dy hear that PA telling people to shut up or they’ll be barred (after copious use of CCTV).

The players? The coach? Why is POTY Cotter on the bench again? If he’s not fit enough to start, get him rested till he is. Don’t dangle him the ‘carrot’ of the bench. As it was, I thought O’Keefe did ok. Gent was also better than usual. The 3 centre halves, Earl, Roberts and MdG had an easy time of it, I thought. Till Berry came on and upset the rhythm. I’m not sure what to make of Yoganathan, other than he can’t be a footballer with that build. He has some nice touches, but he’s too skinny and too slow. But apart from that...Connell was hauled to make way for The Saviour (Watters) which shows you the level he’s punting at these days. However, I thought he played better in a deeper role, with Russell played further forward. DKD flitted around, and at least showed the sniffer instinct lacking in our actual centre forwards, when he bagged the rebound.

Drink du jour: Siren ‘Dogs in the Moonlight’ hazy pale ale in Heaven and Ale. Bootiful.

Away: 472. Looked half that. In terms of making noise, as bad as us.

The Damage:
c.£8 petrol
= c.£8

BFC 1-1 Charlton Athletic, Saturday 16th December 2023

‘Smell these fingers.’

I’m back in my home town. ‘Why’d you move?’ asks my electrician. ‘Cos I wanna live somehow nice.’ Maybe I’m doing Ferryhill a disservice. I’m convinced nothing (legal) happens in this town and I’m out for a quiet beer with a couple of mates on a Monday nite. It takes us 4 watering holes. ‘The club’ has bingo on, in what used to be the men’s bar, before we became enlightened enough to let wimmen do something more than serve us beer or collect our glasses* (Actually, this used to be the safest place in town, as no-one wanted to lose their clubcard – WMC, not Tesco – by having a fight, and nor were there any females to fight over, or try to impress by punching someone.) Tonite it’s bingo. There might be as many as 20 of them, when it used to be a fullhouse (pun intended) in the concert hall (capacity: 600). Tetley’s Imperial, John Smiths, San Miguel...we have our pints and move on, no loss.

*to be more precise, before Covid hit, there was a cost of living crisis, no-one could afford to go out, and they closed all the other rooms to save on electricity.

The Greyhound has Staropramen...I forget what my mates have. But the sparsely attended karaoke is far too loud. Do we go Dean and Chapter (nee Black Bull), a place I once saw a couple of travellers have a go at an indoor punchball machine before one of them lamped an innocent 6”4’ bloke over a railing outside? Or the White Horse, a place I’ve been to twice and been lucky to finish my (one) beer before leaving? Let’s go Dean and Chapter (named after the local pit the painter Norman Cornish worked at, culture vultures). Back to San Miguel...and MORE karaoke, with an infusion of Play Your Cards Right (no dollies). No idea of the purpose or prize (if there was one) but the bar staff came out to watch. Did I say not much goes on here? We dared ourselves to go to the White Horse. James had a fag outside, while Joe and I stood at the bar and waited...and waited. The barman didn’t move, sat on his stool staring at us menacingly. It was like An American Werewolf in London, without the customers. In fact, his one customer broke the ice by offering us a try of his John Smiths as we pondered what to have (Cruzcampo for me, not Guinness for the other 2, as 'delivery wouldn’t be for a few days.’)

Where was I? Oh, yeah, we played Chorlton, Satdy. Comprehensively outplayed 1st half, we lead one-nil. Outplay them 2nd, lose a cheap goal. One-all, fair result, but I turn to manager Collins who tells me we could have scored more goals and got more points than we did. Yes, Neill, and we could have conceded more and got FEWER points. I’m starting to really enjoy his post match interviews. The words suggest some kind of Boris Johnson style boosterism. The tone suggests Leonard Cohen at his grandma’s funeral (having had his house burn down the day before).

