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Goals to Newcastle

If the Geordies had a supporters club in the capital of Sudan, would it be known as the Khartoon Army?

Coat not even taken off…

Just a brief (?) update on this sunny Friday, inbetween doing some actual work, on this past few days.

We went to Toonside, we saw, we failed to conquer after all.

That might be a little bit harsh, as losing by 1-0 at a Premier League side with a penalty is something you would have taken before the game if offered.

The trouble is, looking back on the game, it’s just left me wondering “what if…?”.

What if we had managed to have any sort of attacking prowess on Tuesday night? Although would that have ended up like Everton in 1978?

What if Mother Nature hadn’t cleansed Plough Lane of any Franchise traces so much? Would we have had more of a go with 8k of us in the ground?

What if Jake Reeves was playing? What if we never gave that penalty away before the interval? What if? What if…

To be fair, I expect we would have lost by a similar amount at Plough Lane, and it’s easy as a fan of a lower league side to forget that Premier League outfits are actually quite good.

It might not have been the full strength Newcastle side, but it’s not an expensive one for no reason.

Still, we’ve earned kudos and more importantly a fair amount of money, and 1500 or so of us seemed to have a decent time in the north east.

Although the trip up to the away section was fourteen flights of stairs, and it was slightly sadistic to watch people breathe heavily after such a climb.

There is no truth the nearby Royal Navy base uses it as physical training** for its new recruits.

** – as an aside, it’s surprising how hilly Newcastle and various parts of that area are. The walk from North Shields ferry to the town centre in particular springs to mind.

I can see why they’re thinking of moving from St James’ Park, and not just because it could cost up to £1bn to renovate it (though I’m sure the Saudis could afford it).

It would be a bit of a shame if they did relocate, as I quite like the fact that the patch of ground where the pitch is hasn’t changed since the 1800s.

And it’s a bit of an imposing figure when you drive into the city centre from Gateshead.

The locals were pretty accommodating, although it’s not the place to give it the big one – especially if you’ve got a cockney accent (as one of our junior kegheads discovered afterwards).

I bet it’s going to be fun when Chelski go up there in the next round.

Still, inwards and upwards, and the most important game of the week is in fact tomorrow at Salford.

The glamour of a Premier League side is great, but the sort of games we really need to do well in are in the League.

I know it feels like ages since we played in League Two, and Bradford now almost feels like a lifetime ago, but if there’s a good time to get back on track, tomorrow is it.

We need to start finding the net again, and with four semi-decent strikers there’s no excuse for them.

Goalscoring droughts happen to every forward and every team, and chances are we’re simply in one, but if we’re serious about the playoffs – we must get the goals.

Even in September? Especially in September.

I said I’d be brief (stop laughing) so will just mention the Plough Lane pitch, which apparently could be ready for action against Carlisle next weekend.

Obviously, don’t count chickens and all that, and the club is careful in stating it’s “scheduled” to take place.

But if we can play, then we’ve been very, very fortunate indeed.

I’m sure the pictures of the 9th at Wentworth pitch a mere couple of weeks ago will be in our collective memories for decades to come.

And it’s genuinely going to feel like a minor miracle when (or if) we take to the field against Carlisle.

I guess the tank under the ground split with the amount of water/pressure it had to deal with, rather than anything more catastrophic.

Whether that’s a design issue or something that just happened will remain to be seen, and I expect we’ll be doing some major drainage works this summer.

Also, if they put down the replacement turf today, that’s still just eight days for it to bed down.

It’s not going to be great, but the need to be playing on our own venue again is suddenly becoming more important.

That we might only lose two home games is nothing short of amazing, ditto not needing to groundshare after all.

Those wanting a return to KM for the Dodgy Dave’s Motor’s Cup might feel a bit disappointed right now.

But there is light at the end of the Plough Lane tunnel (almost literally) and once we vault tomorrow’s hurdle it will feel like another homecoming.

Of course, I don’t expect the next week to be smooth one bit, that’s what usually happens with us.

No doubt there will be plagues of locusts from Wandsworth, freak snow storms, and/or death of some VVIP cancelling everything.

Although as somebody said yesterday, even now the pitch looks no worse than Bradford’s last season…

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