The sequel to Wombley : The Return. With extra bangs and whistles to book.
So, then – Cardiff, not Crawley. Huddersfield, not Harrogate. Reading, not Barnet. Luton Town, not Cambridge United.
Oh, and St Evenage, Northampton, Burton and Rotherham again. I suppose you can’t have everything.
This is a brief update, because your editor is absolutely drained of energy. There’s lots I’ve missed out, and the whole thing needs a clearer head to process.
I’ll do a “proper” SW19 report tomorrow, when I’ve slept on it, but there’s a possibility many won’t be able to even get a light doze this evening.
I guess it really was the 9 years cycle that came good again (that and Walsall’s confirmed ultimate bottle job) that has got us another playoff final win.
While I would have liked to have won by more than one goal (and wasn’t Hippo’s strike a nice one?), we ultimately didn’t need to do too much beyond that.
Everyone got a 9/10 minimum today, some got 10/10 (including JJ, who got his game plan spot-bollock on) and you can’t say we didn’t deserve it.
I’ll probably repeat myself in the proper report tomorrow, but Walsall offered practically nothing. In a way, it might have been even easier than Plymouth in 2016 turned out to be.
You still have to turn up and win, and that’s exactly what we did.
One could argue we earned playoff promotion not just at Wombley today, but at Notts County in the first leg of the semi-final.
We rode our luck, and then some, but it seemed to bring this team – this squad – together at the exact time we needed it.
You just have to look at the (non) celebrations after the semis, that the job was 2/3rds done. Now, it’s 100% completed.
I said in one of the last updates that us reaching this stage wasn’t a fluke, and us getting promoted at the end of it wasn’t down to luck either.
It was hard graft, everyone knowing their role and doing it diligently, some discipline I haven’t seen in a good while, and because we’ve done that we can now enjoy a massive pissup.
JJ looked exhausted, maybe he was a bit overwhelmed by the whole thing, but considering the brickbats he got in his first season, he might well take a quiet moment of reflection during this evening’s frivolities.
Plenty will hail the contribution of Craig Cope (who deserved the applause he got afterwards while walking on the pitch), and we’ll need him to step up this close season.
But kudos have to go to Terry “Skiv” Skiverton and the under-the-radar help of Dave Reddington as well. You almost forget they’re there, but you’ll notice it when they’re not.
And yes, there’s a fair bit of work that needs to be done between now and next season. But you know what? That can wait.
Whether you’ll spend it getting hammered, or sparked out on your sofa, tonight is to be enjoyed.
It’s been a shitty six or seven years watching AFCW, and this makes up for the games of utter wank.
If you can’t enjoy it, you’re either trying too hard or you’re a Franchise fan (and boy am I enjoying being a division above them at least for now).
Most of us are though, and you’re fully entitled to.
So if you can, grab thyself a beer, guzzle it with glee and just think of how good getting promotion is again.
Because football is fun. Especially when it’s like this…