I was awake at 4am on Satdy. Nerves? Excitement? Insomnia? Probably the latter, as the cat wakes me up at least twice every night wanting food, and it was a little warm in the house. So I was up at 6 and spent a considerable part of the day wondering at what point I’d fall asleep behind the wheel of the car. It’s a very different experience from getting bladdered on the train with the other Londontykes. Back to normality then. Coronavirus is over, yes? How did we do? ‘Get here early’ they said. So the gates weren’t open till 2. Season ticket (‘season passes’) bar codes didn’t work…hence long queues. Luckily, the turnstile operators could manually type in our numbers - an improvement on going back to the ticket office, then re-scanning the card…going back to the turnstile, it still not working and repeating the whole process…as was my lot one game a few years back. One couldn’t get a home shirt…but not cos they’d ran out, just that BFC had (wisely) limited numbers in the club shop and I wasn’t going to wait. Not with that queue. Inside Oakwell, and apart from an opening and closing 10 mins, the atmosphere was flat…while the defenders (1st half) appeared never to have met each other before. So, all in all, it was good to be back on familiar territory again.
It was an entertaining, open game. I’d be tempted to wonder how we won, but I know the answer – we scored and they didn’t. They passed up 3 golden opportunities 1st half, none of which hit the target. The only one Quest showed was the one where the bloke was free on the back post to hit the ball into the ground and off the bar. What a cross that was, but the forward just dropped off the centre halves and was in acres of space. Early on, we had a chance too, with Leon Brittain (wasn’t he a Tory Home Secretary or summink? Either way, my continuous brain fog means I have no idea what Brittain’s 1st name is. Is he one of them Calums?) clean through. Unfortunately, the ball got caught up in his feet, and he scuffed a tame effort wide. As I said, about as back to normal as it comes. Oh, and Reds fans moaning at the ref for making perfectly legitimate decisions.
Then, just as we’d weathered the Cov storm, we score! Palmer, who’d looked lively throughout (and had the fouls on him to prove it) slipped one through for Freezer. The keeper stood rooted…he couldn’t possibly miss…could he? No. Calmly tucked in the bottom far corner. 1-0, game over – so it proved. It was certainly the end of our attacking threat. It was our only shot on target. When will these new Belgians be fit (cos I’ve no faith in Devante Cole being the answer to our prayers)?
If the opening period was all about Romal Palmer, the second belonged to Liam Kitching, our 2nd recent purchase from Forest Green Rovers’ back line (and the first didn’t turn out so bad). What a performance he put up – last ditch covering tackles, clearances, interceptions. Save for a last minute misunderstanding with Ben Williams, it was the complete performance. Such a shame that in the 4th minute of injury time, from OUR throw in, Williams and Kitching contrived to let their winger in. Williams may have got a touch, but he upended the attacker who could still have got to the ball. A pen for me and there wasn’t much dissent in the area of the East upper by me. However, step forward…more brain fog…not Adam Davies (even if he looks like him a bit)…christ, what’s he called…Collins! That’s it, COLLINS! Low to his right, not a bad penalty, but Brad gets across and does what Walton failed to do with 5 3rd division penalties earlier in the week. Superb. Cov had battered us, but we survived and the luck was with us.
One oddity of the match was the number of bookings we took (8). We’ll be on a FA charge, I’m sure. It was strange, as it didn’t look a dirty match. Mind, I’m told 5 of the cards were for fouls on the same player, but if one was Cauley’s, he was unlucky – he’d been fouled (not given) then turned around and swung at a loose ball and kicked their player up in the air. Was it Palmer booked for timewasting? Standing over the ball and preventing a quick free kick. No qualms, there, refs need to show the yellow more often. As for the rest, they all blurred into one, but suffice to say I agreed with every single one. A Cov fan I spoke to after the game had a novel take on it though – he blamed the ref for losing control, as the cards appeared to make no difference.
As for the fans, as I say, I found it flat for the most part. Indeed, Cov would remind us every now and again ‘Your support is f***ing s***’ and the Ponty would respond with ‘We forgot that you were hear’. Welcome back everyone.
Onwards and upwards!
*** Kitching. Magnificent, ably supported by Helik.
** Palmer. It’s back to normality again, normality being dragging your best player off after an hour. With the team winning the ball back successfully, Palmer was one of the few who could then find his own teammate with the ball.
* Helik. Right up the strikers’ bottoms throughout the second half.
Despatches:
Collins did no wrong, and saved a pen, but had little to do with Cov’s strikers being so profligate. Brittain won ball after ball…then gave away ball after ball. Styles was disappointing at centre mid, though it’s early days, while I was very impressed with new boy Benson, who was calm under pressure and made passing to a player in red look easy. I suspect he’ll be a starter very soon. Up top, Freezer ran about and looked keen while about the only time I noticed Cauley (aside from the booking) was when he chased back 50 yards to win the ball.
Drink du jour: Pre-match orange juice in the Old #7, as Nice Guy Chris and I bemoaned that the one time we’d have gone to the fanzone, we couldn’t. A real pity, when it’s the opening day of the season and the weather was set fair
Away: 1719 (Att: 14,961)
The Damage:
£3 prog
= £3
plus petrol…£20?
The Tunes:
TMS (5Live extra)
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