At half time tonight, somebody suggested that I would simply put down “bugger” for a brief match report.
Well, the reason for a rare midweek match update is that after Ricky 2 Pat 2 I’m thankful I don’t have to go down that route. We were effectively about 2 minutes away from me having to do a post-mortem of the season. Thankfully Sam Hatton did something right for once tonight and gained what I honestly would call an unlikely point.
Let’s face it – tonight was crap. It was as though the smell after the Folkestone game still hadn’t been vented away properly for a lot of it. Too many misplaced passes, giving the ball away, high punts up field to players no taller than your editor. But tonight, we walked away from a place we have never gotten a point from before with one vital point. And you know what? Had we’d had a couple more minutes, who knows………?
Yes, it would have been great to get three, but we’re in the middle of a sticky patch right now. We seem to be semi-focused, which I put down to our own upcoming Cup Final, against Torquay in the FAT. It was only a matter of time before Rickay got their first goal, we just seem determined to give our defence as much practice as possible.
But after half time, where reportedly JG gave everyone an absolutely massive bollocking, we went up a gear. I hope somebody taped Richard Jolly’s goal, it was a bit Main-esque (complete with subtle barge of defender and a cup-to-ear celebration afterwards). And after that, you started to think that we’d woken up and do a vintage Liverpool-style performance. And I don’t mean our fans brandishing banners with “We want Dic” either.
Needless to say, they scored. You may hear plenty of comments about how great a goal it was. What you might not hear so much is that it looks like it deflected off our defender giving Butch no chance. Whatever happened, it really did knock the stuffing out of us. Think about it – you psyche yourself up for the second half, get yourself back into the game and that happens. Eyes were rolled, heads were slightly bowed, and I think we must have put on some of the worst displays of passing seen for a long while.
Maybe it was the New Lodge curse, but until Hatton struck very late on, the unthinkable was becoming thinkable. Before that strike, automatic promotion was fading away fast. Afterwards, who knows?
What we can certainly say is this : by fuck we got out of jail tonight. Maybe it’s because we lost against Folkestone, and self-doubt started to creep in, but this seemed an odd performance from us tonight. At times we didn’t even look playoff material. But we got a draw, an unlikely draw, at a place where….. OK, you get the idea.
We certainly can’t hide the obvious flaws tonight dug up – we shit ourselves every time the opposition attack, we give away far too many free kicks, and by fuck we need Webb and Garrard back ASAP. If we’re to progress to where we want to, we need to sort these out and quick. We really do need another 4-0 over Tonbridge just to settle us down again. Christ, a 4-0 followup against Borehamwood wouldn’t be a bad idea either.
But on the flip side, it’s worth remembering that we did actually draw tonight. Forget the implications of tonight’s game, that’s done and dusted now. It would have been better to get three points, but one is better than none. Perhaps more importantly, we got that point whilst playing badly. It’s a cliche that causes a bit of antagonism amongst some AFCW fans, but last year we really would have lost that game.
And what that does prove is that there’s a mental strength in this current AFCW side that we haven’t seen for a while. The one with the strength to overcome a poor 1-0 first half with an equaliser. And maybe even more important than that – a team with the strength to overcome a second goal after all that half time geeing up, play badly and still have enough mettle to come back again. That maybe is the sign of a side that might still do it. We’ll wait and see, as ever, but we might have witnessed something vital without us realising it
We may have seen the best and worst of AFCW tonight. As long as we now show some of the former and a lot, lot less of the latter, I can cope…
Plus points: A draw. At a bogey ground. Coming back twice. Never giving up. DeB and Gayle. It’s still only January
Minus points: Midfield woeful. Passing shit. Finn. Hatton. Defence just, well, meh. Realisation that we might be losing form and ability at a time when we don’t need it.
The referee’s a………: I know we talk about persecution from Ryman league officials, and it’s usually dismissed as paranoia, but for large parts of tonight I……… nah, better not put what’s really going on through my mind. I couldn’t prove it in a court of law anyway. As much as I’d like to.
Them: Bet they must really be kicking themselves right now – had us on the backfoot for most of it, had the rub of the (muddy) green and still didn’t get their 3 points. Can never understand why they’ve underachieved this year, especially as they were tipped along with us and Chelmsford to be up there. Still, not our problem. Billericay itself is a nice enough place, for Essex anyway. Bit poshe though, and I don’t think the one and only chippy was the sort that would serve gravy with their chips either. Put it this way – they didn’t understand the concept of people asking for their grub to be open……
Point to ponder: Is there any manager in non league who TB doesn’t know? He was chatting away happily with the Rickay boss, and he really does seem to be on good terms with everyone..
Truth is stranger than fiction: (1) Going away from New Lodge with a point. Especially after playing like that. (2) The rather sad sight of some local yoofs after the game running to shout abuse at our supporters bus on the way back. Reminded me of a dog chasing a car, and with similar effects. (3) PA bloke clearly auditioning for Essex FM’s Classic Rock show, complete with cheesy links. All he needed to play was some Free and REO Speedwagon and he’d got the job.
Anything else? I dunno really. Didn’t seem quite so horrible to go to this time around, in fact seemed quite pleasant enough. Even the journey to/from SM4 wasn’t too bad. One question though – was it my imagination or was there a line of stewards separating the home support up t’other end?
So, was it worth it? If Sam Hatton hadn’t done what he did two minutes from time, I wouldn’t be answering this question right now
In a nutshell: Not so much getting out of jail free, but given a tag and some compensation as well