There ain’t too much I can add right now. I’ll give my considered (?) opinions later in the week. Hell, I need something to do on Good Friday. Meanwhile, relive the memories of Billy Ricky via the SW19 bureau…..
Why do we do it to ourselves? We play down our hopes for promotion only to see the team start winning and then once we think a play-off position might still be on the cards, results such as the Hampton one and Ricky 2 Not So Tricky 1 seem to dash our hopes once more. What odds on us getting into the play-off now they appear to be all but a distant possibility
I’m not too sure what it is, but things just didn’t seam to click, even after Barney but us ahead inside the first ten minutes. They equalised after Andy Little failed to come for a cross that he would routinely take and then took the lead when Little came for a cross which he didn’t seem to call for.
He did make up for his errors with his second half display but by then it was too late. With Steve Butler out injured, Dave Anderson’s usual plan B of sticking his skipper up front was unavailable and to make matters even worse, Smeltz and Plummer could well be suspended for three games each after their number 16 conned the ref into sending both of them off for ‘violent conduct’. More on those two knobs later.
All in all, it was a really shit day and after four sending-offs, two defeats and a serious injury, I hope I’m not the only one that wants to avoid this dingy part of Essex for a long time to come. Anyway, on with the show…
Good Points: Ermmm… the bacon rolls (they were huuuuge!) Oh, and the return of Richard Butler. I would have preferred if he was down with ressies getting match practice before returning though, Barnes is doing his job quite well at the moment. Also everyone else fucked up so amazingly we’re still only a point off the top 5.
Bad Points: Another poor performance after we looked like we could have been marching towards the playoffs. Two more sending-offs and more key players missing from our end-of-season run.
The Referee’s a…..: Different one – but they’re all the same anyway. I heard someone mention ‘it’s a different ref from the last two games, we might have some decisions go our way.’ Yeah, bollocks. The ref was a complete joke. From the overall inaccuracies in his general decisions (for both sides) to his handling of the two ‘incidents’ he didn’t give me any confidence that he knew what he was doing.. I’m not sure how anyone can have any confidence in the officials based on the many inept performances we’ve seen this season. And this little tirade is from someone who usually defends referees and their assistants…
Franchise Watch: They won thanks to two goals in a minute from their only good player. Surely he’ll be gone in the summer even if the Frannies manage to stay up.
Point to Ponder: Is the Drogba* effect coming down to the non-leagues? After the ‘Ricky number 16 went down like he’d been shot for both our sending-offs, where’s the sportsmanship gone in our national game?
* insert any other diving foreigner that has ‘graced’ the Premiership
Truth is Stranger then Fiction: I’m thinking that the AFCW Supporters team should drop all their good players. This was the fifth or sixth time this season that they played really, really well in the morning only for the senior boys to play just the opposite in the afternoon. Hopefully only coincidence.
In A Nutshell: Yo-yo season.