‘Don’t ask for permission. Beg for forgiveness.’
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| Barnsley v Washday panorama. |
What to make of yesterday? Are we in last chance saloon yet? Is every game ‘must win’? Another chance goes begging, as we are the better team throughout (whilst still giving Washday chances). Still, at least we didn’t lose to our big city betters. But with 15 matches left and 7 points adrift of the magical 21st position we all dream about, time is starting to run out.
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| A well populated fanzone pre-match. |
What to make of Washday? They already have at least 4 centre forwards earning small fortunes, so they go and get another one in the transfer window, Conor Wickham of Palace. Are Fletcher, Winnall, Rhodes and Nuhiu not enough? How can they afford it? Oh, yeah – they can’t. Hence the sale of the ground by the owners to the owners and subsequent dodgy accounting. Plus harebrained schemes like this https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/51129422 The Washday fans we spoke to on the train afterwards were convinced they’ll be deducted 21 points, thereby putting them in the relegation zone with us. All the more reason for us to carry on battling. We might get lucky, finish 3rd off bottom and still not be relegated.
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| The teams line up. |
Sadly, ‘Super Sammy’ Winnall / Sammy the Snake (delete as applicable) couldn’t even make their bench. We could have done with a bit of spice to the match, as the atmosphere for the most part was a bit dead, only livening up in the last 20 minutes as we went looking for a winner, and nearly giving Wednesday theirs.
As ever, a defensive balls-up gave them the lead, as the white spherical thing pinballed between Thomas and Mads before rolling kindly for another new Washday signing, Windass, to beat Collins on his near post. I’ll be generous and say it was bloody unlucky. But we can give the opposition a goal from anywhere, while we normally have to work very hard for ours, so it came as a pleasant surprise to see us equalise 8 minutes later in hilarious circumstances.
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| The Super Reds attack a corner. |
Their keeper comes out for the ball and attempts to clear, left footed. However, the ball just rolls 15 yards forward, straight to Woodrow, who hits it straight back into an empty net from 35 yards. Have they just signed one of our keepers? I don’t think I’ve seen this kind of goal (live) in my life…now I’ve seen 3 this season. Is it modern football, every backstop thinking he’s a ‘sweeper keeper’? Anyway, it’s an absolute gift. We then go close when Chaplin hits a snapshot straight at the keeper, while Brown burst past 2 players and tried to put it between the keeper’s legs. Unfortunately, the keeper spread himself well and saved. Collins has not made a save at this point.
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| Looking towards the away end, pre-match. |
Second half, nothing happens for 20 minutes, then we start playing all these one-twos and generally taking Washday apart…without getting the final ball right. How many times did we engineer great situations, only for…anyway, fair play to Washday, who got men back, made blocks, and made it difficult for our forwards to find space.
Still, coulda been worse. A break from them ended with a volley wide, while in injury time they broke clear…oh no, here we go again…but Collins saved the one-on-one. Phew. Now we only had to worry about getting a train to Sheffield with the Great Unwashed. Hopefully they’ll get their points deduction and go down with us. They certainly looked relegation fodder (but not as bad as Huddersfield).
Onwards and upwards!
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| Pre-match entertainment from local band Rosadocs (terrible name). |
*** Brown. He was everywhere against his former team (who released him, age 14). Won every header, his movement pulled players all over the place, and he has strength, pace and awareness of where his teammates are.
** Oduor. Looked a lot more confident than last week. Pulled their right back this way and that. Sponsors’ MOTM.
* Woodrow. No-one else would have scored that goal.
Londontykes' MOTM: 1. Brown 2. Woodrow 3. Oduor
Despatches:
Madswatch: Aside from his role in their goal, a couple of other starring moments from our worst centre half since Diaby. 2nd half, he ends up wrong side of Conor Wickham on the halfway line and spends 50 yards trying to catch up with the slowest…sorry, second slowest…player on the pitch. Luckily Washday messed up the attack. 1st half, Mads goes to cover Oduor, but ends up being skinned by their player, who delivers a cross into our box. Thankfully, we had men back. However, overall, he had his least worst game in a while, even sometimes heading the ball properly (though not every time). I still couldn’t help but think Washday’s best chance was to punt the ball in his vicinity.
