Finger licking good, as the white goateed one would have said.
It’s a good job that I now do “proper” SW19 match reports on a Sunday, because yesterday finished way past your editor’s bedtime.
And AA Route Planner 3 Antique Map 1 proves all good things comes to he who waits after all.
The weather was mild, the confidence was a bit dented after Cardiff (where to be fair we gave a much better account of ourselves than the 4-1 scoreline suggested), but with a sense that we might do all right.
So it was a bit of a surprise to find out that the game had been postponed to 15h30.
More on that later, and hanging around for an extra half hour always manages to be frustrating.
But we finally kicked off, perhaps we were a bit second best to everything, though not in any real danger.
Then along comes Tilley’s opener, which came out of absolute nowhere. Almost literally too.
It was one of those ones where he looked like he was going to cross it, and it’s only half-way before you realise the ball is heading goalwards.
And yes, he’ll claim he meant it.
That really seemed to fire us up, it may have been one or two more added before we actually got the second.
Marcus Browne might prove to be invaluable in the run-in (watch him get injured now), and his strike came at the right time.
A few minutes before the interval, a very quick thinking throw by Hippo found a dawdling Bradford defence and an alert Browne.
Good run, good finish, and just proves what a bit of genuine quality in the side can do.
Hell, I’ll even forgive Browne for wearing gloves when it was nearer 13c than 3c.
Half time came, and plenty of scores were being checked** in that sort-of weirdness knowing everyone else is deep into the second half.
** – as an aside, does anyone have any recommendations for a mobile network that functions at half time at PL?
I’m on GiffGaff and the signal is so lousy it’s as useful as a Franchise fan in a brothel.
We were all cautiously happy, because we knew that Bradford were bound to come out fighting after the break.
Except they didn’t. Well, they clearly had a half time bollocking, and we kept giving away too many stupid free kicks, but them scoring didn’t feel inevitable.
If anything, we found the net. Matty Stevens was clean through, finished with aplomb, and even did the sit-on-the-LCD-hoarding celebration.
Shame it was given offside.
Not that it stopped us trying to get that third, which we did through a backheel by the denied Stevens. Disallow that, you bastards.
When was the last time you saw a goal scored by a backheel, by the way? I vaguely remember John Barnes doing it for Liverpool back in the days of analogue TV, and no doubt plenty will forward an Erling Haaland effort, but it’s a rare beast.
Still, it got everyone off their seats. Literally, when “Plough Lane, bounce around” got aired – it’s quite an impressive sight when everyone gets into it.
Hell, even the west stand put away their copies of the Guardian to join in. Even if it now means a few extra days in the osteopath for them.
It all seemed so easy, and carefree. So naturally, we let their player waltz through our defence to make it 3-1.
That was on 76 minutes, and I think everyone just looked at each other and thought it was going to happen again.
We still have some PTSD around the place. Maybe we all need some therapists.
To our credit, their goal woke us up and we killed off any threat from them. Bugiel and Hackford coming on seemed to make that difference, and by the time injury time arrived it was never in any doubt.
It would have been nice to have got a fourth, if only to wipe out Tuesday, but you really have to be ultra-churlish to find too many faults with that.
And yes, I know we have some people who follow us do have that state of mind.
For the rest of us, it’s a good end to what has been the February slog. This time of the year hasn’t been quite so bad this season, but we’ve still had Saturday-Tuesday-Saturday-Tuesday.
That we came out of that yesterday looking energised and potent is a good sign, even if we do need the break until Mansfield.
Against Cardiff, we weren’t bad but they were a Championship level attack (albeit with a L1 defence, which Plymouth duly exploited yesterday).
This was against a more typical L1 side, and everyone did well. Smith got MOTM, Tilley seems to be an inspired signing after all.
And a quick mention to Bauer, who despite showing some rustiness at times proved he’s a decent player after all.
We’ll need to upgrade throughout the squad in the summer, if we’re allowed to have some money to do it, but it’s been a good month.
And long may that continue…
Plus points: We won. Convincingly. Nobody played badly. Tilley’s goal. Browne’s finish. Stevens scoring again. Kept on pushing for more goals. Sense that this was no smash and grab.
