Huddersfield Town 2-0 BFC, Tuesday 8th October 2024

‘Get it forrad!’

I walked to last nite’s match. Can’t remember the last time I walked to a game from home. Even when I lived in Peckham, I’d cycle to Dulwich Hamlet. I guess it would have been c.1994, Arsenal v Auxerre. Stood in the all-seater Clock End, rain pouring down, with my half-Dutch mate attending his first game in England. A man rolling his programme up and p***ing through it onto the terrace. Still the only time I’ve ever seen that.

Where was I? Oh yes. A lovely walk along the canal towpath down the Colne Valley. Well, up until the bit that’s closed for repairs that are not forthcoming, about half a mile from the town centre. Broken Britain (cont.). On my lonesome, the world my oyster, so pre-match drinks in Brewdog and Parish, where a couple on the table next to me discussed their impending affair. Her: 30s, pigtails. Tidy. Him: late 40s, not discernibly handsome, receding hairline, peach or pink trousers, jacket, no charisma. Obviously some work power dynamic going on, but, really, this woman must be desperate. ‘Tell them it never ends well’ texted A. Divorced Londontyke. But marriage never ends well, does it? Divorce or death, it’s one of the two.

Where was I (part II)? Oh yes, I’m off to see Barnsley reserves in the lower division trophy, whatever it’s called this week. Do you remember when it first came out? The Freight Rover Trophy. Now it’s the Bristol Street Motors Trophy, via Papa Johns (I believe they do pizzas), The John Stones Trophy (aptly won by us) and Lord knows what else. Yes, I’ve seen the team. 9 changes from Satdy, 10 if you count Humphreys given a trot out in his preferred position up front. Personally, without a game this Satdy (international call-ups for Reading remember), I’d have forced the 11 who failed on Satdy to play, see if they could beat a mostly Terrier reserve side.

Huddersfield had made 7 changes, enough for Herbert Kane to be given a start. And if I said the 2 highlights of the match involved Kane being booked, and Kane being dispossessed in our box while he thought he had time to kill, that will tell you all you need to know. We gave starts to players such as Barratt (who?) and Nwakali (isn’t he our latest Great Exotic Hope? A midfield version of Oulare, or Iseka?) There was no Yoganathan or Jalo, on international duty. This match was made for them. As it is, I read this week that by 19, Tommy Lawton had top scored for a 2nd season for Everton. Jalo, meantime, can’t get a start for a middling third division side. He plays more games for Portugal Under 19s than he does us.

Kilip was in goal, and a good job too. Like Satdy, our keeper was far and away MOTM. Made several excellent saves, caught crosses in the rain and looked confident. Gent and Barratt were the fullbacks (they can’t be wingbacks if they don’t get out of our half, surely?) The opening half, Gent actually looked like a footballer and even made a couple of tackles. Second half, he was made to look foolish a couple of times. Centre halves were McCarthy (tidy, but unimposing) and Pines…who made a couple of good runs forward from defence before being sent off late second half. A ball had fortunately run to a Terrier who, one-on-one with Pines, got taken out trying to round the juggernaut. An apologist later said they’d heard a pink shirt was covering so it shoulda been yellow. Not a chance. Barratt was the other side of the field.

In midfield, Benson for Beds broke down again. Half an hour. He should be sponsored by the RAC or someone. ‘Breakdown assistance required for Josh.’ I’d put him on a stretcher and leave him by the side of the motorway for all the use he’s been over the last however many years we’ve had him. I know, I know. I should feel sorry for a player who, through no fault of his own, is continually injured. And I might, if he was on 200 quid a week. Oulare Nwakali came across to cover him in centre mid (did nothing). Russell was there too. I’ve a tip for him (no need to pay me). If you’re the slowest footballer on Earth, DO NOT, under any circumstance, find yourself the wrong side of your opponent. He will have left you for dead and they will be 3 on 3 on our goal. Lofthouse played (I’m told). I can’t tell you where he played, just that he was there.

Up top, we had Humphreys and Marsh. The latter, on a one-way journey to National League North, continued his descent. He had one chance, as a sweet, sweet move at the beginnning of the second half promised brighter things. The defence split, the ball came across from the right, Marsh ran to the front post, but on his wrong foot (another professional footballer with only one foot) he flicked it wide. Hauled with 18 minutes left for Alker (who he?) Humphreys battled, and might have done better had he been around better players. I can now see why the likes of Connell, Phillips, Cosgrove et al are undroppable. The dross in reserve is palpable.

