Peterborough United 0-4 BFC, Saturday 6th October 2018

‘Four Four Two and Pottsy on the wing’

Welcome to...(where?)

Wow!  We certainly spanked the monkey that is Peterboro yesterday.  From start to finish, we were utterly, utterly, superb.  So much so we even let Davies get in on the act by giving away a penalty, just so’s he had a save to make.  I cannot remember the last time I have seen a Barnsley side so dominant throughout a match (never?).  All orchestrated by new signing ‘George Moncur’.  Who is this fella?  Pulled all the strings in midfield, comfortable in possession, drove forward, lots of give-and-gos…and an end product to boot.  Indeed, he had one saved within 2 minutes, and a couple of mins after Peter Burrow’s penalty, he’d put us one up, being Johnny-on-the-spot to a loose ball in the box.  

The Main Event.

The pen?  Extraordinary and predictable at the same time.  We spend the opening 12 mins camped in their half, when one clearance later they’re clean through.  I thought Davies took the lad out, but the ref waved play on and another Posh player crashes into Cavare.  I’m not sure Cavare could get out of the way, but there were few complaints. Up stepped former Reds’ loanee Ivan Toney to sidefoot it low and Davies made the save.  I was side-on to the goal; the shot looked a bit soft and possibly not well placed.  Has Davies ever saved a pen? I’m sure someone knows…

We TRY to give P'boro a head start...

Once we were in front, we never, ever, looked like giving it away.  Moore had an effort superbly save before he limped off while his sub, Jacob Brown, far from proving an inadequate replacement, showed mobility and intelligence on his own up front. (I say on his own, he always had at least 3 attacking midfielders up there with him, nevermind the cavalry…sorry, Cavare.)

Mr P. Burrow (and carrot).

Then we went two up.  A free kick on the apex of the box was touched to Potts who lashed it into the far corner.  What a strike.  Then I (nearly) saw one of the strangest things I’ve ever seen at a football match, and if it had come off we’d have been the laughing stock of the country for a week. Over-celebrating, the players ran toward the bench.  Carelessly, everyone was in our half, while Posh got the ball straight back to the centre spot.  It was Lindsay who spotted it, and he screamed at our players to get off the pitch to prevent Posh taking the kick quickly.  If he hadn’t, Posh were ready to lob Davies, who was 25 yards out of his goal.  Anyway, danger over, we went in two-nil and looking and feeling very smug indeed.  Would there be a reaction from Peterboro?  Would we miss Kiefer?

The teams are out.

No and no.  Within a couple of minutes, a sweet, sweet, move had Cavare coming in on the overlap to meet a low cross.  All he had to do was keep it down.  He didn’t keep it down.  But no worries, the attacks continued and having tried to Arsenal it in several times (over elaborating on the passing front instead of just concentrating on scoring), Moncur plays in Potts who hits it low into the bottom corner from 20 yards.  The game is now officially over and there was still over half an hour to go.  And for most of that half an hour, it felt like the Super Reds were happy to knock it around, one-touch passes, and just rub Peterboro and Steve Evans’ noses in it.  Lots of cries of ‘Olé’ and ‘It’s just like watching Brazil.’  Indeed, the 3^rd and 4^th goals were serenaded with ‘Easy!  Easy!’  It was a great, great, day.

Spoilt for choice on a free kick.

And just to cap it off, we did get the 4^th goal our dominance deserved; Brown coming in from the right to strike home into the far corner 1^sttime, a 3^rd division version of that famous Carlos Alberto goal for Brazil in the 1970 World Cup Final, if you will.  If we play like this every week we will p*** this division.

*** Moncur.  Ran the match. 

** Potts.  The Barnsley Paul Scholes.

* Lindsay.  Solid at the back and great awareness.

Not many of 'em left at 0-4.

