Like last week, you might have to excuse the slight brevity of ETU 1 FOAD 1. Again, the hot weather hasn’t helped, neither has looking like a lobster (fair skin, can’t beat it).
Nor did the early kickoff. I interviewed DA afterwards for the NLP (buy it or forever be a Franny) and basically he won’t be pushing for many more 1pm kickoffs if he can help it. Though a cursory glance at the Billericay site suggests our game with them on the 8th of October will be a 1.30pm kickoff…..
Of course, an early kickoff probably explained how Wes Daly managed to put the ball past Andy Little in about 90 seconds. It really was amazing : while it’s not on a par with Noel Blake’s efforts for Pompey all them years ago, it did have the Alan Reeves v Aston Villa about it. Can’t say many people around me were quite so impressed.
Mind you, we got back through Mr Howard, and it won’t harm Wes’ confidence to supply the cross for the goal. But it just shows once and for all that this division is hard. Not only were ETU strong but they could also play a bit. And yet again, for the first half, we were shown to be sorely lacking.
So, why is this? Why does it take about 30 mins for the team to start looking like playoff contenders (which to be fair to us, we do once the second half kicks in)? I think really it’s because even though the season is under way, we still don’t really know what to expect. We still think that teams will be in shock and awe over us and they’re not.
Still, there is hope : it took about 45 mins to get going against Maldon, and it took 30 minutes yesterday. By the time we get to October we’ll be getting CCLesque.
One thing is for sure, Bromley on Tuesday is pretty important.
Anyway…
Plus points: We didn’t lose. Came into the game. Sonny Farr (NLP man-of-the-match simply because we got better when he came on).
Minus points: We didn’t win. The first 30 mins. SS not netting towards the end.
The referee’s a…….: Not so much the ref (though the sarcastic response to a decision may say a lot), but the lino. Basically, decided to annoy everyone by stating in no uncertain terms that the benches “must not swear across the pitch”. Cunt.
Them: Tried hard with the bar, though I’m told the ETU fans bar was nicer. There was apparently some gobby Essex geezers (are there any other type?) who I think may have put off some people from staying behind. Under-rated team. Ground wasn’t quite so inviting, when I drove in I thought it was a building yard (though I think the agricultural niffs and the occasional caravan didn’t help). Don’t think too many fans were overly impressed by the catering facilities, certainly there were loads of unsold cans of pricy Miller at the end of the game. Perhaps our fans are voting with their wallets?
Mind you, Lee Patterson (their manager) likes us. In an SW19’s ARMY exclusive, he quotes :
“It must be fantastic to have a crowd like that support. I’d give my right arm to have 1000 people watch us every week. They’ve been a credit to their team – they’ve not come down and abused our players. It’s been a pleasure”.
What a nice man.
Bench warfare: If the game warranted 2.5 out of 5, the goings on between the benches warranted at least a 4. It had all the hallmarks of a situation comedy : wisecracking home team manager who managed to silence one of our fans, DA and co playing the straight man and the Blakey-like figure of the lino. This sort of thing should be at the Edinburgh fringe.
Point to ponder: Why are we picking up so many injuries? RB, Ammo, Jeff Campbell, Matt Fowler – and that’s just this season. If SS gets crocked we are quite simply fucked up the arse without any lubrication. Is this another symptom of us coming to terms with this division?
Truth is stranger than fiction: The nearby village is the only place I’ve visited where the chippy opens at 11am on a Saturday and the pub doesn’t. Mind you, the chips were nice…
Anything else? Yeah, who did win the raffle prize? For some reason, the prize of going for a date with that blonde raffle seller (quote: “You’d do that from behind”) wasn’t on there.
So, was it worth it? Well, you got the chance to watch the Holiday Home Burners vs Ingerlund afterwards…
In a nutshell: We’re still second.