Well, that was coming wasn’t it? Officers 2 Squaddies 2, and so ends the LSC-esque winning run. TBH, the longer we were going to go without dropping points, the bigger the inevitable hit was. And I suppose it’s nice to let Sandhurst have the honours of stopping the run, such was their role in AFCW’s history. We had our excuses in early anyway : no KC, Harvey on the bench, Paul Scott starting. And we started well enough, bossing the game and inevitably going ahead through an own goal. Their #8 I do believe. Normal service was continuing when Sully scored through a penalty. The shove in the area that led to the penalty was so blatant even the UN Security Council would have treated it as an act of aggression. All was well.
Second half, and all was certainly NOT well. Instead of laying over and dying, Sandhurst came back at us. We basically fell asleep at the back, a lot of the players were appearing to be having a go at each other, and it really was no surprise to be pegged back to 2-1. Our goalie wasn’t impressed, a “For Fucks Sake” shouted quite loudly demonstrated the problems. And TBH, it was always going to be that Sandhurst would score, especially when a couple of easier-to-score-than-miss chances were, erm, missed. Closing of play, the inevitable happened : they scored, the home fans cheered (quite a few of them) and everyone was just resigned. Not flabberghasted, not depressed, just a sense of “oh well”. And, dare I say, a sense of relief?
I did hear that the players were preparing themselves more for the FAV game next week, which is what we used to do in WFC days. Knowing our luck, we’ll go on a 15 game losing streak now, starting next Saturday.
Anyway…
Plus points: We didn’t lose.
Minus points: Complete inability to hold onto a 2-0 lead. Defence is awful.
The referee’s a …….. : Best summed up by a shrug of the shoulders in a French policeman style. He was OK, but did play a bit too much injury time for my liking. Some kid did call him a “muppet” though
Them: Well up for it, deserved to win to be honest. Genuinely pleased with us turning out, though the club bar beforehand was quite relaxing (ie not many people in it). Place was muddy though, leaving an ape fiddler to quip “This is like going to holiday camps when I was 6 years old”. You’ll be pleased to know BTW that the burnt down Tesco from last season is now fully restored. Shame the staff and some of the clientele are surly bastards.
Point to ponder: Am I the only one legit worried about our lack of strength in depth? If KC ever broke his leg, or got sold, what then? Our reserves are OK but not going to set the world alight. The lack of some players today seem to suggest that we are only one or two players better than a mid-table CCL team.
Truth is stranger than fiction: (1) Observing Harvey just before the game with his tracksuit bottoms down (in my defence you could hardly avoid looking). I can confirm for the female/homosexual readership of this site that our most publically known player wears white briefs. He also appears to have firm, rounded buttocks (ie he’s got a big arse). (2) The players wearing black armbands because Noel Frankum has left the club. No, I don’t get it either, but I don’t want to see what happens when somebody does snuff it. (3) Tea in mugs. Yes, tea in mugs. In Sandhurst mugs as well (except for the one I had which was nabbed from Jewson). Shame we had to return them afterwards. (4) In the Sandhurst club bar, there is a meat raffle at 4.30pm on Sunday. There’s something rude I could say but my mum reads this site.
Franchise watch: Do you care? Oh, all right. They lost 1-0 to Crewe at Gresty Road, are 5 points adrift at the bottom and while I can’t find out how many football starved MK citizens they bought I doubt if they needed more than a couple of taxis.
Anything else? Yup – something wasn’t right about the whole game. Seriously, there was that kind of strange feel going on, as though something is up somewhere. Complacency? Jadedness? Antagonism? At least we have the Dons Trust nuclear war AGM part deux to look forward to this week. Could be fun.
So, was it worth it? Suppose it was quite nice to see Sandhurst again, without the searing heat.
In a nutshell: 100% win records are over-rated anyway