Aside from that one move, we could not put a pass together. I realised 25 minutes in that I couldn’t remember us passing it to one of our players while we were in Huddersfield’s half. In the 20 minutes that followed we DEFINITELY didn’t find a pass in their half to one of our own. Just digest that. Once the ball was in their half, we didn’t find a single Barnsley player. Yes, we may have touched the ball in their half (rarely) but the next player who had it wore blue and white. Not even a flick-on in their half went to us, as we camped in our half, in a game we had to win to stay in the tournament, against a 3rd division side with Herbie Kane in it.

I didn’t walk back.

Onwards and upwards!

*** Kilip. Kept us in it 1st half with a series of saves and punches. (That’s what I wrote about Slonina, Satdy!)
** No-one. Absolute garbage, Barnsley!
* Gent. It’s charity week. He was ok 1st half.

Londontykes’ MOTM: 1= Kilip/No-one 3. No-one

Despatches:
This tournament gets worse. I blame letting in the under 21s teams of Big Clubs, but we little teams don’t help ourselves. Playing so many reserves must account for last night’s crowd…I think they said 2,182. That’s just over one-tenth of the attendance on Satdy. At half-time, the PA implored us to stay at full-time if it was a draw. He made the appeal twice, in case everyone f***ed off before the penalty shootout. (Thankfully it didn’t come to that, Town were out of sight by then.) What will our crowd be in our final dead rubber, at home to Donny? I’m getting my excuse in early. I’m out of the country.

Official stats say they had 25 shots to our 1. It didn’t feel like that, possibly cos only 7 of them were on target (none for us) and 10 were blocked. They won 2-0. A cutback sidefooted into an empty net and a cross toe-poked home in injury time. Last nite’s performance was so bad, it made me yearn for Satdy. Which made me yearn for Wycombe at home last week, which made me yearn for Stockport home,before that which…ad infinitum. A more generous man than me might say this season isn’t quite going to plan.

Drink du jour: Elvis Juice in Brewdog, Gamma Ray in Parish. Plus a nice pint at the station and a chat with the barman. He was a Town fan who’d chosen not to go as well.

Away: 342

The Damage:
£10 ent
= £10

*Even my travel was free, as I fare-dodged the journey home. Had to add SOME jeopardy to my evening!

Huddersfield Town 2-0 BFC, Saturday 5th October 2024

‘Herbie, Herbie, where’s your hair?’

‘Sacked in the morning, you’re getting sacked in the morning.’ So the chant rang out pre-match, as we faced former manager Duff, with 4 defeats in 4 games. But, as someone said, who ya gonna call when you need a result? That’s right. US. We were woeful, and if anyone stayed at full-time, only one of those managers would’ve faced that chant, and it wasn’t Duff.

It was awful. Against a side who’d lost their last 2 home games to Blackpool and Northampton (one Cameron McGeehan scoring), whose confidence must be shot, who’re missing their star player Helik (yes, THAT Helik...centre half and top scorer last season!)...we ceded the early advantage and were never in the game. Slonina made a series of saves, Earl blocked another goalbound attempt and other efforts were high or wide. We squeaked to half-time with one paltry effort on target ourselves, a 20 yard bobbler from Connell. Half-time, a talking to from the manager, a tactical tweak, kicking towards our end...we could win this.

No we couldn’t. We retreated towards our goal and got up to 11 players behind the ball. With no-one up the pitch, balls came straight back. Was it a deliberate tactic, sucking them forward to launch cross after cross to our big centre halves, before we broke? Well, the first part was right, as we conceded 17 (seventeen) corners. It looked like a practice session, attack v defence. Try and break down the massed ranks of pink shirts. But with an hour gone, we’ve weathered the storm, and it’s time for Coach Clarke to take charge and make his move. On comes Jalo (Jalo Jalo), Benson for Beds and O’Keefe for Gent, Humphreys and Cotter. I’ll say this, Clarke’s changes this season have increasingly gained consistent (negative) results.

We went from an ostensible 5-3-1-1 (more like 8-1-1) to 442. KISS. Keep it simples, stupid! Hauling Gent was a no-brainer. Have we paid money for this guy? Humphreys hadn’t done too badly, considering he was playing midfield. No-one shoves him off the ball. Cotter? Well, putting on O’Keefe in his place defies explanation in my world, unless Cotter’s had his legs broken (plural; I’m sure he’d be better with one good leg than O’Keefe.)

