Have I walked back into last season or something? Pinewood 1 Elstree 1 and once again we scrape a goal lead and give it back afterwards.
And TBH I don’t quite know what to think. No doubt we’ll go from the universally positive reaction after the Ramsgutter performance to one step short of mass suicide. Just like last season. We’ll huff and puff on various internet guestbooks and down public houses. Just like last season. We’ll convince ourselves that all we need are players who simply care, and all we need is for our CCL days to be magically bought back and we’ll be 11 points clear by Xmas. Just like last season. Something is missing. Just like…. you get the idea.
In my notes, I wrote that we’re passing the ball better than last season. I also made the comment that if we got a goal it’ll all click into place. Granted, we sort of “aquired” that penalty, thanks to Scott Fitzgerald’s professionalism. No, I don’t mean he dived for it, but he knew that somebody was going to tackle him. IYSWIM.
And here is our problem. We go 1-0 up. We should have enough mental nous to shut up shop. Just like… yeah, you get the idea again. Trouble is, we shouldn’t be making those same mistakes that cost us last season. But we are, and that’s the worst fucking part. I don’t actually think we’re a bad side, certainly one with a little bit more idea and a lot more skill than this time last year. I’ve said the vibes are better this season, and even today I don’t feel so much blood letting going on. If it continues though….
Here’s a thought. Imagine that we’d kept the 1-0 lead and won. What would you have been talking about? Rosco D’Insane? Probably. Wes Daly? Almost certainly. You may have commented that we seem pretty solid, if not yet spectacular. Amazing what just one poxy lapse in concentration will do, isn’t it?
Actually, I’m not too sure why I’m writing this. It’s really too early to make any sort of predictions about how we’ll do this season. Last year, we’d won our first three games and threw it away from August Bank Holiday Monday to Boxing Day. We haven’t quite seen what’s going to happen this time, though FWIW I think this will be a watershed season in more ways than one. Hold onto your hats.
As for the rest of it.
Plus points: We didn’t lose. Wes Daly. Andy Little. Far better ability to pass the ball. RB coming on and trying a bit too hard.
Minus points: We didn’t win. Deja vu. More strikers than RMT and only one goal at home this season, though shit service doesn’t help. Defence still looks iffy.
The referee’s a……: Christ, did he have an aversion to playing any sort of advantage whatsoever? At least he did play some injury time, unlike the jism guzzler last Tuesday.
Them: Bit more attack minded than Ramsgutter, were top for the whole of last season. BW have a reputation of their fans being a bit, ahem, lively. So, how many of them turned up to cause mayhem, wanton destruction and outright carnage? Urm, not many. In fact, they must have taken about 20 people – hardly worth the strict segregation. Still, the coppers got a nice bit of overtime out of it.
Point to ponder: How much does it cost to employ a gypsy to remove the curse from KM? Sure the SW19 readership in Kent could get some quotes for us.
Truth is stranger than fiction: Their #8 looking like Djibril Cisse, presumably pre-leg break. SB tried to follow suit though, paying homage to ex-Luton defender Steve Foster. Did he really need to bust his head just to do it though?
Anything else? Yup. Today, we witnessed the debut of our new mascot, Haydon the Womble. Like all mascots, kids love him, it has a habit of walking in a mixture of a stumble and a drunken stupor and is very un-nerving close up. Myself, being a bit of a miserable old git traditionalist, I’m not a fan of mascots, which to me are one step above cheerleaders*. OK, they has that lameness that crap US sports teams employ, but there’s also something distinctly iffy about them anyway. Think about it – where else can somebody dress up in public, act strangely, put their arm around kids, offer them goodies and not get arrested?
* – as naff as cheerleaders are, I’m not so un-keen on them providing they’re of FHM centrefold quality. Unfortunately, in this country they tend to be pre-pubescent/barely legal sorts, which should get alarm bells ringing all over the place. Of course, if AFCW had cheerleaders, they’ll be men.
So, was it worth it? Guess
In a nutshell: Like an Ealing comedy.