We came, we saw, we almost conquered…
I managed to get into the game yesterday through other means (thanks to all those who helped), although as it turned out there were a couple of spares yesterday morning.
And those there got to witness Jason Arday 1 Karl Robinson 1. Disappointing, yet excellent at the same time, if that makes sense.
Disappointing, because conceding in injury time like that is always massively shit. Especially when you think you’ve almost got away with it.
Excellent because, well, have you seen our injury list right now? And a list that got bigger as the game went on as well.
To be honest, I would have accepted a point beforehand, and to quote one of our players afterwards, it was a fair result.
No, I’m not being all vagueboy, but as regular SW19 readers know – I have difficulty recognising them even if they stood in front of me with their name on a placard.
The contest itself? Well, it started off pretty rubbish, with Cambridge having the upper hand for too long.
That said, they didn’t really test us properly, and if anything we had the first proper attempt – Whisper crossed for Stockley, only for him to head into the arms of their keeper.
It was that kind of game, really. Us sitting back, hitting them on the break, that kind of thing. Good for tactics, not so much for serenity.
But another cross into the box for Stockley, and after he appeared to miscontrol it – he didn’t.
Indeed, you could see it going into the net as soon as he hit it. The goalie probably did too.
What was weird was that it knocked the stuffing out of them, and we could have got more if we had anyone other than a 33-year old up front.
Of course, it doesn’t help when Whisper goes down in the box, tries to get up, and has to limp off about two minutes later.
I’m not sure what queue is longer – the one for the bogs at half time, or the one to see Bobby Bacic.
Speaking of the break, it arrived. And then you realise we had 45 minutes to defend that one-goal advantage.
Which nearly was eradicated by 47 minutes. We can thank the ever-alert Bursik for keeping out what would have been a horror start to the second half.
In fact, he was the one keeping us in it. Well, that and some absolutely dreadful shooting by Cambridge.
You almost sensed it would be our day when Bursik turned the ball onto the bar and it fell into his arms in a scramble.
The trouble is, when five minutes of injury time is awarded, that’s still a long time to ride your luck.
And inevitably, it ran out. Although I have to admit, I thought it hit the side netting at first.
Sadly, it didn’t. And then we’re all wondering if we’re going to lose the game instead, although weirdly we had as many chances as they did.
If there’s a part of the game we deserve credit then it’s right after they scored. We could have easily wilted, because we were clearly running on fumes, but I don’t think they had much of a sniff afterwards.
Did we deserve to win? Not really. Did we deserve to lose? Maybe, maybe not. But a draw away from home is never a bad thing.
Many people weren’t that confident before the game, with 3-0 gubbings aplenty predicted, so if anything this was a bonus.
JJ seems to think we did well, although I’ll pick up on something he said a bit later, but I’m struggling to remember the penalty incident he mentioned.
Actually, I wrote all the above before reading his comments, and it’s interesting how similar they are. Although I expect most people would have said the same.
Anyway, we’ve got two weeks off now (I’m not really counting the Jersey Mike’s Trophy or whatever it’s called now), and I think we’ll need every second of that downtime…
Plus points: We didn’t lose. Bursik. Stockley’s strike. The hard graft from everyone.
Minus points: We didn’t win. Their 91st minute equaliser. Looking like we’d concede. Whisper’s injury.
The referee’s a…: He didn’t do enough to annoy me, to be fair.
That said, Sasu went on one his amazing runs, and as he was about to enter their half the official got in the way. Probably in so much awe of him doing so that he had to get a closer look.
Them: Also depleted, although it suggests the big problem we’ll continue to have until we start getting some proper funding, namely strength in depth.
They could have gone top had they beaten us, although for large parts of the game I didn’t think they were all that.
I guess when they managed to miss yet another chance it wasn’t going to happen for them, so they were definitely relieved when they did equalise.
The Abbey Stadium has seen better days though, at least their main stand has, so I can see why they’re looking to build a new stadium.
And doesn’t that kind of update remind you of the very initial stages of returning back to PL, with submitting those we’d-like-to-be-involved-in-the-next-big-project-please documents?
