And all seems well with the world right now…
No, I spent this fierce local derby at SW19 Towers, as I couldn’t get a ticket for today at GGL.
Although in all honesty, I was still having PTSD from the trip on New Year’s Day, which wasn’t helped by a shit view in a claustrophobic environment.
Add the entry price and the real possibility we’d lose didn’t exactly make me scrounge for a stub.
You can now mock me for my non-attendance, but when Sutton’s Twitter comes up with this, you know that wherever you are – it’s a good day.
Judging by the replies on that – our fans aren’t the forgiving type.
Those who went will be far better placed to say what happened, but I sense this is like where we left off from Colchester.
In fact, as I write this an hour after the full time whistle went, it feels like something has lifted.
I don’t know whether that’s confidence, whether it’s us actually being quite good, or whether it’s just us owing Sutton one.
Whatever it is – I don’t care.
It’s been irritating that we never seemed to turn up against them, the FA Cup games a few years ago too, and that partly explains the joyous mood right now.
I don’t dislike Sutton, and actually hope they do well when they’re not playing us. Even if some of those who have joined up since they got into the League will be at Stamford Bridge when we’re there.
But it’s seriously nice to have local bragging rights if nothing else.
As we’re making our way back on Thameslink/the 164 to wherever we reside (probably in Sutton itself), we can enjoy the glow of victory for the next week.
I listened to the game via WDON, as I was out for the first half, and I came in to hear they had hit the post.
Maybe that woke us up a bit, although lest we forget we hit the bar before our opener.
The Iraqi Scouser clearly needs his first goal, and there’s a possibility if he doesn’t get it soon he might be a half-season wonder.
But Ryan Johnson opened the scoring soon after, and if anything it seems to lift us.
I slagged off Pell a little bit after last Saturday, so I’m glad he doubled our lead with his first touch.
As for Tilley, perhaps we should be prepared to keep him more than Al-Hamedi right now.
I look forward to the reaction afterwards, not only from manager (who seemed happy) and players but some of our fans as well.
A couple really can’t help grinding their axes, can they?
As for anyone else with a soul, it might not last forever but you’d be entitled to enjoy this very early season purple patch.
We’re playing with intent, and a much more solid base, but we’re also playing with a lot of heart too.
You don’t need me to tell you just how different it already is from the last 24 months, even when we were unbeaten for that period last season.
No, we’ll get stuffed at some point, and that will prove to be much more of a test than the unbeaten run we’re on right now.
But you know what – even if we do, the ride this season is suddenly a fair bit nicer.
One final thing, which might be seen as a bit churlish. I know we’re currently third in the table (and imagine if the season finished now).
But can we wait until May for the “We are going up” chants? I don’t like us tempting fate in this manner…