‘I’ll ask my
Virgin friend.’ ‘You’ll not find a
virgin in Doncaster.’
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| Merry Xmas all. Happy Inflation Day! |
Isn’t
Christmas GREAT? Off work, stuffing
yourself silly and the Super Reds winning games hand-over-fist. In style too, as we shoulda been out of sight
before the ref decided to make things ‘interesting’. And two fantastic goals (and their’s wasn’t
bad either). Most excellent festive
fayre.
It started so well, so early. I missed the kick-off and had only been sat down 30 seconds when we broke wide right with Cauley. His place in the centre was taken by Thiam, who intelligently (!) knocked down the cross for Potts to drive it home from the edge of the box. And if that finish was good, 10 minutes later Thiam cut inside from the right and rasped one into the far corner from 25 yards. (Note to the opposition: this is Thiam’s ONE move; I’d show him out left if I were youse…)
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| One day, all of this will be...who knows? |
Half chances came and went, but we were so on top it was cruel. The movement, from our midfield especially, meant Charlton could barely get out of their half. They also made the mistake of trying to play football, and for once, the high press was getting its money’s worth. (Noticeably, Charlton gained greater reward later when they resorted to hoofing it long.) Bahre in particular was ON FIRE. Running at players, dribbling, dragging the ball back under pressure, always finding his teammates...nevermind doing the pressing. A sublime display, only slightly tarnished by missing 2 chances early second half.
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| You can't move in Barnsley for mobility scooters (true!) |
The second half, we still looked comfortable, but then the ref intervened. First of all he booked Cavare for something so miniscule I didn’t even think it was a foul. The ref had now created a rod for his own back, and consequently went card happy on a day where I struggle to remember a bad foul. I’ve checked back and we won 5-4 on cards, though a Charlton fella was idiot enough to get a 2nd in injury time. Anyway, INJURY time? There hadn’t been any (injuries, that is.) So there was an audible GULP when the board went up for 7 (SEVEN) minutes of added time. All that I can think of was that it was for the number of names he’d had to write in his little black book, though Charlton’s fans were seemingly accusing the Reds of time-wasting, counting (far too fast) everytime we had a goalkick, or Thiam walked off slowly, having been subbed. I take their point, but it didn’t seem anything out of the ordinary to me. This is BFC, FFS, and since when have WE ever timewasted successfully? Anyway, if anyone’s an expert on timewasting, it must be a Charlton fan under that pr*ck Bowyer. Anyone remember the Valley, this season, when their players fell down at the drop of a hat as they were winning? Well, they can do that when losing too. And why not, with a ref who automatically equated falling over with a foul?
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| The Addicks. Thanks for coming. |
Course, the injury time was a worry, since Charlton had pulled a goal back. A crossfield ball, a Charlton player sits down, the ref gives a free kick. Never a free kick in a million years, and Pinniloss was booked for telling the ref same. But what can you do when you KNOW the decision is an injustice? Of course you’re gonna open your mouth. The deadball was blocked, but it ran loose and Charlton lashed in the rebound from 20 yards. No arguing with that finish, but now we faced 17 minutes (plus 7 minutes injury time…which became 9 when we finally had an ACTUAL injury to deal with, Pinniloss). And I thought we held out comfortably, despite dropping deeper. Pinnock and Lindsay won everything Charlton lumped, and even Ryan Hedges helped out. On as sub, he ordered the still limping Pinniloss forward, so he could fill in at left back. Actual intelligence from a Reds’ footballer. I was there when…etc
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| Pinniloss laid out in injury time. |
So, an excellent all-round performance, from playing Chorlton off the park for an hour, to manning the barricades for a bit of late pressure. I just wish Jonesy had been here to see this ref, I really do.
Onwards and upwards!
*** Bahre. Sublime. Doesn’t just run about. Sponsors (not Twitter, I noted) MOTM.
** Potts. He’s back! Ran at players, drove forward, put the crosses in, scored. ‘442 and Pottsy on the wing’.
* Mowatt. Not just tidy, he put his foot in today as well.
Despatches:
More tales of rail incompetence. This week it’s Hull Trains. Apparently, too many of their trains were in for maintenance, so our 09:48 was simply cancelled. And even though the tickets were bought via the LNER website, no, we weren’t welcome on an LNER service. So the choice was a train to Peterborough and a replacement bus to Donny, or the 11:48 Hull Trains service. So we did the latter and had a couple of early morning pints in Kings X. No pre-match beers in Barnsley though, straight to Oakwell.
Luckily, the service back remained unaffec…oh, hang on. That was cancelled too, and while all and sundry rowed with the station guard (not his fault) Nice Guy Chris said it’d be ok, the train inspector would let us on, they’re reasonable people. My jibe about them being jobsworths would be proved wrong as he….no, scrub that too. He said ‘if you get on this train I’ll charge you’ while muttering something about it affecting LNER’s revenue (despite us having permission to be on a later LNER service). The sooner we get a new f***ing government, who’re prepared to nationalise this sorry industry, the better.
Going back to the match, how s*** was the atmosphere? We’re challenging near the top of the league, it’s Christmas, we’re playing a rival, and the atmosphere was flatter than Wile E. Coyote having fallen off one of them cliffs chasing Roadrunner. Again, thank goodness for that ref, cos without him I’d have heard nowt all day, so at least the last 15-20 minutes was livelier. Can we have him next match too?
ps, winning without our best player (Moore) again. This augurs well for us, methinks. Who needs Kiefer when you have Cauley Woodrow???
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| Stendal prowls the touchline. |
Drink du jour: Leffe, Scheiderweisse, Leffe, Pilsner Urquell, Bacardi and Coke. All in a day’s work.
Away: 564
The Damage:
£26 train
= £30
programme? One day I’ll get one, when they haven’t sold out before kick-off.
The Tunes:
Mixmag Sept 06 (Sven Vath)
Four-Calendar Cafe (Cocteau Twins)
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| I don't remember it being this dark... |
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| ...nor this blurry |
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| Action in front of the old Main Stand. |
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| The Ponty v Charlton. |
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