Despatches:
There wasn’t anybody who had a bad game.  Cavare was up and down that wing and took no prisoners.  Pinnock made one mistake and tracked back 40 yards to win it back.  Mowatt linked up well with Moncur, while Bahre was everywhere, not giving any of their players a rest. I’m a big fan. Dougall didn’t look like he had owt to do.  I can’t remember seeing him tackle anyone, so at least he didn’t get booked this week.  And I’m happy for Ben Williams, in at left back.  He looks a better prospect than Penniless or Fryers, so let’s see if Stendal gives him a chance next week.  He did lose possession once when he was too far up field, but we were 3 up at the time and cruising.  In fact, if I have a beef, it’s recognising these players. Potts, Bahre, Williams….Thiam.  All these blonds look the same to me.  

Another fabulous turnout of Reds fans, this week filling an allocation of 1,700. Mind, Posh had a few hundred empty seats behind the goal, so I don’t quite understand why they couldn’t sell those (apparently they’d offered us more tickets, but wanted full payment, whether we sold them or not. Idiocy.)

As for our promotion credentials, I don’t know if we’re amazing, or whether P’boro played into our hands. I suspect other teams won’t give us the space Posh gave us, and certainly at Oakwell, teams will pack their defences.  But away from home, where our opposition feel they have to come out and attack, we have the chance to murder teams.  The only question is how many points we’ll get: Jonesy has a tenner on with me that we’ll get more than 85 points.  Here’s hoping!

I couldn't be much further into this stand.

Drink du jour: I love Peterborough.  After a warmer-upper in the Wetherspoons (waiting for the pub on a boat to open) we hit Charters, where I enjoyed a cloudy lager called ‘Kellerbier’ from the local Nene Valley Brewery.  Very nice.  No Jaipur this year tho. Problies for the best.

Onwards and upwards!

Away: 1,700 (sold out)

The Damage:£19 train
£26 ent
£3 prog
= £48

The Tunes:
Slowdive (Slowdive)
Big Balloon (Dutch Uncles)

Abax Stadium panorama

1st view of..err...London Road.

Some brought their flags...

I'll have a 'P' please, Bob.

..while we didn't (sellout and all; where would we put it?  Doh.

How quaint; No advertising hoardings.

Full-time.

I remember when this end had character, ie, a terrace.

The London Road terrace.

Back to Charters for a celebratory drink.

A Peterborough rooftop statue hails the Super Reds.

Macclesfield Town 1-2 Lincoln City, Saturday 15th September 2018

Macclesfield Town 1-2 Lincoln City, League 2, att. 2589 (1000+ Lincoln) 

Welcome to ....

Here we go again.  Thanks to Macclesfield’s promotion from the National League (nee Vauxhall Conference) I’m back down to 90 of the 92.  Still, any excuse to miss the Super Reds’ visit to the Ricoh Arena.  Not only the most soul destroying of any trip to a football ground, but, as I discovered from our German coach, Barnsley hadn’t won in 95 years.  Why did I not know this fact?  (FYI, Barnsley lost 1-0; I didn’t miss much.)

The teams (and lion) meet and greet.

So, a trip to the Cheshire stockbroker belt and a meet up with 3 other Londontykes (2 who’ve moved back up north), who’d also resisted the allure of Coventry’s suburbs.  Super!  I met The Captain off the train and we pootled up the hill to the chippy before strolling through Macc towards the ground, via a couple of pubs.  

A quaint wooden gate onto the pitch.

The first, the Silk Trader, looked tremendous, with a selection of ale to boot.  But there was nobody in it, so after a pint we walked on to the Railway View.   The landlord was a character, there were a few people in, but the beer choice was poor to say the least.  By now our 2 mates had rocked in, having parked their jalopy.  We spared them a pint and headed to the ground.

The view towards the exec boxes/social club.

Rather marvellously, Macc’s social club allowed anyone in, as long as they had a match ticket.  We purchased ours and headed to the bar.  Beers quaffed overlooking the pitch on a fine Cheshire day.  What wasn’t to like?  But we’re not exec types, so we went outside, walked through the stand seats and took a pew on the terrace behind the goal, with the hardcore.  Well, you can’t beat a bit of ‘Maccy Maccy Maccy Maccy Macclesfield.’  Bizarrely, there were a few rows of seats in front of us.  Had they been rammed in just so’s the club had enough seats for the football league?  I can’t be bothered to find out.

