What a waste of time, money and effort Town 0 Hamlet 1 was. And not just because it’s a competition many have very real disdain for…
You would hope with these run-outs that you’d see something from the fringe players to make them give our management a selection headache. OK, the likes of Hussey, Little and Kennedy were a bit ring rusty and no doubt we’ll see them at least on the bench at Furruk. A couple of the unknown players didn’t do too much wrong, and Tommy “TJ” Rose had a couple of good shots on target. But the rest?
If and when TB announces that he’s signed another player or two by the March deadline, let nobody moan that we’re just buying yet more players and pushing out the likes of Finn and Sullivan. Because on last night’s performance, I seriously doubt if either of them will be here by the end of the season. And I think they know that too. Granted, we’re spoilt by the Main/Kedwell dynamic duo for most games, but even so I expected better from two players who still have a real chance of at least coming on as late sub in the upcoming fixtures.
Really, apart from their goal (lapse of concentration, and of course the Cup Final celebrations when they scored it), I can’t remember much at all from it. Oh yeah, TJ’s shot. But he’s an unknown player. If we’d peppered their goal and Sullivan/Finn had put in blinders, yet we still lost 1-0, then fair enough. These things can and do happen.
So, what? In truth, nothing has changed much from last Saturday with regards to the rest of the season. The likes of Kennedy and Hussey will be back in the squad for Saturday, no question. Haswell is becoming more of a liability. Andy Little needs to bide his time again. Mason needs another month on loan somewhere. And I think that’s the biggest disappointment of all – the fact that nothing will be changed after this performance. Not a slur on our first eleven at all, in fact far from it. But those last night who needed a good performance must surely be looking very closely at their AFCW future.
TB wasn’t there last night, by the way, he was apparently on a spying mission at H&R versus Welling. Which by the sound of it was quite poor. Shades of Eastleigh vs Chelmsford? Christ, I’ll be seriously fucked off if we don’t win promotion this season. Anyway, maybe TB is looking at more players? He obviously made the wise choice of not going to KM then.
Seriously though, what is the point of us remaining in these tournaments? They had a bit of kudos for us in the early days, and those at the Woking finals will always remember them with fondness. But if it’s true we’ll get punishment from the SSC morons for playing understrength teams now, so be it. It’s obvious that even the fringe players don’t really see it much beyond a run-out. How much would it cost us just to opt out entirely?
One other thing that really struck me last night was this. I guess the whole experience must be what it’s like to support an ordinary, run-of-the-mill Ryman side. Less than 600 people there last night, a strange muted atmosphere, with players who might do something but with a team that looked very, very ordinary. To watch that sort of football week in, week out would definitely be an aquired taste, and it does at least show why a lot of fans at that level are a bit, well, odd. You’ve got to be to actually enjoy that shite on a regular basis.
Then again, there’s oddness and then there’s Dulwich Hamlet fans. OK, they celebrated like it was their cup final, but wearing Franny scarves? Seriously, what’s the mentality of that? I’m starting to believe that perhaps they want to be abused and maybe get a twatting for their efforts. Then they can scuttle away and start playing the victim card against us, how badly we treated them etc. Wouldn’t be the first time. Sure it’ll be called “banter” by them, which will merely prove that they haven’t got a scooby what the word actually means. Not sure if they know the phrases “hygiene” or “incest is wrong” either.
Mind you, the best comment I heard about people who do that sort of thing is that it’s an admission their team is shit. Think of when Leeds United played Barcelona over their PA, after Manchester United lost 4-0 in the Nou Camp once. Compare to the Barf City fans on Saturday – only one of them was even tempted to do a Frenzy song and got his answer from his own fans. Actually, don’t bother trying to compare, it’s pointless. There’s none to be made.
Anyway, enough bitching. We lost, and nobody is really that bothered. We’re more pissed off because those given a nice opportunity to prove themselves in a non-vital game didn’t do so. We’ll move on, remembering what it’s like to lose a game and knowing that come Saturday, things will be back to normal. Is it any wonder that more people was fussed about the game at H&R last night than our own offerings on the field…?