It started well. When I say ‘well’, I mean we were 20 minutes in when O’Keefe beat a man wide right. He has all the time in the world and 3 choices: 1. Have a shot. It’s at an angle, but hey, maybe the rebound will drop for Watters. 2. Slide the ball in low inbetween defence and keeper, make our forwards earn their corn. Or 3. Blaze the ball over everybody. Obviously it was the latter. He knew I needed the toilet. However, as I walked through the concourse, I see on the TV screen we’re on the attack. I stop, I watch O’Keefe beat his man. Oh my God, I’m watching a replay of what I’ve just SEEN. There’s obviously a delay on the feed of about 15 seconds. How comes we can watch games in real time the other side of the planet, yet a game 50 metres away has a delay? Oh, and while you’re answering, tell me why the Oakwell scoreboard didn’t work either. Which was annoying in the second half, as we wondered how much longer we’d have to watch this garbage.
But Coach Clarke to the rescue. A stern talking to at half-time, some tactical juggling, maybe a substitution? None of it. They came out and repeated what we’d just seen. Except Stevenage were starting to sense we were incapable of stringing a move together, let alone having a shot. They were daring to raid our backline and Kilip was forced into a few saves, nothing amazing, but enough for me to decide he’s my MOTM as we entered injury time at nils apiece. The board is put up: 6 minutes. We’ve still time to...concede. 2 minutes into injury time, the inevitable...a cross comes in. It’s over Kilip and onto the backpost where Stevo has run inbetween O’Keefe and Roberts to head in from a yard out. It’s nothing less than Stevenage deserve. Well done them. I don’t wanna be in the play-offs anyway. (I do.)
Onwards and upwards!
*** No-one. I ummed and arred. Kilip? Nwakali? Both had pretty good games, but I’m going to be ruthless. Neither did enough to warrant a ‘MOTM’ vote.
** Kilip. Made 6 saves but caught out of position for the goal.
* Nwakali. Always looks to play the ball forward, but today he reminded of a Yank football quarterback, no options and forced to run around in circles with the ball.
Official MOTM: Phillips. Met with mirth and/or consternation, I can only presume it was one of those ‘protest votes’ by the sponsor.
Londontykes’ MOTM: 1. Nwakali 2. Kilip 3. O’Keefe
Despatches:
We had ONE shot on target, a deflected effort from substitute Gent. DKD had another couple of shots, wide or blocked. And that was it. We never even got close to creating anything. So well done Coach Clarke for dropping Russell and playing Connell further forward, ahead of Nwakali. He was abysmal (Connell, that is) and was given 83 minutes to prove it. Gent came on after 67 for Faruggia and was definitely a step down, despite the shot. He did though take our XG from 0.06 to 0.09. Woo hoo! The best of the subs was Humphreys, who at least made a couple of enterprising dribbles in his 20 minutes.
In defence, Roberts was given another trot out. I’d leave him in the stables with the others. His inability is a liability. If he can’t control a football by now, no amount of practice will do otherwise. 4 wins in a row without him, 2 defeats in a row, with. Tho MdG was missing today, replaced by McCarthy, who didn’t cover himself in glory either, with one mess up nearly punished. Earl was by far the best of the back 3. Wingbacks O’Keefe and Farrugia had some promising moments…till they had to give the ball to another Red, who’d invariably give it away. In midfield, Phillips was terrible and Connell little better. DKD TRIED (failed) to score, but nothing he did came off. And as for Watters, 13 touches tells its own story.
Drink du jour: House Party IPA in Spiral City.
Away: 195 (10,831). Or 2 more than Crawley, last home game.
The Damage:
c.£8 petrol
= c.£8
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