Suddenly the game was open. We had the ball in THEIR half. We were giving Jalo the ball to his feet. He was running at them. Sometimes he didn’t even lose it. One run, as he cut inside, cut inside again, all the time onto his non-existent right foot, ended with him going down. My gut instinct was pen, but those at home confirm the ref was spot on. A dive, a yellow card. Our players can’t even cheat properly.

We also have a shot, as a half-cleared cross gives Cosgrove the chance of a snapshot from 10 yards. Over the bar. Difficult, but he’s a professional footballer. Oh yes, a BARNSLEY professional footballer. Wind in the neck of expectation. We have 20 minutes to hang on. But who’s this they’re bringing on? Herbert Kane! Christ, the match is in the bag now. Or b) we’re going to embarrass ourselves.

It’s b). Kane, the world’s second slowest player (behind, or ahead of, Jon Russell) leaves Earl for dead down their right after a quick 1-2. I don’t remember him ever doing that at Oakwell. With time, he can now pick a pass and he lays it inside for a Terrier to blaze it into the top corner from the edge of the box. That’s in the 83rd minute, but with time running out, they grab a second as the ball is half cleared and while 4 pink-shirted defenders stare at the spherical object, wondering what it is (the moon?), a blue and white shirt picks it up, strides forward and shoots low from 25 yards. Appalling from us, but it makes the scoreline a little more realistic. The away end streams out.

Onwards and upwards!

*** Slonina. Kept us in it 1st half with a series of saves and punches.
** Connell. Snapped into tackles and made 2 good runs.
* Jalo. I’m going to be generous to the former Boy Wonder. At least we attacked when he came on.

Londontykes’ MOTM: 1. Slonina 2. Connell 3. De Givigny

Despatches:
It was good to see so many pink shirts, the Reds deciding to wear pink for Breast Cancer awareness. Not that Mrs Reed liked it. She hates pink. Supporters’ Club reps handed out free pink shirts pre-match and Nozzer looked particularly fetching in his.

I was less amused with Huddersfield Town. Why DO they only give the away side 2,300 tickets when the stand holds 3,900? Wouldn’t they like to have (potentially) another 1,600 away fans paying £20-£25? That’s 30 grand they’ve turned down. Must have too much money. (For those who don’t know, since their Premiership days, what passes for their ultras have been given the rest.) Anyway, barely a couple of turnstiles open for 2,300 meant queuing for 15 minutes to get in. At least it was sunny.

Still, we got out of Hudds on the first train out and 7 minutes later were in the charming Pennine village of Slaithwaite where I chatted to a local Terrier. He wondered what we were chanting at Kane. ‘Well’, I said. ‘When your lot were chanting that he left us cos we are s***, he was the REASON we were s***. He gets the ball and he does f*** all.’ The fact Kane chose today to do one of those rare cameos where he actually does summat was the just the icing on the cake, the dogs*** on the shoe. The p*** that I’ve just licked from the nettle while doing an extremely accurate impression of a bulldog.

Drink du jour: post match Weihenstephaner in Hideaway (Slaithwaite).

Away: 2,366 (sellout).

The Damage:
£25 ent
£3.50 prog
£2.25 train
= £30.25

BFC 2-2 Wycombe Wanderers, Tuesday 1st October 2024

‘That’s because...no, I’d better not say.’

A Reds season ticket is a right bargain these days. If you’re a Londontyke, it means an ever decreasing number of Satdy 3pm games due to international breaks and Sky re-scheduling (Reading now having been cancelled due to the number of world class players a side in the bottom half of division 3 has). And for the rest of us, the chance to see Barnsley FC stumble through games against the ilk of High Wycombe Wanderers. It was the same last season, till Sam Cosgrove’s Goal of the Season in injury time. We have now won 1 of 5 home games against Mansfield Town, Northampton Town, Bristol Rovers, Stockport County and Wycombe. Last season, Fortress Oakwell garnered 9 wins and 7 defeats. It’s simply not good enough. Some Reds fans don’t go to away games, so will have been lucky to see half a dozen decent performances in that time.

Last nite was no different. The opening half must have been the most pointless 45 minutes of football since time began. Not a single shot on target from either side, and the player with the most possession must have been Slonina, our keeper, as he wandered around wondering who to give it to before a lump forward. (To be fair, he’s not the only one to have little faith in our defenders to take the ball under pressure.) Surely we have to accept that some teams will press high, it’s de rigeur these days, and surely our players (defenders) practice during the week to take the ball comfortably, pass it off, before making a forward ball through the lines. If not, what’s the point? Dispense with the pantomime and just hoof it up there. Really, Roberts and Pines are not the kind of defenders to be passing it around. At least, not the defenders you WANT passing it around.