My abiding memory of that first half is how easily the Addicks (as no-one calls them, but I’m sure my 84-85 Rothmans Yearbook said that was their nickname) ran rings around us. All they had to do was give and go. A 1-2 left our men for dead. (Yes, MEN, for while one of our players had the job of blocking the guy with the ball, the other guy’s job was to WATCH the opposition player next to him run on to the return ball. This happened time and time again, and again. De Givigny, Jordan Williams, McCart, O’Keefe...they all did it. Thankfully, Collins had a word at half-time. So I only spotted Phillips standing and staring as his markee (is that what you call someone you’re meant to mark?) disappears into the distance, or ‘free down the left’ as it’s known, following another 1-2. Listen lads, if a 1-2 bamboozles the opposition so easily, why don’t WE try it!? Appalling.

So we go one up. The ball breaks in midfield and Phillips pops a delicious ball into space down our left. Kane is onto it like a flash. Sorry, Kane chases it down, as only a man who looks 40 can. He manages to stop it crossing the line, but as the defender lets it slide out for a goalkick, Herbie has a second bite at the cherry and keeps it in*, before advancing to the box and pulling it back for Phillips to strike into the top corner. The most bizarre goal we’ve scored since the last home game.

*I honestly believe the officials got this right, tho it was pure guesswork as the linesman was on the wrong side. If you remember that goal Japan scored v Germany in the World Cup, the part of the ball touching the ground was past the line...as this was...but part of the ball...did you know balls were spherical?...was definitely ON the line. I know this cos I was 50 yards away.

Anyway, we’ve dodged a bullet. And we come out the second half looking lean, mean, and desperate to look a gift horse in the mouth. For Charlton, 1st half, read us, 2nd. How many promising moves can we mess up? What is the POINT of a cross if there’s no-one to cross TO? Is a cross still a cross if there’s no-one there? O’Keefe delivers the ball of the match to the back post for McAtee to fail to get to it by centimetres. But I’m more concerned with everyone’s darling Cole, who barely moves, and blatantly makes no effort. (Check out the highlights on youtube if you think I’m being harsh.) First half, Phillips delivers that ball only he can do, a first-time effort straight across the ‘corridor of uncertainty’. Why do our forwards (today, Matthew, it’s CAC, Cole and Cosgrove) not expect the ball to go EXACTLY where our creative player is aiming for? Why are they hiding behind defenders or not busting a gut to hit the space where the ball is going to go (if he gets it right)? Why are we not going to make the play-offs this season? Do our forwards have NO faith in where our wingbacks and Phillips will hit a ball? Even so, are they under instruction from our manager? ‘The ball will go out wide and our player will hit it straight back, right across goal, just in front of the 6 yard area. Whatever you do, DON’T make a move. Let their defence panic and be unable to deal with it. Always worked when I was at school.’ I dunno. It’s one of those where I’ve gone past being angry about it (a la Dire being offside). I can but laugh and celebrate it now. Lineker would’ve scored 50 goals this season by now, Super Sammy Winnall, 30. The service is NOT the problem.

Then they score. The danger has passed, we’d won it back, and Jordan (I think) attempts to play it out. It’s probably worked 20 times this match. But the passee (?) has moved at the wrong time, they pick it up, drive through us...and I can only describe the cut inside past the entire defence to whack it in from close range as ‘easy’ and ‘predictable’. And I’ll add ‘deserved’, based on the first half. The game peters out, despite the forward line being replaced by another one. Is it home time yet?

Onwards and upwards!

*** Connell. Like The Beatles, ‘I have to admit it’s (Connell) getting better, a little better all the time.’
** Dodgson. Best game so far, good movement, good crossing, not beaten easily.
* McAtee. The damage this guy could do if he played with better players…his movement is second to none (at Oakwell).

Official MOTM: Connell, I think.

