If truth be told, I’m not going to write too much about Useful 3 Handy 1, primarily because there isn’t much difference between this and the Eastbourne game.
I could go on about Mulley’s debut and goal, or Rock’s debut and, er, no goal. But my description of the strike wouldn’t do justice to it. I could mention about how lethargic we looked in the first half, no Jon Main, three subs at half time etc etc, but now we know the squad is ravaged by illness there’s no point in picking holes.
Which does make you wonder if we’re getting a bit of luck right now. Remember that last year we could have renamed ourselves ACL Wimbledon with some justification. This time round, we were in urgent need of a layoff and we got it thanks to snow. We get hit by a virus (hopefully not one gained off a slapper or a sheep) and it coincides with two teams we’re expected to beat anyway.
We could do without Newport being on Monday, and more than one person was suggesting afterwards that a draw down south Cymru wouldn’t be the worst thing to happen to us. Obviously, we’d all like the win, and a repeat of our last trip down there will do very nicely. Minus the torrential rain this time, hopefully.
With that in mind, who knows what is about to happen?
Right now, we’re fulfilling our side of the bargain quite nicely. If we can match Crawley and Luton’s results each and every week, we’ll be there. If we can do it under duress too, even better. Our squad can only get better, in both senses of the word…
Plus points: We won. The new boys. Mulley’s goal. Doing it while looking like patients in a contagious disease ward.
Minus points: Shit first half. Their goal.
The referee’s a…: If we’re on Lemsip, this guy must have been on LSD. Managed to miss their goalkeeper tipping away one of our shots. He also manage to miss Seb taking the ball over the line for a corner, although as the ref didn’t blow it clearly didn’t happen.
Them: Odd team, Handy. Always seem relegation fodder but still manage to cause us problems. This time last year at Church Road was the first signs of the shit sandwich the 2009/10 season was about to become, and at half time we all seemed to have a collective flashback.
They’ll probably stay up, unless their serious lack of support finally becomes too much of a problem. And luckily for us, they only discovered how to finish just once…
Point to ponder: Anyone else disappointed with the 3176 turnout? OK, Handy brought just over 100, but we’re doing well, it’s the holiday season and it’s not like the weather is a problem right now.
A lot of matchgoers aren’t that interested in the opponents that aren’t ex-League, or have something riding on it. We’ve only reached above 4000 once this season, at home to Crawley. Our next highest attendances have been against Newport and Darlington, make of that what you will.
It’s likely we’ll get close to a full house for Luton, but we couldn’t get above 3700 for a second round FAC tie against Stevenage. There’s an article on this waiting to be written. Mind you, how many teams in the division above would like to call 3176 a poor attendance…?
Truth is stranger than fiction: (1) DK’s deliberate handball. Was he trying to get an enforced break himself? (2) Grimsby beat Mansfield 7-2. Or, to put it another way : Grimsby 7 (seven) Mansfield 2. You know when you’ve had a bad game when the vidiprinter uses brackets.
Anything else? Not really. Just enjoy the win, our debutants and their contribution today. With luck, they won’t do an Elder on us…
So, was it worth it? Indeed.
In a nutshell: Happy new year.