Minus points: Should have scored more. Their goal.
The referee’s a…: Was doing all right until towards the end of the first half, when one of our players kicked theirs while the ball went out.
The ref didn’t do anything, and then acted out of sheer guilt afterwards. Surprised he didn’t disallow our third because backheeled goals shouldn’t be allowed.
Them: I’m not sure what was worse – their play or their coach driver’s ability to plan journeys.
Rumours that they were staying near Kensington seem to have more than a grain of truth to it, especially as they were delayed due to Chelski/the rugby union at Twickenham.
I know people outside t’smoke have an amazing ability to underestimate London traffic, but I refuse to believe they can fuck it up that much.
It’s the era of satellite navigation and instant updates. Did they carry a copy of the A To Z from 1972 with them?
Not that I want to give away teams any help in playing at PL, but if Hilton Cobham isn’t available then it wouldn’t be difficult for them to stay even at Slough or Reading and go around the M25.
To be honest, I don’t think them arriving late would have made too much difference. I don’t believe pro footballers are so fragile that a delayed journey completely puts them out of kilter.
Reading their fan views afterwards, it seems their manager decided to make a number of changes to a winning side, with hilarious consequences.
They looked like we did throughout December, although we should maybe give ourselves a bit of credit by playing well anyway.
Ninetowns returned to PL and was pretty much anonymous. His move was probably a step up but he could equally find himself on loan.
Decent turnout by their fans, although I wonder how those who left on our third felt when it was 3-1?
Point to ponder: Do we really need three more wins to be more or less safe?
If that’s true, and I don’t doubt it, it would be rather nice to get our L1 place secured before Easter.
Of course, to get those three victories will prove to be the hardest of the lot, although you can’t deny the confidence has grown since Notlob.
I’ve not felt we’re bad enough to be bottom four at any stage. We’re quite a decent side for the money we have available, we usually have some sort of game plan and as SW19 so often says – L1 isn’t all that.
I did notice some people last night were mentioning about looking upwards rather than down, and I can understand that.
Ten points off the playoffs is perhaps a bit of a stretch, but I would hope JJ and co would be setting a target of top ten.
That’s more than do-able, especially if we don’t have any major setbacks injury wise.
And yes, that’s a turnaround from a mere four weeks ago when it was a case of when, not if we’ll be in the drop zone.
Trying to win every game 0-0 doesn’t work with a defence that can’t defend, and it’s no coincidence that our switch to attacking is netting us points. And goals.
It might backfire at times, it did against Cardiff. But you can’t deny games like yesterday make you want to be there…
Truth is stranger than fiction: 1) It was pretty dead outside PL at 15h05. 2) The LCD board advertising “Nortmahton” tickets before it was hurriedly corrected in real time. Don’t worry AFCW, most people missed it 😉 3) Putting the floodlights on probably wiped out all profits from the extra 30 minutes drinking time.
Anything else? I had a look at the club museum whilst killing time yesterday, and it’s a shame that for various reasons it can’t be any bigger.
What we have on display is obviously pretty mandatory – 1988, 1963 FA Amateur Cup, the whole MK shit, Burnley and Leeds 1975, and even the Wombles.
I do wonder what they have in storage that they just don’t have room to put on display, though.
I’m sure there’s enough from, say, the 1950s or 60s that most people wouldn’t know anything about.
Something like when the club became semi-professional from amateur, for example. Which could be the 50+1 decision of its time.
True, there’s the Clive Leatherdale book(s) from many years ago, ditto the Centenary Book (and I hope the stuff Hammam wanted taken out was kept in storage and gets republished at some point).
The trouble is, a bigger museum would obviously require more space and probably more people to look after it.
Unless you have a retired person as a curator then you’d have to employ at least one individual to oversee it, for something that in truth most people won’t visit outside matchdays.
I’m glad it exists though, and certainly in the WFC era our history was criminally neglected. So it’s good that since 2002 we’ve been righting that wrong.
If you haven’t seen the club museum on a matchday, it’s worth a five minute browse. Though try not to notice that in the Wombles display, the description says “Remember Your A Womble”…
So, was it worth it? Of course it was.
In a nutshell: Wombles, bounce around.