UPDATE 2150: Well, it seems we now know why DC didn’t play today – he’s announced his retirement.
It’s a real shame that he obviously couldn’t feel he could give us any more for the rest of the campaign, although he did go out with a final bang at Luton – which is a good way of rounding off his career.
I would hope that he remains coaching with us in some capacity, as that’s what has been hinted at (and in the OS, it also seems that other issues are taking priority with him), and he was still considered the best finisher at the club in the short time he was here.
This does beg a question as to whether we’ll see another striker come in now, one assumes we have an iron in the fire – Kwesi Appiah is getting mentioned, though whether that’s just wishful thinking remains to be seen
Anyway, the report for York can by found by pressing “Read More”. Or simply reading the next line…
And in the end, it was worth the wait.
There was something fitting about the way Nestle 2 Rowntree Mackintosh 1 finished. A deflected goal from seemingly out of nowhere, from a player you wouldn’t expect to even be on the scoresheet.
It was that sort of game.
Had we been sitting here right now, mentioning another draw against strugglers, and bemoaning the all-round shiteness, then it wouldn’t have been unwarranted.
But we won. And I’ll take that every day of the week.
One can sum up the game by McDonnell’s “kicking”, which seemed to owe more to a rugby union lineout tactic. Either that or he’s already been tapped up by Malaysian businessmen over a throw-ins spread bet.
A further summary could be made by their goal, where without looking at the replay seemed to owe much to spilling the ball, then spectacularly failing to clear it.
Or you could wrap it up by the referee falling like a dick, getting up then somehow giving a free kick against us.
But it’s what counts on the (broken) scoreboard at the end of the day, and it’s three points. Which keeps us 11th, only six points away from likely mathematical safety and with a ray of deluded optimism about reaching the playoffs.
It was a shit game though. We hoofed it up in the air in the first 20 seconds, and it never moved beyond that. McDonnell obviously took the Kick It Out campaign literally, and we gave the ball away so often I was convinced it wasn’t just our keeper nobbled by a Far East betting syndicate.
NA admitted we were lucky, although I don’t think York themselves did enough to win. Interesting he’s mentioned the quality of the pitch though*…
* – as in, it appears that half the reason it’s currently in bad shape is because Kingstonian don’t look after it after a game. If that’s the case, we should have clout to make them take just a bit more care. And yes, they’ll whine about it, but they seem to whine when we put a cone in the wrong place…
The rest of the game really isn’t worth writing about. This was a rare day out at KM for your editor, and I can see why quite a few fans hate what they’ve been served up.
A lot of it really was dire, disjoined and traditional League Two fayre. No wonder people are ready to commit murder when we lose these sort of games.
But it was always going to take a moment of somebody making magic (although more likely, somebody being a useless prick) to decide this one, and thankfully Smith decided to dismiss all protocol and HAFSOG.
Yeah, it got a deflection. But I don’t care.
To be fair, Deji’s header for the first goal (which the photo above was taken just before it) was a good one. He’s been a decent aquisition, and probably some of the reason why the February (and first week of March) From Hell™ wasn’t quite so arduous after all.
Even though it wasn’t one of his better games, it was still a useful one. Phillips? I assume he’ll get a bit better. The midfield makes me feel pretty much meh, though what they had to play on didn’t help.
As for up front? Akinfenwa is, well, Akinfenwa. The sort of game where he was unlikely to get much joy, and so it proved. Azeez? Tried hard, didn’t get too much luck either, and Tanner may as well be back at Reading.
No idea where DC was, though maybe he was clever enough to ensure he wasn’t playing today. Probably wouldn’t have been able to make much more impact, mind you.
But we won. And I don’t care.
And, I suspect, neither do you.
Shall we?
Plus points: We won. Finally finding the net. Twice. McDonnell calmed down in the second half and learnt a valuable lesson. Another late goal. Would have lost these sort of games in recent times.
Minus points: Their goal. McDonnell’s kicking. Shite game to watch.
The referee’s a…: Fell over. Gave some ropey decisions. Wasn’t exactly a fan of ours. Missed attempted GBH on Fuller right in the final seconds. I see what people mean about the standard of officiating in League Two now.
Them: Their manager felt they were the better team, apparently (according to their local radio). Better in what I don’t know, but it certainly wasn’t finishing or creating chances.
They arrived at 1410, so presumably were too busy shopping at the new Aldi opened on Kingston Road.
Apart from that, I can see why they’re still one of five teams in major shit down the bottom. I don’t particularly like them anyway, so they can become a non-league club again at the end of the season.
Oh, and was it me or was their #39 having words with our physio after the game? Maybe he wanted a rub?
Point to ponder: When you think about it, haven’t we done well in the last month? We haven’t played particularly well, we are to finding the net what David Cameron is to facing a pre-election debate, and we’ve had a lot of trying games to deal with.
Since facing Newport on the 7th February – a month ago – we’ve played Burton, Shrewsbury, Luton, Cambridge, Hartlepool, Southend and York.
Seven games in a month, four of them against sides who are/were in the top four, and two away to the at-the-time-leaders as well.
