If we get into the playoffs, if we pull out a stonking 3-2 victory against Fi$her and book our place in the CS, we can look at Margate 0 Benidorm 1 and at what could be our turning point of the season.
In a season which has seen plenty of reverses back to the old Wimbledon (Braintree at KM, fucking up the next game etc), this was yet another one. Remember the tricky ties we used to get through in ye good olde days? We weren’t that special in the first half, but in the second I think you could say it was a tad of an arse whipping.
Some neutrals and people trying to be objective will try and convince you that really, the game should have been a draw. Bollocks. Even without RB, we got behind them enough times to have doubled the lead, and it was only their goalie who denied the tap fixer and SS (I think). Some Margate fans will go one step further and claim that we weren’t really that good and slag us off. Ignore them, they’re only pissed off because their first team went out of the Champions League…
So how come we’ve become quite good all of a sudden? I think it’s something I wrote last month about players stepping up to the plate. Dwayne Plummer is starting to do that, but the whole team has been lifted. Whether it’s because RB’s injured and they know they have to do it themselves I don’t know, but I ain’t complaining. While we’ll probably lose on Saturday now, we are just starting to hit form at the right time.
I’m going to try and write a report in the usual style, but there was a slight problem. Basically, the weather was a bit on the nippy side and made writing nigh on impossible. I’m not kidding, the rain was horizontal and I’ve never seen people go for a piss simply to get warm from urinal steam..
Plus points: We won. Clean sheet. Banana skin avoided. Dwayne Plummer’s goal.
Minus points: Weather. Shite journey
The referee’s a…….: Thought he gave far too many free kicks for them. Got called a “sadist” by more than a couple of Wombles, but that was because he was playing too much injury time for our body temperatures.
Them: Nice to see that they were so determined to stage our game at their place, they didn’t worry about little things like building the stadium. Seriously, they had two sides built and the other two sides were presumably in the planning stages. Dressing rooms as portacabins, that kind of thing. Didn’t meet many Margate fans due to the segregation in order, though if their messageboards are anything to go by, it’s just as well. Had a drum and an airhorn in operation, though presumably that was to keep warm.
Daaaaaaahhhhnnnn to Margit: If you want a good reason why people go abroad for their holidays, just look at Margate sea front. Basically, it’s grubby 60s style amusement arcades, bingo populated by night shift cleaners, couple of chippies (some closed) and an air of grim decay. Margate’s “Dreamland” complex has to be the most misnamed product since Reg Davis’ Smart car. Some pikey looking locals as well, one of them threw an object at the kebab shop I was in. I know there’s a romantic view of British seaside resorts in some quarters, but you now have to be seriously hard up to go to them. Were these places really the highlight of the working man’s year…..?
Point to ponder: Are we better away from home at relatively low key games? I know playing at KM these days always seems to put us a man down before we start. But last night, we had a few hundred and the players seemed less frightened to fuck up. I think the time has come to re-evaluate KM, and put down the safety certificate as being 900.
Truth is stranger than fiction: (1) The weather. No further comment necessary. (2) Not being able to use the bar, which did cause one or two Wombles to come close to a nervous breakdown. (3) Friendly stewards, well aware of the problems involving Ramsgate. Probably the least potential for trouble last night at a “big” away game (ie not your Cobham type games) for some time. (4) Dunno what our turnout was, but I’m not too sure whether it was disappointing or a miracle. Suppose we’ll get slagged off for it not being 2000 though.
Anything else? Yup, DA’s high fiving of seemingly the entire turnout afterwards. It says something that I can’t explain at the moment.
So, was it worth it? Of course.
In a nutshell: Expect normal service to resume Saturday.