Londontykes’ MOTM: 1. Connell 2. Phillips 3. Kane

Despatches:
It was good to see Phillips back. (I mean it.) As well as the aforementioned goal and cross, Phillips Bingo was complete with the shot wide of target that he should have done better with...while completely ignoring an overlapping O’Keefe in acres of space. De Givigny had his worst game since his debut (ok, I didn’t see Horsham at home), while McCart looked dicey. Extra marks for Jordan Williams for shouting at De Givigny. Saved me doing it. I also thought one half of CAC didn’t do badly, first half...but was soon shot down by Reedy, Slacki, et al at half-time. Suffice to say Cosgrove looks more mobile than Watters, and I could swear he DID win some headers, tho I’m told otherwise. Excellent knockdown for Phillips to pass to Kane to Phillips to score. Jalo came on. Did what I fear he’ll do forever, run into trouble and constantly lose the ball to the big boys. Bullies. Cole? He’s into double figures, so we can’t call his performances ‘garbage’ anymore, just ‘quiet’. Anyway, after a silent opening half, he got hauled just as he was getting into the game. Oh, and it was great to see Roberts back in goal. He really is excellent. If we keep hold of him in January, we can still finish top half. (Don’t ever say I’m not one to make bold statements.)

Drink du jour: Jaipur in Spiral City, and...what was it? Flok hazy pale ale? That was very nice.

Away: 644. ‘We’re the Charlton boys making all the noise.’ Yes. Yes, they were. For 30 seconds in the 71st minute. Worst away ‘support’ this season. (Jonesy’s PE dept can stick that in their pipe and smoke it.) Not even a ‘Barnsley’s a s*thole, I wanna go home.’

The Damage:
c.£8 petrol
= c.£8

Charlton Athletic 2-0 BFC, Saturday 14th January 2023

‘We were alright…till kick-off.’

After a day of drinking…and 2 days of recovering, I can finally face putting fingers to keyboard. £7.20. Seven pounds twenty pence. The cost of my first beer in that there capital city in nearly 3 years. Yes, I understand there’s a crisis in the hospitality industry (cos Loko keeps telling me so) but I didn’t realise I had to solve it single-handedly. Seven hundred and twenty pence. For a beer. And even then I/we get criticised for not having the ‘sense’ to open a tab and wait for our Brewdog Knight in Shining Armour to get us our 25% off. But we did get a bowling alley to amuse ourselves, interrupt conversations and get us mingling. And I don’t mind admitting….Mummy Brewdog (Alison) won. All hail the champ!

In defence of Brewdog, and it’s Palace of Waterloo (it’s biggest yet), beers in London Bridge later were seven quid a pop too. God, I’ve missed London. Reassuringly expensive, as Stella Artois used to claim. And if you drink enough, you can forget all about the latest Reds’ effort….running the show against Chorlton (23 shots to 8) and somehow succumbing 0-2. But if you can’t shoot…of these 23 efforts we had TWO on target. 2 out of 23. That’s less than 1 in 10, less than 10%. These are professional footballers. Not only are they the cream of the crop, they also get to practice 5 days a week. Talent, practice…and a woeful inability to kick a ball at a target 24ft x 8ft, or approximately the size of a barn door.

Mind, I don’t remember too many out and out chances. The one I DO remember, which still annoys the hell out of me, was Cadden hitting the bar with a free header just before half-time. He must have had a clear view of the ball for 30 yards, yet still couldn’t head it on target from about 6 yards. Benson hit the bar too, from outside the box. The rest of our efforts appeared to be players lacking sense and skill, leaning backwards attempting 20 yard half volleys. No-one in particular either, I think they all took a turn finding the crowd. Oh, I nearly forgot. One sweet one touch move ended with a side-footed effort into the bottom corner of….Cole. Possibly the only time he had the ball in their box, given his propensity to be invisible. Cheers, Devante.

Otherwise, we played some super stuff, pass and moves leaving Chorlton stranded as we continually found space out wide for balls to be pulled back…to their centre halves. Time and time again. Given the practice we must have put in for the original move, it seems a little remiss that Cole, or Norwood, or anyone else purporting to be a forward, can’t run into the pre-ordained space to slot it home. That’s what Man City do. Our forwards? Too busy hiding behind defenders, or standing in areas the ball will never reach. Just MAKE A F***ING RUN to the near post, will you!? We have carved them open AGAIN and yet we have NO-ONE in space. Or, if they are in space, it’s somewhere the other side of the box. Never did we look like scoring.

