In homage of our trip to the agricultural wastelands of East Anglia…
I used to hate harvest festivals as a kid, by the way, because we were always forced to do them at school.
Yes, farming is vital etc etc, but I really couldn’t have given a shit about donating tins of marrow fat peas to the local OAP home.
Because of this, I’ve developed a lifelong hatred of the song “We plough the fields and scatter”.
Though after yesterday at Portman Road, I will happily sing it for twelve hours straight.
Anyway… another game, another dramatic late goal. What’s that now, three in the last four games?
The cardiac departments at St George’s and St Helier are thankful we’ve got no fixtures until next Saturday.
But it’s another point, on the road as well, and that’s always a good thing.
It does show the best and worst of AFCW right now though.
Watching the goals for the first time this morning, while their penalty was a bit too soft for my liking, I can’t really see too much wrong with Piggy’s celebration.
It wasn’t really much of note, and I’m glad he didn’t give it the big one, even in front of their supporters.
Needless to say, we do still seem to have a soft underbelly. Going 2-0 down in the space of two minutes isn’t a good sign.
One wonders if we’re missing a Danny Bulman/Barry Fuller type even now.
Yes, Darius is back with us, but he plays as often as your editor does. Hell, I’m probably less likely to get injured – and I have foot inflammation.
But once again, there’s something about our squad. In a good way, too.
Heneghan’s header was just what we needed, and our lack of celebration suggested we could go and get something.
Which, on 95 minutes, we did.
For the second time in the space of five days, a youngster pops up right at the death for us.
Unlike Northampton though, there was no almost apologetic celebrations. Rudoni was in the right place at the right time, and I bet he’s still buzzing this morning.
As he should be. Hell, as we should be too.
Granted, Ipswich have a soft underbelly themselves, and they’re winless for a reason.
Most “big” clubs in this division are ordinary most of the time, and even moments of Championship quality are matched by as many moments of dross.
Remember – Morecambe beat Sheffield Wednesday yesterday.
In our case, as good as it is that we can keep coming from behind (fnar), it’s still a problem to begin with.
Robbo knows that, hence his post-match comments, and I believe the players do too.
It’s a problem that in truth we’ve had for a number of years, certainly as far back as the NA era and probably before that.
Do we lack a Darius on the field? Maybe as the transfer window shuts, we can find that one motivator who can do the on-field concentration bit?
I’m not expecting any further signings, to be honest. I think we’ll be OK until January, and this lot do need to grow some more.
Robbo talked about how to “achieve something” (his words in the quotes), whatever that turns out to be.
Mid-table mediocrity? That would be nice, though I expect he’ll be pushing for more than that.
A Mario Pizza’s Trophy final, perhaps? Hell, given the way Arsenal are shit right now, maybe we’re aiming for the Carabao…
Anyway, a late equaliser pleased our fans, though the Ipswich lot didn’t sound too impressed afterwards.
Wasn’t there trouble at the station the last time our fans went to Portman Road, when they won in the very last minute?
As we attract more people to SW17, we will have to be a bit mindful that a handful will have watched Green Street too often.
I like the fact that we have never really had a “reputation”, but at the same time – I’m not naive enough to pretend it doesn’t exist with us…
We now get this week off, and we prepare for the delightful Karl Robinson to visit us next Saturday.
I’m sure he’ll get a very warm welcome, which he’ll no doubt reciprocate.
Unfortunately, it does sound like our ticketing clusterfuck is continuing, and there’s no guarantee the season tickets will arrive by next Saturday.
Amongst many other things, nobody seems to be able to take any sort of responsibility.
The club offers a few words and little else, and looking in from the outside, the DTB doesn’t seem to be particularly potent.
Are we really reduced to one or two people in the office firefighting, which has been suggested to your editor in the past fortnight?
While typing that last sentence, a not particularly pleasant thought has just occured to me.
Which is – how long before we get another Darlogate situation?
Back when the second version happened, the club’s admin was surpassing itself, which is why it inevitably happened.
One is left with the increasing feeling that something major is about to blow up, because we haven’t handled the move back home as well as we could.
Covid has been a big reason, but it’s not the only reason – and is certainly not an excuse.
We might get away with it, and it all eventually settles down. Though it might be better for the club’s long term approach if we don’t…