‘Dad. Monkey Man’s got my horn.’
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| Welcome to ... |
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| Kiefer subbed off. Thanks for coming! |
In other controversy, without Mowatt and McGeehan, Stendel goes left field (way leftfield) and sets up with a central midfield of Bahre and Sibick, two players who’ve never played there in their BFC life. This is a pity for me, as I’d been looking forward to settling the debate between Jonesy and Loko on how hapless Sibick the right back was. Mind, on arriving into the stadium 10 minutes late (I’ve waited a month, what’s another 10 minutes?) the first thing I saw was one of our players needlessly giving the ball away. ‘Who’s he? He’s s***.’ ‘Sibick.’
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| A passionate home end (!) |
Course, centre half Sibick’s move from right back allows Oakwell pariah Dmitri Cavare to return for (I think) his second game of the season, after Fulham home. Notice owt about the Fulham and Wigan games? Yes, clean sheets. I know not what is happening behind the scenes, but if we’re to stay up (and we weren’t just talking about staying up till we sold that bundle of players) we need Cavare playing, and playing to his potential. He was outstanding today, and was noticeably the only player whose name was being chanted by the fans.
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| Spotted some! |
We spurned an early chance (well, early for us, see previous notes). One of them new little lads (Chaplin? Thomas?) appeared to delay his close range shot, allowing it to be blocked, while our new reserve keeper palmed a free kick wide. Dunno his name, but he looked solid. One year contract from Chelsea reserves was he? Anyway, from reports, he looks a better keeper than this Radlinger bloke who’s timely injury (another one!) allowed him his chance. Half time, 0-0.
The second half was more of the same nothingness. I pity the neutral. Two weak teams with little going forward, then, out of nowhere, Bahre hits a low 25 yarder into the bottom corner, superbly saved. Then the corner comes in, and one of our little white blokes (Chaplin? Thomas?) is free at the back post. The volley’s on target, but the keeper has got across and makes another superb save. We are in danger of winning this…
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| Here's an idea...block off the 1st few rows with ads. Make it look busier! |
But that was it (for us). The ex-Chelsea keeper makes an amazing save from a close range header before, in injury time, Ben Williams kicks one of their players into the stand and is sent off, which was a great shame, as, aside from Cavare, he’d been our best player, getting forward down the left and being solid in defence. Thankfully, it was injury time and despite the ref finding 5 or 6 minutes from nowhere, we were never in danger.
*** Cavare. I’d heard the new (black) right back was a bit hopeless. Looked alright to me – strong, good on the ball, never beaten. Oh, it’s Cavare. Speaking to a Wigan fan afterwards, he was saying their best player thus far had been their left winger. True story.
** Ben Williams. Comfortable in possession and helped support the attack down the left. So he’s now out for 3 matches for that lump. Careless.
* The ex-Chelsea keeper. I hope he’s ex-Chelsea. Loko said he was, anyway. Safe hands, a couple of good saves and took no risks with his kicking (which landed on the pitch, by the way, a not-so-thinly-veiled dig at the last keeper we had)
Londontykes' MOTM: 1. Cavare 2. Ben Williams 3= Collins/Sibick
Onwards and upwards!
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| The players come to give thanks. |
Starting with the defence, I never noticed the centre halves. Was one of them making his debut? Either way, it felt like they didn’t have a lot to do. They dealt with Kiefer (or rather Wigan did, by not playing him right) but, like us, Wigan had no presence in attack. Bahre and Sibick deserve credit for filling in at centre-mid, the latter especially looked comfortable after his early aberration. Then there’s Wilks, a player at least one national publication (I forget which) said could be one of the signings of the summer in this division. Christ, he was poor. When not diving or losing possession, I’m not sure what he was doing. Has he been like this all season? Booked for kicking the ball away after being given offside too. Stupid. As for Chaplin and Thomas, well, they were a long way away 1st half (we kicked to the other end) and they were anonymous 2nd. I believe one of them ran around up front as the head of our ‘attack’. Let’s just say Woodrow needn’t worry about getting his place back. Schmidt tho came on with 10 mins left and nearly scored with his 1st touch, putting it wide on the back post when he should have done better. Oh, and I’ve missed Thiam. Of course I’ve missed Thiam! Flattered to deceive with an early thunderbolt from a short free kick, I never saw him again. So he hasn’t changed any.
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| The away end. |
As Loko has noticed, we seem down on Londontyke numbers thus far for these Championship away games. Do Washday, Brum and Wigan not have the cache of Fleetwood, AFC Wimbledon and Gillingham at el? Obviously not, and speaking for myself, I miss those 3rd division away days (and not just cos we win them). We shared the return with Nice Guy Chris, but he had no time for us pre-match, as he was hobnobbing it in the exec! However, it was nice to see Loko’s excited little face as the beer officianado paid his 1st visit to CAMRA temple Wigan Central, the best bit about visiting the JJB Stadium. (If a stadium’s name ever sums up it’s dullness, this is it.)
The second best thing about Wigan is the nice walk along the canal to the ground. So Loko decides we must take a taxi. It’s in 6 minutes, so I rush my pint. I don’t like rushing my pint. The taxi is not here in 15, so we start walking and meet the taxi part-way. We drive towards the JJB, even seeing it at one point, before he drives further on into Wigan and eventually the countryside. I have no idea which stadium he was taking us to (till we said something; we thought he knew a ‘secret’ back way!) but ‘I’m sorry, I’m from Bolton’. So that’s alright then.
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| Beautiful! (The walk after the match) |
Something else I noticed about Satdy. There were far more 3rd strip shirts in attendance than home shirts (and why not, we were playing in our 3rd kit, red obviously clashing with blue). But that home kit, close up, is abysmal. Why do we have what looks like a pattern of bricks on it? ‘Cos we have bricks at Oakwell’ said Loko. Well, I look forward to next year’s design showing urinals. At one point I was caught staring at the home strip. When the woman wearing it asked what was up and I told her I was just telling my mate what an awful design the shirt was….well, she looked like a bulldog licking p*** off a nettle. Why do people get upset when you answer their questions?
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| Can we go home now? |
Drink du jour: Franziskaner, red wine
Away: 1600+. Which means c8400 home fans. There were NEVER 8,400 home fans. Never.
The Damage:
£49 train (welcome back!)
£23 ent
= £72
Didn’t see any programmes on sale at 3:10pm.
The Tunes:
Debut (Bjork)
Fabriclive 100 (KODE9 & Burial)
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| JJB panorama |
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| I pity the man who has to whip the Wigan fans into a frenzy. |
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| A rare forage into the box. |
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| The big screen. |
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| Match action, #WAFC. |
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| Full-time. |
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| Guess who!? Oooooh Jeremy Corbyn, exiting our train at Euston. |
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