Still, Coach Clarke is doing his best. Pre-match, Darrell (loudmouth Darrell, not Darrell Clarke, although...) insisted that what we needed was 4-4-2. Be careful what you wish for, Darrell. It was 4-4-2, Cotter put further up the park, right midfield. This meant Earl playing left back (good) and MDG playing right back (not so good). And two players in the middle who can’t play football for toffee (Roberts and Pines). Still, it was good to see Pines look up, try to spot movement (good luck!) before hoofing it 50 yards to their keeper. Glenn Hoddle he is not (although their belief systems may have something in common).

There was no Phillips (it took me till half-time to notice!) so Lofthouse was left midfield. Craig anchored the midfield, while Connell...took woeful corners and free kicks. I’m not sure he played a part in the game, though upon having a shot, late 2nd half, the Ponty regaled us with Luca ‘putting on a show’. Rarely has a player been treated to such adoration for so little. DKD looked amazing...for ten minutes. He was back to debut form, before disappearing, literally; subbed off. Up top, it was Cosgrove’s turn to get a trot out and it was the usual from him. No goals, lots of imaginary fouls given against.

That first half though...it was awful. Well done the nigh on 2,000 season ticket holders (official attendance 9,800 – yeah, right) who boycotted / couldn’t make it / would prefer to stay at home and watch it in the warmth / were busy doing something with their loft (he knows who I mean!) It was dreadful. And I’m describing a match that eventually produced 4 goals. Truly, the 8th wonder of the world. If it wasn’t for Barry Twinkle Toes and a sublime bit of skill from DKD, that opening 45 would be the very definition of ‘uneventful’.

Second half...well, I’m pleased I didn’t miss too much of the start, cos I got in just as Wycombe scored. Coach Clarke’s half-time pearls of wisdom have taken less than two minutes to bear fruit. It was quite an odd goal too, as a cross to the back post was sidefoot-volleyed back across goal from an acute angle and not one of Slonina or 3 defenders could get to it. We are doomed. Truly doomed.

But what’s this? Clarke decides to meddle early, bringing on Humphreys and Jalo (Jalo Jalo) for Pines and Lofthouse with barely 10 minutes gone of the half. Yes, we were that desperate. A minute later, Humphreys cuts inside on the edge of the box, takes it early and curls one into the far corner of the net. Inspired! Clarke for Manager of the Year! We then spend a few minutes in our attacking third and (some of) the crowd wake up. Jalo cuts inside and hits one wide.

The game is fizzling out, till Cotter is beaten on the right. (Since the changes he’s been forced to right back.) The cutback is crashed off the bar from 3 yards out. We have survived! ‘Cept we haven’t. The Frenchman swings and misses, Earl blocks a shot virtually on the line, the keeper saves the rebound, before it’s stabbed home. We have resolutely passed up every chance of getting rid and now we’re staring defeat in the face. 163 away fans go wild.

We go again. Why do we only look interested in scoring after the opposition have scored? That must be 4 out of the last 5 matches (it didn’t work at Stevenage). We have a spell of 4 or 5 consecutive corners in injury time and Roberts forces the ball home after Benson (Benson!) has his header palmed out. THE GAME IS SAVED! ALL HAIL MARC ROBERTS! LONG LIVE DARRELL CLARKE! We have eked a draw at home to Wycombe Wanderers. 2 points now in 2 home games. This season ticket is a bargain.

Onwards and upwards!

*** Humphreys. Scored, had a bullet header saved. Basically, changed the game.
** Roberts. Scored, but made 2 amazing blocks with his HEAD.
* Cotter. Obligatory Bazza vote. Clearly our best player 1st half, but replaced up the pitch by Jalo later.

Official MOTM: Roberts

Londontykes’ MOTM:
1= Humphreys/Roberts 3. Cotter

Despatches:
Jalo came on and lost the ball more than he didn’t. He’s never gonna be worth anything if he’s less effective than B. Cotter. In the battle of skill v pace, pace wins.

I did feel sorry for Jalo though, getting a yellow card for trying to control a ball that was going out of play. How the ref deemed this ‘time-wasting’ I’ve no idea. Mind, he also won a corner for shooting wide, so swings and roundabouts.

Oh, and at 0-1...or 1-1...The Frenchman slalomed upfield before cutting inside and tempting the defender into a silly challenge. Penalty all day. No penalty. Not that we deserved anything. Worst two-all draw I’ve seen in a long time.

