Six more games…
If I’m being honest, I’m not sure what to make of Mornflake Oats 1 Full English Breakfast 1 in the end.
It was a game that could have been three points, more likely to be zero at times and yet one feels a good outcome.
There are quite a few reasons for saying that, which will hopefully become clearer the more you wade through this report.
Mind you, your editor could have been forgiven for thinking it was going to be one of those days even before I left London.
A couple of vehicles decided to go stock car racing between junctions 10 and 11 of the M25, allowing me to look at the scenery from my car for a good 45 minutes.
I eventually turned up at 14h15, and thankfully the team themselves had decided to turn up from the first whistle.
When Gordon netted after about 78 seconds, and the way we were going at them, you genuinely thought it was going to be one of those good awaydays after all.
Then Crewe got a free kick, we decided to go in for a half time cuppa when they took it, and they scored from an admittedly decent strike.
And then, well…
I’m not too sure what happened to us after that. It just became long-ball-to-midgets, as though we thought John Fashanu was playing for us again.
OK, the pitch didn’t help, and one or two other factors conspired against us, which is why it might not have been a bad point.
Crewe had the best chance, and come to think of it the only proper attempt on goal the whole game after they equalised.
A flick on from a corner was going in before their player tried to be flash and guided it over from two yards out.
The sort of thing we’d do.
Ironically, that seemed to wake us up a bit, and like the first ten minutes we were the better side for the final 600 seconds.
Not that we seemed capable of scoring, needless to say. And I think Jesus Christ himself would have been happy with the quality of our crosses…
The long and short of it is, yesterday solidified why I think we are playoff possibilities rather than probabilities.
To be honest, we didn’t look like we are good enough to extend our season, and as somebody next to me said – if we went up, we’d go straight back down.
I’ve long considered Easter the crunch time, and I stick by that. Though we always seem to be shit over that particular holiday period.
Seriously, even in the WFC era this time of year was usually a bag of excrement for us, although I do remember a televised 4-0 gubbing of Palace at Selhurst in the rain.
Maybe our game against Harrogate will be a repeat of that? Hell, the Met Office are even saying there could be downpours due next weekend.
We might need to learn where the goal is first, though.
Plus points: Scoring after less than two minutes. First and last ten minutes. Defence mostly doing OK.
Minus points: Their goal. Most of the game between 11 minutes and 79 minutes.
The referee’s a…: Darren Drysdale. But of course.
Crewe fans hate him, apparently, so you can imagine what our views on him were. Needless to say, he was his usual high quality self, which is why I consider this an ultimately good point.
Sometimes, I think players know when they’re going to get penalised for stuff the opposition get away with easily, which might explain some of our play.
Although the best summation of Mr Drysdale came in second half injury time, when he was suitably christened as a “bald Jesus cunt”…
Them: Not significantly better than us, and one suspects they’ll be playing Chesterfield next season too.
Their goal was well struck, to be fair, but were as good up front as we were. And they’re in the playoffs.
Gresty Road remains a strange venue. It looks a little like PL insofar as there’s three small stands and one big main one.
But there’s plenty of room at ours, whereas the away concourse yesterday was quite simply shite.
And that was with nearly five hundred of us. How do they cope when Wrexham or Tranmere or Bradford turn up?
They had a placard by the one tea bar proudly stating they had the EFL League Two Fan Experience Award from 2017. Which is a bit like a takeaway stating they have a four-star hygiene rating from 2021.
Crewe used to be known for their youth policy, before Barry Bennell took too much interest in it, although these days the only snotty nose herberts they produce are their wannabe ultras.
Still, it’s Easter holidays and they get two weeks off school. Wonder if they still require adults sitting with them in their stand?
Point to ponder: Do we have a lack of on-field leadership at the moment?
I say that, because when it went 1-1 our heads were lost and we didn’t seem to know what to do.
It wasn’t that we were totally hopeless during the game, the first ten minutes showed what we’re capable of, but it was then that we needed somebody to take everyone by their collars and shake us down a bit.
I don’t know whether Reeves fits that bill, though he’s gone off the boil. Although unlike Little at least he’s playing.
Lee Brown? Considering he’s the most senior player (I think), you would think it would be him dishing out the proverbial slaps, but it never happens under him.
Kelly, JJO’T and Balmer are too new here to mark themselves down as the alpha male of the squad, so who is?
Don’t get me wrong, we’re actually better in that department than we have been for a number of years.
I still remember the Mark Robinson era where Brown remains the one link to that disastrous past.
Our inability to score and win games we should expect to will cost us the playoffs. But while the former is always tricky in L2, perhaps our game management remains in the fourth tier…
Song sung blue: An occasional topic in a proper SW19 report, and while I rarely get to away games (a fact I was reminded of in the bogs afterwards) there were a couple of gooduns.
“Have you got a BMX?” to the twelve year olds behind the goal, along with some song to “Good Enough” by Dodgy.
One of their players got treated to “Nineties boy band wanker”, due to his haircut presumably.
At least he had a full head of hair, unlike the lino who was reminded about that on more than the odd occasion.
I’ve put this section in, because as you now know we got fined £8000 because we dared to celebrate a win over Franchise.
So, “You can stick your eight grand up your arse” got a pretty passionate airing, and if we did another crowdfunding at that time we’d pay it off with change to spare.
Oh, and “Franchise are crying, everywhere they go”. Why? Because of this masterpiece in proving why their fans are the biggest bunch of immature teenage girls in football.
Hope all three of them enjoyed their gubbing at Edgeley Park yesterday. I’m sure they’re already writing a 100-page complaint to the FA over it.
Truth is stranger than fiction: Gresty Road has an analogue clock. Apart from the Emirates, what other grounds have them these days? And if we’re going old skool – can we bring back those “A B C D” displays from the 1970s?
Anything else? It appears we’ve offered Bugiel and Little new deals for next season.
While one is with Lebanon and the other is off form to the point he didn’t feature yesterday, it’s a statement of intent by the club on building for next season.
The question now is – will either of them sign up?
Little I think might, because he’s mostly done well with Reeves this season and he clearly liked it here enough to join us from his loan spell last season.
It’s Bugiel where I’m not so sure he will be with us for 24/25.
Oddly enough, him being on international duty might not be the reason, if you consider (like I bet happened with AAH) his head might get turned from his team mates.
As far as I can work out, he’s one of a handful of players playing outside Lebanon, and probably wouldn’t be a bad earner amongst the squad.
But he’s a striker, not a bad one for the level, and he might be in demand and a potential free agent.
Apparently, he lives in Wiltshire, and if Swindon or similar came in with a similar offer in the summer – why would he turn that down?
At the same time, he does reportedly know what side his bread is buttered on.
Being a free agent in the summer is quite dangerous for a lower division player, as you’re not guaranteed to be picked up and you might have to go somewhere you don’t really want to go.
I’ve heard no stories of Bugiel being unhappy here, and if he does sign a new deal there’s the possibility of him getting a better transfer down the line.
Whatever happens, it’s clear we’re trying to do what we have done for so long and try and plan beyond the next transfer window.
And while it’s the AFCW equivalent of discovering fire about 790,000 years after everyone else did, it somehow feels like a massive step forward.
So, was it worth it? Get back to me if we get in the playoffs after all.
In a nutshell: Six more games.