A (not so?) random bunch of seats on a terrace.

Moss Rose itself is a very tidy stadium.  The away end is an open terrace behind the other goal, but a small Main Stand, straddling the halfway line, has a paddock in front, running the length of the pitch.  The (real) main stand, the one with the exec facilities, is a pitch-length cantilever with exec boxes at the back, leaving the aforementioned home end, complete with roof.

The mascot chats to a fan.  

Today’s visitors were league leaders Lincoln City, backed by an excellent following.  Although they’ve spent big, they’ve spent wisely (Shackell, Akinde) and look good value for promotion this season.  They absolutely battered Macclesfield, who were kept in it only by a superb performance from the goalkeeper, Kieran O’Hara.  Turns out he’s on loan from Man U.  I’ll say this – he’ll be playing higher up than Macclesfield next season.

Lincoln attack their end.

O’Hara had already made several fine saves before Lincoln went one up after 21 mins, a drive from inside the area.  Save after save followed, before, in the 83^rd minute, Macc shocked the visitors, equalising when a long cross to the backpost was hooked back across goal.  Surely Macc couldn’t nick a point?

The Main Stand.

No, they couldn’t.  O’Hara tipped one over the bar, just as he was named MOTM but he couldn’t get on the end of the resultant corner and Shackell drove home through a crowd of players.  Nothing less than Lincoln deserved, but you had to feel sorry for the keeper.  It’s going to be a long season for Macclesfield.

Indeed.  This IS Macclesfield...

The Captain had a train to catch and dashed off, while Molly and Wadd jumped in the car.  However, I had an hour to kill and found a super little craft beer place in Macc town centre, the Red Willow.  Pub of the day.  I really enjoyed my trip out today.  Is it too much to hope Barnsley play here soon?  (Be careful what you wish for…)

Come on you Silkmen!

The Damage:

£15 ent
£3 prog

= £15

The Tunes:

Thirst For Romance (Cherry Ghost)
Slowdive (Slowdive)
React Test 1 (Various)
Abbey Road (The Beatles)
Pentamerous Metamorphosis (Global Communication)

Moss Rose panorama

1st view of ground

A mosaic outside the ground.

Looking towards the home end from the social club.

The players warm up.

The view from behind the goal.

Back of the home end.

Loud and proud!

Those were the days...last season, in fact.

BFC 1-1 Walsall, Saturday 8th September 2018

‘I’ll get mi’ lube’

Welcome to ...

We have nothing to fear except fear itself.  Well, that and complacency.  For a second game in a row what I witness is a Barnsley side completely outplaying the opposition, finding it oh so easy…missing chance after chance…and allowing inferior opponents to get back into the game.  OK, Walsall were a lot better than Gillingham, and actually did come away with the draw (we could have done with them equalising sooner), but we only have ourselves to blame…

Drab. (The fans' outfits, not the town, obvs.)

Who missed what? Well, little happened in the 1^st half, so all of these were in the 2^nd, as we kicked towards the Ponty; Moore flicked a header wide from a superb Penniless cross; Thiam cleared the bar as the ball rolled nicely to him; Moncur f***ed up a 2 on 1 as his cross couldn’t have been worse (overhit for a goalkick); Victor had a one-on-one saved (the move of the match, from one end to the other, involving 4 or 5 players and quick, one-touch passes) while Moncur had a late one scrambled around the post by the keeper.  We should’ve been out of sight (again).

I'm sure this floodlight used to be INSIDE the ground...