Drink du jour: Clwb Tropica and Duration ‘Another Day Done’ in Heaven and Ale. And pie and peas.

Away: 163. And half a dozen of them outsang Oakwell in the 1st half.

The Damage:
c.£8 petrol
= c.£8

BFC 1-1 Stockport County, Saturday 28th September 2024

‘Sky TV is f***ing s***, Sky TV is f***ing s***’

I don’t know what the fuss is all about, this ‘playing on a Satdy nite’ thing. I mean, obviously it’s s***. We all want to be home watching Strictly/Michael McIntyre/X-Pop Voice Factor…but it certainly improves the atmosphere at Oakwell, as all day drinking kicks in and the Ponty makes some noise. Quite whether viewers at home heard this, I know not, as surely Sky turned the mics down as they became the target. Satdy nite. Satdy f***ing nite. The town centre is a-buzz with cavorting crowds and the loyal faithful are forced to trudge to Oakwell to witness THIS.

Still, it starts well. We get an early penalty as DKD makes a dazzling run into the area before being chopped. Phillips steps up and for once misses the stand. You Reds! For ten minutes we look a decent outfit and create…nothing. Stockport slowly get to grips with the task and slowly, but surely, become the better team. We creep in at half-time with an undeserved lead, as Slonina keeps out a clean through Hatter, as well as the rebound. On the assumption we only play one good half, we’ve got this. I look forward to us clicking in the second half, and us running away with this game. Or b), I’ll settle for one-nil. I’ll settle for one-nil.

The second half is shambolic. Did we have a kick? I’m told the Hatters averaged 85% possession for great swathes of the second half. (Mind, if you take a small enough sample, it’s 100%, innit?) I do know this. Once the manager hauled off Craig, DKD and Humphreys before the hour, for Benson, Marsh and Cosgrove, we were lost. On paper, the subs made sense. I was bemoaning a bit of movement and pace in attack, so Marsh ticks that box. So we didn’t pass to him once. Not once. Benson had a couple of good touches – on the halfway line. And Cosgrove? Within seconds the ref gave a free kick against him. I haven’t read the rules (‘laws of the game’) in a while, but I’ve missed this one: Should a defender go to ground in a tussle with Cosgrove, it’s a free kick against Cosgrove. Should Cosgrove go down in a tussle with a defender, it’s a free kick to the defender. (One exception, as we got a free kick wide on the halfway line).

Anyway, from that moment, it was all Stockkport, save for one break where Earl ignored the overlap (who’d have been clean through) to have a shot himself (blocked) and a rebound (blocked). That’s 3 times thus far this season I’ve seen us ignore the easy ball to the overlapping wide player (the other 2 were Luca). I presume they practice this move (not the ignoring bit, but you know what I mean). I know we’re 3rd division, but still.

But this was one attack. They had dozens. Basically, every time the ball crossed the halfway line, they picked it up and came at us again. Nobody in a red shirt could keep hold of the ball, or pass it to another red, and we retreated further and further toward our own penalty area. In the end, it was lucky we didn’t concede earlier, as if we had, they could have got 3 or 4. As it was, with the finish line in sight (1st minute of 6 minutes injury time) they are camped around our box. One shot’s blocked, but the rebound is put away. We have no complaints.

Except we do. A la Burton last week, we’re not interested in playing till the opposition equalise, and in the last minute we actually have a...what do you call them? Oh yes, an ATTACK. The ball is played across goal and sub Lofthouse has a tap-in…till he’s cleaned out by a defender who’s found himself the wrong side of the ball. I had a perfect view from the Corner Stand and the reaction of the defender says it all. He’s face down, praying the ref won’t give it. He doesn’t. Of course he doesn’t.

Onwards and upwards!

*** Cotter. I’ll say this. When he went off, we were winning.
** Craig. OK, gave it away a couple of times, but he was usually the reason we had the ball in the first place. We never had it once he’d gone off.
* Slonina. Didn’t put a foot wrong, and saved a one-on-one (twice).

Official MOTM: Cotter

Londontykes’ MOTM: 1. Cotter 2. Roberts 3. Earl

Despatches:
For a change, the PA’s usual mid-match appeal to the crowd not to chant anything racist, sexist, religionist, etc is responded to with a full-on ‘f*** the Pope and the IRA’. All-day drinking, eh? A decent rendition of ‘red suspenders’ too (I hope Nice Guy Chris heard)...She...WORE, she WORE...’