Twelve points from that little lot isn’t a bad return, and perhaps it’s no wonder why we looked pretty shit today – it must have taken a helluva lot out of us.
We’ve got a week off now to recharge, go down to sunny Exeter and see where we go from here. I’m reminded of the report by Tudor about Southend, where he reckoned we should go hellbent for the playoffs rather than wind down the season now.
And I don’t disagree. We are currently six points behind the team in the last playoff place (although it’s seven with Plymouth’s goal difference), so that is perfectly closable.
Especially considering that we’ve managed to scrape out wins like today, without playing at all well. Imagine if we started hitting some form.
So we should have a go for it. Blood the youngsters as well, because giving them a winning mentality and the belief they can be a part of a side that may be in L1 next campaign will only help.
I don’t doubt the players will be looking at the table tonight and thinking “hmm”. I wouldn’t put it past NA to be thinking the same too, because from a managerial point of view – it’s better to be a playoff chasing manager than one fighting relegation.
Will we get in them? Probably not, but it would be fun to try. And we need a bit of fun.
Truth is stranger than fiction: 1) Wasn’t NA’s suit today lovely? Waistcoat and all. Was he going to a wedding afterwards, or have Debenhams renewed his modelling deal? 2) The realisation that it’s only the first Saturday in March and we’re effectively safe. We’re getting a nosebleed. 3) The “Safe Standing” banner at the Chemflow End. Could have done with it for the Liverpool game…
Anything else? There wasn’t much mention from Erik Samuelson about the JPT proposals this week in the programme – although the updates on NPL are welcome.
There has been much angst over this, but what happens to the Paint Pot is pretty much secondary to getting the Articles of Association altered, so that there is never going to be a hijacking of the football pyramid.
I seriously doubt if clubs like Accrington, or Burton, or Daggers, or any other side that thought it’s a shit idea (like we all do) have suddenly decided that it’s now wonderful. They don’t.
However, it’s a rare chance for them to dictate terms to the Premier League sides. This wouldn’t even be discussed if there weren’t moves to close a loophole in the FL AoA, which needless to say would damage the integrity of the football pyramid beyond repair.
I think the PL sides, and their obedient puppets in the FA, were genuinely shocked by the reaction when first announced, and while they could still push it through, it will be like the 39th game – much more hassle than it’s really worth.
Of course, the argument would be – why should L1/L2 sides “help” out PL sides by diluting the JPT? Why don’t they leave it, and us, alone?
The simple answer is that it’s the JPT. It’s a tournament that has never been loved and relevant until you start getting through to the semi-finals of it.
If it didn’t have Wembley as the carrot, then it would have been phased out years ago.
I’ll be honest here – as long as the League Three idea gets killed off through AoA (and having tried reading them, they look pretty difficult to change once altered), I don’t mind the idea of Premier League u21s in the JPT.
If anything, I think it will make it a more interesting tournament.
See, the JPT is a bit of a clusterfuck of a cup. Half the teams get byes in it even before it starts – it’s no co-incidence that the best first round result is not to be playing in it to begin with.
There’s been a lot of tweaks to the tournament to keep the interest in it up. No extra time, earlier kick off times, the introduction of Conference sides (which is a precidence for putting in PL u21s anyway), none have particularly worked.
Not to mention forcing teams to play strong starting XIs. Which isn’t really a good sign of popularity.
The thought of playing Chelsea u21s next season rather than Stevenage is at least interesting. Well, until the novelty wears off – if u21s are far better than the rest, then people will simply switch off the tournament, and we get on with proper league games.
If they’re not – and watching a few u21 games on the telly is quite an eye opener in that regard – then we’re really no different to where we are now. There are many Craig Tanners in these setups – good on the training ground, not so good against proper big defenders…
FL sides are obviously doing a bit of self-preservation, but let’s not pretend otherwise here – the other big motivation for the L1/L2 sides is money. And when you’re cash-strapped, that does temper your ideology a bit.
When this story broke this week, your editor glanced through a Southend forum which suggested that even reaching the final of the JPT (as the Shrimpers did in 2013) didn’t swell their coffers that much.
Whenever a team does well in the FAC, half the story is how much prize money they get out of it. We did exactly the same against Liverpool this season, and with the amount of dough in the game these days, it’s no wonder teams lower down want a bigger slice of it.
The FL sides aren’t being stupid, they’re just protecting themselves from being shafted. And they’re doing something else as well – they’re taking advantage of the idiocy of Premier League sides.
As we all know, PL sides have been so wanton in hoarding so much talent that they don’t know what to do with. That’s why they want “help” from the FL sides.
It’s a bollocks argument, of course. We all know that if they actually want to improve their squads, they should send them out on loan to Championship, or L1, or L2 sides – or play them in the PL.
We also all know that because of their obsession with foreign talent, u21s will make practically little difference to Home Nation national squads anyway.
One day, they might figure that out. Until then, the FL clubs are simply doing what we do when we play Franchise – planning to use it to their benefit…
So, was it worth it? Three points.
In a nutshell: Three points.