*As a Spurs fan, is it still ‘Reedy rules’ with regards to groundhopping? It only counts if you see The Super Reds?
**Half a dozen who admit to believing; there may be more. Like voting for Boris in the London mayoral elections, everyone denies doing it, yet SOME folk obvs did (and one of them is a former Londontyke!)
Yes, Bolton come to town and are DESTROYED. Reward for the few home fans whose season ticket insisted they attend. Just look at the two ends. Over three thousand in the away end, less than half that in the Ponty. Where is everybody? Still, as the goals go in, there’s a bit of an atmosphere. Quality, rather than quantity.
It’s guess the formation at the start. With no MdG, Coach Conor goes flat back 4. Roberts and McCarthy are partnered in the middle, with Earl returned to left back. O’Keeffe is dropped (at last!) with Bland retaining his right back slot. Connell is picked ahead of Nwakali once again, while Russell, Humphreys, DKD, Phillips and Jalo flit around in attack. Jalo is the main recipient, as the players are under instruction to give it to his feet (imagine!) wide right and let him run at them. We reap the rewards.
It’s one-nil after a quarter of an hour as wing wizard Russell (!) drops a shoulder, cuts inside and strokes the ball into the far corner from the edge of the box. Lovely. 10 minutes later, we enjoy a free kick routine that would have Lineker, Shearer, Danny Murphy et al creaming their undercarriage had it been The Arse or Liverpoo. At the time, we only see the chip to the back post and knock across goal by Earl for Jalo to tap home. Watching it on replay, DKD hesitates taking it, a short pass is played to Phillips, who chips it to the far side for Earl. It is, quite simply, free kick perfection.
That’s not to say it’s easy. The game is quite open and the Trotters spurn a couple of chances, the simplest of which was bang on half time, an easy volley 6 yards out which finds the Ponty. We have a Guardian Angel today. (I don’t know whether that should, shouldn’t, have capitals.) It’s been an even opening half, but our finishing is the difference. I can’t believe I’m writing that.
With Bolton making a 4th substitution at half-time, it’s fair to say they’re a little disjointed. We look comfortable in the second half, no danger, then we POUNCE again. We counter and look to outnumber them, but Jalo pulls it back. Has the chance gone? Not a bit of it. He cuts inside, cuts outside, and rifles it into the top corner with his left from 8 yards. We are cruising. Nothing can stop us...apart from the referee.
The ball breaks on the halfway line and the ref blocks our player from challenging. Said Trotter can now trot forward under no duress and slide a through ball to his Trotter mate. The latter does take it well though, rounding Falafel in goal. There’s still a quarter of an hour left (and the rest). Can we throw it away? Never in doubt. (Honestly, never in doubt.) Phillips takes it wide and whips in an incredible cross for Super Jon Russell to head home from close range at the back post. We are cantering, they are trotting. Incredibly, it’s our 1st home league win against Notlob since the Premiership (2-1; Tinkler and Hristov)
Onwards and upwards!
*** Jalo (Jalo Jalo). Ran riot. Give him the ball to his feet and he’ll do damage.
** Russell. Chipped in with another couple. That’s 8 for the season now.
* Earl. Solid in a back 4 and set up the 1st with a nonchalant knock across goal.
Official MOTM: Jalo (Jalo Jalo)
Londontykes’ MOTM: 1. Jalo 2. Russell 3. Earl
Despatches:
I’ll start with Xg: 1.37 v 2.57. Eh? I’ll accept that in open play it was fairly even, but given one of our goals was a tap-in, and another was a header into an open net from 2 yards, nevermind other shots, our Xg was 1.37? Not sure about their’s either. It certainly wasn’t through Flavell’s saves that they scored so few: they had ONE on target. (Which means our keeper didn’t make a save. Really?) In contrast, we had NINE shots on target.
With a mate in town, I treated myself to the train. So obviously there was work on the Trans-Pennine line. Still, I made it, leaving my car at Lockwood (Huddersfield station being knocked out.) Even better, my car was still there the next day. And I had the pleasure of the Hudds yoof, making their way to Burton. Everyone agreed they wanted the Reds to win (to keep alive their play-off hopes). As we pulled into Barnsley I invited them to come to our match and it was too much for one young glad, a can of Cruzcampo to the good. ‘I’m not going to that sh*thole again.’ I wish I could have taken this conversation further. Did he mean the town (a much better proposition than Huddersfield) or Oakwell (a tidy modern ground with a historic main stand)? I dunno, but if I see him on the train next season I’ll remind the little pr*ck what he said. (Imagine if Waddington’s kid had blond hair, that’s him.)
Oh, and we finally opened ‘safe-standing’ section in the Ponty (the section closest to the Corner Stand). To no fanfare whatsoever.
Drink du jour: Timothy Taylor’s Hopical Storm in The Courthouse, Beartown Inception IPA in Spiral, some pale ale or other in The Jolly Tap.
Away: 3,265 (13,685). As ever, no way was there 10,000 Reds fans in there, the away end was twice as full as the Ponty. However, 2 early goals shut them up and by the end the Trotters were fighting amongst each other, much to our amusement and the stewards bemusement.
The Damage:
£9.50 train
= £9.50
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