The other centre half (Sollbauer? Beckenbauer?) had his best game yet, and almost looked like a footballer. Almost. Jordan Williams looked comfortable, and certainly made one excellent covering tackle. Mowatt divided opinion. I thought he was alright, playing in a more defensive role. Simoes improved as the game went on, after initially being bullied by their HUGE right back. At one point he had a 10 yard headstart, and this 9 foot defender caught him within another 10. (As I said tho, this defender looked lost when a player twisted and turned against him.) Thomas had his moments, before Styles came on and had his moments – my favourite being when he controlled a ball 25 yards out, only to look up and see the keeper right in front of him. WTF was the keeper doing? Anyway, he scurried back, while Styles lost it dribbling. Chaplin had a quiet game, and he too was withdrawn after 68 for Bahre (remember him?) Even Schmidt came on with about 10 minutes left, showing that Strudel was at least TRYING to win the game (if putting on a chocolate fireguard of a centre forward can be deemed ‘trying to win the game’).
Drink du jour: A nice bottle of Merlot, inbetween a wheat beer in the Sheffield Tap and whatever we had at St. Pancras ‘spoons.
Away: 4,999. Capacity (courtesy of SYP not letting us sell the full end)
The Damage:
Londontykes' MOTM: 1. Brown 2. Woodrow 3. Oduor
Despatches:
Madswatch: Aside from his role in their goal, a couple of other starring moments from our worst centre half since Diaby. 2nd half, he ends up wrong side of Conor Wickham on the halfway line and spends 50 yards trying to catch up with the slowest…sorry, second slowest…player on the pitch. Luckily Washday messed up the attack. 1st half, Mads goes to cover Oduor, but ends up being skinned by their player, who delivers a cross into our box. Thankfully, we had men back. However, overall, he had his least worst game in a while, even sometimes heading the ball properly (though not every time). I still couldn’t help but think Washday’s best chance was to punt the ball in his vicinity.
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| The Ponty, pre-match. (I forgot to take a pic during.) |
The other centre half (Sollbauer? Beckenbauer?) had his best game yet, and almost looked like a footballer. Almost. Jordan Williams looked comfortable, and certainly made one excellent covering tackle. Mowatt divided opinion. I thought he was alright, playing in a more defensive role. Simoes improved as the game went on, after initially being bullied by their HUGE right back. At one point he had a 10 yard headstart, and this 9 foot defender caught him within another 10. (As I said tho, this defender looked lost when a player twisted and turned against him.) Thomas had his moments, before Styles came on and had his moments – my favourite being when he controlled a ball 25 yards out, only to look up and see the keeper right in front of him. WTF was the keeper doing? Anyway, he scurried back, while Styles lost it dribbling. Chaplin had a quiet game, and he too was withdrawn after 68 for Bahre (remember him?) Even Schmidt came on with about 10 minutes left, showing that Strudel was at least TRYING to win the game (if putting on a chocolate fireguard of a centre forward can be deemed ‘trying to win the game’).
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| The reason we never kick-off at 3pm in home derbies. |
Drink du jour: A nice bottle of Merlot, inbetween a wheat beer in the Sheffield Tap and whatever we had at St. Pancras ‘spoons.
Away: 4,999. Capacity (courtesy of SYP not letting us sell the full end)
The Damage:
£35 train
£3 prog
= £38
The Tunes:
Angel Dust (Faith No More)
Pink Me Up – A Sabrettes Compilation (Various)
Did I fall asleep on way home? Of course. Walked part the way back from Honor Oak, but did see a fox scampering across the road into Peckham Rye, which was nice.Angel Dust (Faith No More)
Pink Me Up – A Sabrettes Compilation (Various)
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| A panorama from The Ponty (cheers Jonesy!) |
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| Halfway to Paradise. |
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| Celebrating our history in the East Stand. |
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| The teams come out, flags are waved. |
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| Welcome to Peckham. Home sweet home. |
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