You can always tell how dull a game is when your editor helpfully informs you of how much he’s written on the contest in question. And in the case of Everstrong 0 Chas n Dave 0, it was almost literally the length of one sheet of bog roll.
OK, there were a couple of chances in the first half, and whoever got the first goal would have won it. But put it this way – if this fixture was a Premiership game, it would have been the 4pm Sunday kickoff. It would have been hyped as second versus fourth. You would have had Richard Keys coming on and announcing “this is the big one”. You would have had the dangerously excitable Jamie Redknapp bouncing off the wall explaining SF’s runs. We would have had Martin Tyler and Andy Gray informing us that this would indeed settle the Premiershi… er, Ryman title.
And at the end, everyone would have been deflated and saying what a tough game it was.
OK, it wasn’t great. The pitch really didn’t help, and it seemed that the two teams were scared to lose. I’m not too sure whether we’ve run out of adrenaline over the past couple of weeks, or whether this was the other standard top-of-the-table clash you often get. You know the sort of thing, few chances and even fewer memorable moments. Either way, I am seriously struggling to write anything about the game.
What summed it up was the fact I had to leave 20 minutes before the end and missed absolutely nothing. No anguished cries of what might have been. No bloodletting of missed opportunities. Just, well, not a lot. Maybe I should expect it in an end-of-season midtable affair. I don’t expect it so much in the start of the run-in to the title….
For some reason, the old fears are beginning to return. We’ve got the Friends of Franchise on Tuesday, then Hendon away next week, and you just know we’ll lose to at least one of them. Games like Margate, Canvey City and Bromley may decide your eventual playoff placings, but games like Hendon and Carshalton determine if you’re up there in the first place. Right now, I’ll settle for two 1-0ers.
If you haven’t fallen asleep yet yet, this will certainly send you comatose….
Plus points: We didn’t lose. Had the better chances. Potential banana skin avoided.
Minus points: We didn’t win. Cutting edge seems to have gone. Too much overplaying at times.
The referee’s a……: He, er, tried to let the game flow at times. In other words, he missed about half what was going on. Managed to book SB for something that a Margate player got away with just minutes earlier.
Them: Even though they had injuries, I expected more from them. It merely confirms my suspicions that there’s no Braintree/Fi$her level side this season. Which makes our impending doom even more of a kick in the bollocks. Their #5 was a big bastard, and looked like he would lose a mobility competition to an HGV. Seem a decent bunch of lads off the field. Their board won the raffle and subsequently gave the ball back for us to reauction. Their support in the JD case is beyond thanking, and their fans seem a good natured bunch as well. I’m told one or two of them even read this very site. No idea why, though I believe hits from the Kent coast rose after my comments on Ramsgutter…
Point to ponder: Not too sure if there is one after yesterday. Actually, yes there is : isn’t it interesting how our attendances have gone up after you-know-what? OK, there’s more away fan turnout at the moment, and we might get a few again from SM5 on Tuesday. But it’s further sign of the re-awakening of the club. Think about it – how well would yesterday’s raffle have done if it was carried out in, say, last October? Would it be too cynical of me to note that the Dons Directory is about to go into print, and another little push for the Dons Draw has come about in the last month?
Truth is stranger than fiction: (1) Some Dover fans turned up after a nearby game got called off. Strange that they split into those in our end and those in the Margate end….. (2) A brand new AFCW sign where the old one was (outside the main stand). Wonder how long that will last before somebody vandalises it again? Note no mention of the shite vomit-inducing Fans Stadium name. Hopefully the concept is being phased out – surely recent events show that there’s no real supporter unity and there never was? (3) Tried the new catering for the first time. Nice to know the tea was the right temperature – at least it would have been if it was 100F and I need to lower my body temperature. At least the mother/daughter combo at the TE wore AFCW kit…
Anything else? Yeah. I’m seeing posters for the annual Walk For Wimbledon a lot (including one of Tintin Haydon acting all Uncle Sam like). All good and noble I’m sure. But bearing in mind that non-FA appeal fundraising has died the death, how about a Wank For Wimbledon? You can leave it to your own imagination what form that could take, and indeed what criteria for sponsorship there would be. Or any special guests to join in the, er, exercise. Me, I’ll be seriously impressed if anyone could do that from Plough Lane to KM – then again, some people in the TE/John Smiths are more than capable of being a tosser for a good 90 minutes…..
So, was it worth it? Yes it most certainly was. If you support Chelmsford or Bromley, that is.
In a nutshell: Urm….