As you can gather, I was surrounded by Cambridge fans, who remind me a little bit of ourselves really.
Like Oxford, they’ve never really had that much association with the nearby centres of learning, even with their old badge, and I wonder what the international students would make of the local area.
Cambridge is a popular away day, although your editor realised yesterday he’s only ever been to Cambridge, MA.
Yep, I’ve never once ventured into Cambridge, Cambridgeshire itself (and only been to Oxford town centre once too).
I think it’s because a lot of the “educators” in the colleges would end up annoying me before too long.
That said, historically and probably today, it’s apparently not a bad place to practice your Russian…
Point to ponder: As JJ alluded to in his post-match comments – should the game have gone ahead?
There is something a bit farcical about so many L1 fixtures being postponed due to international call-ups, and I can only guess in our case it was too late to do exactly that.
To quote a well-known AFCW celebrity yesterday, the club was damned if it did and damned if it didn’t.
In these types of situations though, we’re probably best to get through the fixture when it’s scheduled, and hope we come out of it relatively unscathed.
We got a point, could have had three, and it’s another fixture off the list.
The best news from yesterday, apart from not losing, is knowing we’ve got next weekend off. Everyone looks like they need a rest, and to be fair the coaches are going to give them one.
We’re kind-of lucky though, we’re actually getting some games right now. Imagine being a (proper) fan of a PL club, or a Championship one, where you’ve got three weeks to feign excitement about the national team(s) your players feature in.
Although that’s even more stark in L1/L2, where you’re wondering how your centre back is doing for the Nicobar Islands, and whether they’ll return alive…
Truth is stranger than fiction: 1) The entertainment in the Cambridge fanzone. The duo in Doyles in Phibsborough, Dublin all those years ago are no longer the world’s most painful covers band. 2) “Manchester City, we’re coming for you” – us after we scored. I didn’t know we’d be in the National League next season either.
Anything else? I’m not really going to speculate on the article that came out about Ryan “Plastic” Bertrand, that came out before the Franchise game.
I expect there’s a lot more to the whole thing than just identifying talent, although that’s a commendable aim in theory (and one that Peterborough have used to good effect in recent years).
He and his backing would be unwise to ignore the off-field finance issues, but that’s the case for anyone else looking to buy into us.
Although our debts and general modus operandi aren’t actually that big in comparison to similar clubs, it’s just that right now we’re trying to pay them off with the modern day equivalent of a paper round.
I’ll wait and see what is actually proposed, although the club sent an email this week informing us that we’ve gone into a period of exclusivity in negotiations – presumably with Bertrand.
This is more of a general point though, and I thought of it whilst seeing this about Shrewsbury Town.
Friedel (who passed the Fit and Pwopa Test a day or two ago) is another ex-footballer getting into club administration, and you have to wonder if he and potentially Bertrand will be part of a new trend.
These footballers have earned a lot of money, and the smart ones will have kept it. Not all will want to go into management or media, and in Bertrand’s case his mum took him to Canary Wharf when she worked in one of the big offices.
The law of averages will state some ex-players will want to become businessmen, and no doubt some will become very successful.
So yes, it’s an ego trip for them to start buying into clubs, but that’s not exactly a new thing.
If anything, it makes a lot of sense for players to buy into clubs, in an industry they know very well.
No, they won’t have the money to buy even a L2 side outright, but I think the days of one or two tycoons investing are passing.
The money to shell out each season is too much for an individual who isn’t a billionare, and consortia seems to be be the way forward.
If you’re part of a consortium looking to purchase, why not get an ex-player fronting you?
I doubt if Friedel will just be there as a mannequin at Shrewsbury, he always seemed quite a smart fella.
Whether potentially Bertrand will be the same I don’t know, although reading news stories about his business acumen is interesting.
In our case, we’ll have to wait and see what is actually proposed, but we might end up being one of the first test cases in club ownership.
Although one wonders what players-turned-club-owners will think when they’re on the other side of contract negotiations…?
So, was it worth it? Well, we didn’t lose. And it was a nice day.
In a nutshell: Thirteen days off.