Full marks too for BFC, offering anyone who saw our Old Trafford surrender a free ticket. While this didn’t directly benefit season ticket holders (some of whom you KNOW will moan about it), it meant we could bring a lamb to the slaughter mate to the feast. (sadly, I’m one of those people who doesn’t know ANYONE who’d even want to watch the Super Reds for free.) Thus, the crowd figure was boosted by up to 2,000. Will they be back? At Edgeley Park, maybe.

The players? Cotter was MOTM again. I concur. I thought Earl was alright, bar ignoring that overlap. O’Keefe was...well, he was a right wing back playing left back, before getting 15 minutes in his rightful position. (I thought we’d be rid of this disease when we shipped out Jordan Williams. Just play players in their rightful positions, or don’t play them at all.) Playing O’Keefe, or Earl, down the left means we have virtually nothing going forward down that wing, increasing the pressure and workload for Cotter on the right. Sadly, Cotter broke down again, but so would I if I had to do EVERYTHING in this sorry team. Why’s our right back our most dangerous player? Game after game after game. Of course, he still lets us know he’s Barry Cotter with the odd silly error. Hopefully just enough to put Real Madrid off come January, (Note: our goal came from O’Keefe playing a ball across to DKD for the pen. So I’m talking about the OTHER 88 minutes.)

Roberts finally did what we signed him for, heading balls away, while De Givigny...De Givigny. Who does he think he is? Maradona? John Stones? Listen, Mael, once you’ve beaten ONE player, GET RID. You are simply not good enough to be rounding player after player before losing it. Oops, he just has done. Still, it makes a change for Roberts (or even Pines) not to be the liability at the heart of our defence.

The midfield? Jesus. Outside of Craig, what was there? DKD is going backwards, possibly literally. 2 or 3 times he was in a race to the ball, several yards headstart, and didn’t get it. We already have players who can do that. Phillips? The Invisible Man? He possibly challenged sub Aidan Marsh for least touches of the ball. What does he do? Where does he go during the match? Then there’s Luca, who, Once Upon a Time, was a damn fine player at this level. Watching him ‘putting on a show’ is painful. I’d love to say the captaincy is affecting his game, but he was the same last season. Occasional flashes of skill inbetween the game passing him by.

The forward line? Double Jesus. What’s worse than a Humphreys? A Cosgrove? And what’s worse than a Cosgrove? A Marsh? Don’t forget we still have Watters to come back, as well as Noble-Lazarus Mk II.

Oh, and Lofthouse. Came on for the last 10 and played...centre midfield? #10? A player who’s impressed most in cameos as left wing back. Now, if only left wing back was a problem position...

Drink du jour: Schneiderweisse at the Penistone Tap*, Paulaner at Spiral City.

*Nozzer and I went to see Penistone Church in the afternoon. Another great reason for Satdy nite Sky football!

Away: 2,378. Tremendous.

The Damage:
c.£8 petrol
= c.£8

Due to injuries and suspension, Nozzer and I were the grateful guests of Gally in the exec box. Cheers Gally!

Penistone Church 0-1 Tadcaster Albion, Saturday 28th September 2024

Penistone Church 0-1 Tadcaster Albion, Northern Counties East League Premier Division, Memorial Ground, att. 315

I arrived 35 minutes in. The sweet spot. Just when nobody is on the gate and you can just wander in (sorry Penistone!) I’d just come from Wythenshawe Town’s FA Cup game (KO: 12:30) and was meeting Nozzer at the Memorial Ground prior to giving him a lift back to Barnsley for tonite’s Big Game Live on Sky. Well, that and a pint in the Penistone Tap.

Keeping an eye out for me, Nozzer stood on at the corner flag. Having nipped to the loo, he’d missed the key point in the match. A Church player had just stood on an opponent’s head and been sent off. It would be an uphill struggle for the league leaders today, and one they weren’t quite up to. Albion deserved it, grabbing the winner midway through the 2nd half.

By then, Nozzer and I were on the far side, where flat standing backs onto a fence, hanging out with the Penistone yoof, getting cold. Walking around the perimeter, I’m sure Church had got themselves TWO new (back of the lorry) stands since I was last here, while behind the goal, I hadn’t realised the area squeezed in a full size football pitch. I may have had a beer, but today’s a marathon, not a sprint. I’m driving and I need to choose my one beer carefully...so post-match, we headed to the chippy before a wheat beer in the Penistone Tap. Cracking pub, and busy too. And warm. That was the main thing.

The Damage:
ent free!
= £0