Having said all that, Walsall missed the best 2 chances of the game, both from poorly defended corners.  Early in the second half, as a clearance was returned into our box, the defenders were too late in coming out and left their player to flick a ball over the bar from 3 yards out.  Proving this was no fluke, a minute before they equalised, an identikit move leaves 4 (4!) of their players 6 yards out and their player controls it, turns, and somehow drags it wide.  The gods are with us. We have this game won.  But as I said, complacency comes on (centre midfield), Walsall attack and they always, always, had an extra man in our box and a 10 yarder is drilled through the legs of both defender and keeper. 

The Walsall massive.

As Slacki said, it felt more like a defeat, conceding in the 87^th minute.  But we showed what we’re about, we continue to create (shame we didn’t use the 6 foot 8 bloke up front tho) and we remain unbeaten.  Given Walsall’s also unbeaten start, they’re no mugs, so maybe we need to look at it as an an extra point towards promotion?

Oh yeah, I forgot, we scored.  Victor had a shot, the keeper saved it, it hit a defender and bobbled in.  The gods are with us.  We’re gonna win this game etc.

*** Bahre.  This lad looks class.  I like him already (though since I thought his name was Ibehre, I expected Jabo’s younger brother.  He doesn’t look like Jabo’s younger brother…)  Confident on the ball, drives forward.  Tired a little towards the end, but what do you expect in his 1^st game?  Perhaps we can also buy him a shirt wot fits.

** Moore.  Perhaps a controversial choice.  Moore won everything, held balls up, brought others into play…but couldn’t get on the end of anything cos apart from that Penniless cross, the balls to him were utterly, utterly appalling, usually not beating the 1^st man. 

* Victor.  Came on for McGeehan and caused mayhem up front.  He certainly seems to have the knack of being in the right place at the right time.

Twitter MOTM: Penniless.  
Londontykes MOTM: TBA (when I get round to reading my e-mails).

The teams come out.

Despatches:
‘Who do you hate this season, Al?’ asked Nozzer as we waited for our Gala Bingo taxi.  ‘F***ing Thiam’ I returned.  Too fast for the fullback, too strong, too skilful…but simply cannot get the message from brain to feet in enough time to know what to do with the ball.  Nevermind his inability to cross a ball.  Allegedly scored 2 v Oxford the other week, crackers an’ all.  All I’ve seen is 20-30 failures and a penalty at Millwall.  If anyone here can tell me he’s a better winger than Adam Hammill…I…I…I’d be speechless.  McGeehan more than matched the ineptitude, being dragged off at half time after a couple of loose passes in midfield. How many more failures will he be allowed?  Pinnock made a couple of mistakes (complacency: thinking he’s as good as we think he is) while my favourite Lindsay moment involved him holding onto the ball too long in his own area and being forced to rush a clearance, which he underhit straight to them.  What does everyone see in him that Wadd and I don’t?  (Christ, me and Wadd agreeing on a player!?)  On the plus side, I thought the centre halves protected Walton well…but those Walsall chances from corners stick in the craw.  Walton did make one great save, tipping over a close range header in the 1^st half. I’d nearly forgotten about that.  Penniless looked solid for the most part but got stripped in the 1^st half, while Cavare looked defensively sound, but couldn’t cross a ball over 6 feet high.  Mowatt and Moncurhad their moments, though never really created owt.  Fair play to Stendal though, making another adventurous sub and changing the formation.    

Drink du jour: Arcade Alehouse this week, and I made the mistake of having a Durham Pale Ale.  Horrid.  Back on the Staropramen.  Later, vodka and orange or G&T.  I learnt yesterday the difference between London gin and non-London gin.  I have since forgotten.  

Onwards and upwards!

Away: 400.  Well, that’s what the tannoy said.  No-one on the train thought it was anything like that.

The Damage:£30 train
= £30

The Tunes:
Key Markets (Sleaford Mods)
Achtung Bono! (Half Man Half Biscuit)

The teams break out before KO.

More drabbidity behind the East Stand.

Tickets Only.  Disappointed hordes turned away.

A 2nd half downpour.

The #23 has a rest. Time was when I recognised a player by his number...