I think they scored with their first attack. Mads backed off and their player got his head down and drove it in at Collins’ near post. In Mads’ defence, I think he was trying to cover the pass (they were 3 on 2), while Collins was expecting the usual shot to the far post. But my main thought was ‘why doesn’t Cole do that? Why doesn’t Cole just run at the defender and get a shot off?. Cos it looks easy to me…if you’ve got pace, and can control a ball, while running. Oh.’ Their second, on the hour, we seemed to switch off. Their forward turned, shot, and we stood still as it hit the post…and ran across goal for a tap-in. OK, they got lucky, it dropped nice….while every bobble in their box went to their centre halves….but we can’t keep blaming bad luck. We have forwards who have no idea what anticipation is. Thus, all our lovely work outside the box goes to waste.

Onwards and upwards!

Top 3: Honestly, I couldn’t choose any. Not cos we were rubbish, just that so many were involved in our intricate passing moves. But I can’t give it to the defence…nothing to do and conceded two (I’m a poet and I don’t know it) while the forwards had plenty of ball in their box to feast on, and feast on they didn’t. Which probably leaves Kane (who got hauled on 64), Connell (who I didn’t think reached the heights of late) and Phillips (who someone had a right rant at me about how s*** he is….but I can’t remember who was doing the ranting….Loko? Anyway, suffice to say, I still haven’t seen our 2nd top scorer score.) We are still in a good place positionally, comfortably ensconced in the play-offs, but it’ll not last forever. Not at this rate: 3 games played in 2023, 3 defeats, zero goals, 8 conceded.

Londontykes’ MOTM: 1. Kitching 2. Jordan Williams 3. Kane

Despatches:
It was good to see Lord S, back from the almost dead, joining us pre-match. Hopefully, he’ll be back at the match soon. Pompey Ian graced us with his presence too, as Havant and Waterlooville’s game at Farnborough was called off. Stu was up from Witney, while all the usual faces were there. Shout out to A. Reed and his hotel, comfy bed, free beers and a literal punk alarm call. It’s never too early to hear the Slaughtered Dogs, or whatever band I’ve never heard of. Dunno what time we got to bed, but I know I crawled out of Andy’s at 9am to get home at….5pm. Trains are not stopping in Durham (or Darlo) for 3 months at weekends, so I had to go to Newcastle, get a rail replacement bus to Durham…then bus to Ferryhill. ‘Up to one every 20 minutes’ the bus proclaims. Yeah – during the week. Sunday, it’s one an hour. And the next one is 55 minutes time. Welcome to the countryside.

Drink du jour: Hazy Jane, Lost in Guava, Leffe, Beavertown Neck Oil

Away: Just over 1,000.

Today’s take home: If you can’t shoot, you can’t score.

The Damage:
£63 travel
£23 ent
£3.50 programme
= £89.50

The Tunes:
London. People. Cars. Police sirens. The screeching of trains. Passenger service announcements. Moaning Barnsley fans. The hum of a busy pub.

BFC 3-1 Charlton Athletic, Saturday 24th September 2022

‘You still look the same!’

Is it just me enjoying the football much more this season? There’s a lot to be said for being relegated. For a start, you don’t even have to play particularly well to win in the Ale House League. Yes, we showed tremendous potential going forward, yes, we scored three cracking goals…but we also conceded numerous half chances and I don’t know how many shots they had from inside our box. I don’t think I’ve seen a side blaze the ball into the stands quite as much as Chorlton, nor seen a side caught offside as much since Barnsley c.1998-2003.

That said, what an adventurous set up. Kane as holding midfielder. Benson for Beds as a #10 (well, he IS #10!). TWO centre forwards (Cole and Norwood). Luke Thomas floating around. I guess you have to expect the opposition to find gaps with this, nevermind a couple of wingbacks pushing up too. Which left some defending for the 3 centre halves, but they stepped up. Another week, we concede 3 or 4, but we found fortune, looked to score….and got men forward, often 4 or 5 in the box at a time.

