‘I don’t want to lecture you, but let me point out….’
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| Welcome to .... |
Marius is over from Norway and we’re doing the Bermondsey Beer Mile (before and after the match). What can possibly go wrong? Well, for starters, I lost my tickets last week, so I’ve got to arrive early at The Valley to pick up reprints (well done all concerned). Then I take Marius to the wrong end of the beer mile (nearer two, I’d say) and we have to walk all the way to the other end to meet Reedy and Pompey in Four Pure. Needless to say they then leave 5 minutes later, while Sarah and I sip our pints (no-one told us we were on halves). Still, cooking lager lout Pompey summed it up best: ‘£5 a pint for something dredged from the river?’
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| OK, technically cheating...We 3 enjoy beers on Sunday. |
Then there was a match. That went well too. The bookies had us down as twice as likely as Charlton to win. And they’re always right, so I felt the same. Mind, I’ve never met Paddy Power, William Hill or that lad Brooke, so what do they know? Still, with 3 wins and a draw in our last 4 there, it’s not like QPR. ‘No, it’s not raining for a start’ (A. Reed) A beautiful day, a busy away end and we could sit where we liked. So we turned our seats by the corner turned into prime positions above the net. We’d have a perfect view of Charlton’s 1st.
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| The view from behind the goal. |
We then proceed to pretty much give up. The fans that is, aside from a few intermittent chants. Do we only sing when we’re winning? Are we spoilt? Are we as complacent as the players? Well, maybe. About the only positive I could see in a stuttering 1st half performance was our ability to switch the ball out wide. But whereas Charlton scored from this, we simply drill endless crosses to the keeper, to the first man, to no-one, or worse, into the stand. I reckon we had 20 crosses on Satdy and only one went in the right place, a second half low ball along the edge of the 6 yard area, while Kiefer was on the backpost and Brown was AWOL.
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| The teams come out. |
Yes, after knocking it around nicely and looking comfortable, we let Chorlton score. We’ve been sucked to our left and one crossfield ball from the homesters sees a 1-on-1 with Pinnock. Howthehell has he got a one-one-one with Pinnock? Anyway, Pinnock fails to deal with it, the player going on his outside and burying it with his left foot. I’d say into the corner, but it’s only in the corner cos that’s where Davies’ hand has put it. Good to have him back in goal as well (kidding).
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| A club whose ground is more too big for them than ours. |
We DID manage one shot of note though, a free kick from miles out by Mowatt which the keeper scrambled around the post, much to our chagrin (it looked in all the way). But after 39 minutes I’d had enough. I was hungry, so went and joined the queue for pies. ‘Will you get me one?’ ‘Will you get me one?’ Christ. At least I didn’t miss anything (I was told).
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| I wondered this most of the match.... |
Second half and Big Kiefer was on for McGeehan (who was problies only in the team cos Bahre was absent). Anyway, the second half started even worse than the first, as we took 7 mins to concede rather than 8. Again, Charlton show us how it’s done with an overlap and cross that’s actually met by one of their own players. Davies (for a change!) doesn’t cover himself in glory as the winger (fullback) was only ever going to put the ball in one place and he doesn’t read it. When was the last time our keeper made a difference in a match? (errr….last away game, penalty save at 0-0?)
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| Some (almost) pressure on the Charlton goal. |
We continued to be disjointed, and although enjoying the lions’ share of possession, we never looked likely to score. Indeed, we were ripe for being hit on the break and from one attack, it looked like Charlton missed the unmissable from 6 yards. Did Davies save it? Did the player simply miss the ball? I couldn’t tell. As I also couldn’t tell you the reputed seventeen (17!) shots we allegedly had on Satdy. The only one I can recollect in the second half was a from Cavare, a weak effort following a great surge into the box beating 3 players. It wasn’t our day. Charlton had done a job on us, worked hard…and had the timewasting tactics second half to see it through. I can’t remember seeing as many players collapse to the floor before, but according to Jonesy, his Charlton mate says this is de rigeur under Bowyer. (He may not have said ‘de rigueur’, but I thought I’d drop in a bit of French just for Mrs Jones!)
*** Barnsley box office, for helping sort the reprint of the tickets.
** Charlton box office, for helping sort the reprint of the tickets.
* Nozzer. For identifying the lost ticket seat numbers and buying replacement tickets to replace the lost boys. (Miriam and Martin took those.)
All that was left was to traipse back to Bermondsey and drown our sorrows in some breweries or other. Drink du jour quality-wise was a Belgian wit at the Swedish place. Just saying.
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| About as good as it got. |
Despatches:
If I’m being generous, I’ll give one star to Kiefer Moore, the only player who looked owt like. Good to see him back. Maybe Brown looked alright, tho poorly supported. The rest? The midfield played it around nicely at times, without creating anything, while the defence looked penetratable (is that a word?). Makes me laugh when I hear ‘Barnsley have the best defence in the division’ when what the commentators mean is ‘Barnsley don’t concede many cos they’re normally at the other end attacking.’ And for all the adulation early doors for Dougall, when I finally see him in a game where he’s tested, he comes up short. I’ll tell you who we missed: Bahre. Where was he? Certainly, no-one else seemed capable of running about and panicking Charlton into losing the ball high up field.
Drink du jour: Too many to mention. We finished in the George at London Bridge, just to show Marius a bit of historic. Anyway, I think he enjoyed his weekend, having at least 13 new beers to add to his beer app (plus whatever he had at the Brick Brewery in Peckham on Sunday). Just a shame he saw such a poor display from the Super Reds.
Onwards and upwards!
Away: 1500
The Damage:£21 ent
£2 fanzine (never saw a programme)
£4 pie
£2.90 coke (I know, unbelieveable)
= £29.90
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| The Valley panorama. |
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| The teams line up. |
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| Miriam complains the legroom isn't enough for a dwarf. |
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| 'Thanks for coming' etc |
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| East meets...North. |
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| The cavernous West Stand. |
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