Our 3 goals are amongst the best I’ve seen by the Reds in the same match. We went ahead early, 10 mins in, when Benson for Beds unleashed an absolute corker into the top corner from 25 yards. From the moment it was hit, it stayed hit, and flew past a bemused keeper. I loved the keeper’s reaction, screaming at his outfield players for….for what? Whothehell expects Benson to score from THERE? The 2nd, a cheeky finish by Norwood after half time, as Cole breaks free in the box on the right and pulls it back for Norwood to flick it behind his left leg with his right foot. Class. Who is this Norwood? Where’s the bloke struggling to get into a game, never having a sniff? Then the 3rd, a sublime throughball from Kane for Jordan Williams to run on to. (About time we used Jordan’s pace.) He beats 2 Chorlton defenders and lays it on a plate for Cole to sidefoot a deserved finish. The Ponty even breaks out into a chant for our new hero.

As ever, it’s very disappointing to win without breaking sweat, so it came as some relief that we finally allowed Chorlton to score. The defence switches off as a backpost knockdown is rammed in. A look at the stats says this is their only effort on target out of 12. I said they were profligate. 6 mins left, plus injury time….can we throw it away? Can we? No.

Onwards and upwards!

*** Benson for Beds. Vision, skill and a great goal.
** Kane. Vision, skill and a great throughball. The new Mowatt. (Kane can’t tackle either and can be left behind by marauding opposition.)
* Cole. Led the line well and bagged another. Bl**dy hell!

Official MOTM: Benson for Beds.

Londontykes’ MOTM: TBA

Despatches:
Blimey, 6 goals in 2 games. 5 games unbeaten (I’m told). 5th in the table (I’m told). Life is a bed of roses once again (thorny? prickly? Who makes up these analogies?). We are WALTZING through this league, like the Harlem Globetrotters, all one touch moves with Benson providing additional tricks and flicks.

I’m also learning some of our players’ names and I have to say I was impressed (1st half) with new guy Edwards at left centre half. He made some great tackles and one block in particular stopped a certain goal. Plus, being from Stoke City, he can throw a ball. Cadden impressed in spurts too, and with 65 minutes completed, I reckon we’ll see a full 90 out of him by March. For all the attacking prowess, Thomas was quiet, but Chorlton kept showing him onto his right foot, which really wasn’t fair. Norwood, like Cadden, still fails to last, but if I had his girth, neither would I. He’s by far our most cunning player, or ‘master of the dark arts’ as Oakwell historian Woody described him. I also liked the look of Larkeche, who came on for Cadden. He of the worldy free kick fame against the Mags under 21s in midweek. Likes to put in a challenge too. What with Kitching as well (suspended) we suddenly look very strong in the left wing back position. Jordan Williams meantime looks as comfortable as ever down the right, despite an early stumble nearly letting Chorlton in (skied into crowd: see earlier). Yes, things are looking up, as long as the opposition fail to take their chances (Cambridge, Chorlton).

For those who remember the old club shop on Grove Street, I also bumped into Roger and Shirley post-match, a sprightly 84 and 77 respectively. In the good old days, if Barnsley’s away opponents didn’t send any programmes, they’d get on the blower to hassle them. That went with them. Like terracing, the old social club and p***ing against the boundary wall behind the Brewery Stand….club shop staff with a personal touch are one of many things I miss these days. (Still, at least we’re back where I started…division 3!)

Drink du jour: Brewdog Planet Pale Ale.

Away: 588. ‘Is this a library?’ No. There’s no books at Oakwell.

Today’s take home: Piece of p*** this league.

The Damage:
c.£32 travel
= £32

The Tunes:
BB6 Music (Huey Morgan / Craig Charles’ Funk and Soul Show)
Fat of the Land (Prodigy)
Strange Cargo Hinterland (William Orbit)