Bit of an SW19 exclusive for you for starters. Today, I had the offer of leaving the glamour of the CCL and to take up a position in an executive box to watch the delights of Totteringham Hotspurz vs Brum City. As a service and personal sacrifice to my loyal and trusting readership, all two of you, I didn’t go (note: this was nothing to do with the fact that it was Spurz and would rather have swallowed schrapnel). However, a couple of others I know did. Transpires that one of the Spurz fans there, lifelong Poxyton Road ender, probably loves Glen Hoddle etc etc knows quite a bit about what’s going on. Transpires that Franchises’ proposed glamour friendly is set to be boycotted by quite a few loyal Spurz fans…..
Anyway, whilst that’s being chewed over, wasn’t Lawn 1 Green 0 an exhibition of skill, flair, excitement and talent? No, you’re right, it wasn’t. Mind you, after the fun and games of Wallingford last week, it was a bit post-Lord Mayor’s Show. Suppose we couldn’t really complain I guess, we could have quite easily become a cropper in these sort of games. That said, had our shooting contained as much impact as an Iraqi suicide bomber we could have easily scored 7 or 8. As it stood, we more or less dominated, and it wasn’t really surprising when directly after half time Sidwell netted. We hit the post a couple of times, that sort of thing. Keeps us in touch with whoever is ahead of us…..
Meanwhile..
Plus points: We won. Potential banana skin overcome. Clean sheet to boot. Good attacking.
Minus points: Ball. Net.
The referee’s a …….. : Expertly described thus : “He was a bit of a sensitive soul, and he got hurt whenever anyone said anything”. May explain why the Frimley player got sent off for foul and abusive language, although I would wager that the player merely asked the referee what game he was watching.
Them: You know how most teams who play us treat it like a cup final? Well, FG were no exception, insofar as they all came kitted out in exactly the same formal wear bought specially for the occasion. Doubtless Moss Bros in Farnborough High Street had a job lot of black suits knocking about. Major kudos goes to the FG goalie who told your humble and esteemed editor that he was in fact an Arsenil fan (that’s the FG goalie who’s an Arse fan, not me) after clapping anti-Spurz songs.
And, er, speaking of singing: Lots of chants today, predominantly of the anti-CK/MK variety. It was a dull game. Further ditties vocally expressed were “If you still hate Crystal Palace”, where plenty of people clapped. No, I didn’t, what’s the point? Anti-Spurz (see above) and Celsi got nice airings to boot, along with of course the Champagne Song. I await the first complaints on the content. Keeping it more contemporary, “Frimley keeper is our mate, he hates Tottenham” went down well, as did “You’re just a darts team from Surrey”. Special mention to the mild-mannered Main Stand, who went back to their usual comatose state after last week’s PISAing.
Weather or not I agree with you…: Warm. Well, OK, I shouldn’t have worn my Canadian leather but still. Mind you, the Athletics End still manages to be 5 degrees cooler than anywhere else.
Salutations: To the people behind me in the first half who wondered why I was writing stuff down……
Truth is stranger than fiction: (1) First ball lost after 20 minutes. Normally, we lose 4 by this time. Sort it out. (2) The standard of the kids penalty shootout matching the standard of the first team. Coincidentally, which well known Womble hoolie’s offspring gave a two fingered salute to our fans after he scored a penalty? Little acorns, and all that. (3) “I Love Eamo” t-shirts being sold. What’s the betting TE will quit tomorrow? 🙂 (4) Being totally dis-interested in the Grand National. Who won anyway? And don’t say “a horse”.
Point to ponder: Spotted it in the back bar beforehand, and also in the kids penalty shootout – the amount of youngsters sporting AFCW clobber is something quite pleasing. Not to mention quite astounding. Seriously, how do we do it? I’ve heard stories of big clubs (Leeds has been named) where there are NO youngsters to be seen. And speaking of the absence of human life…
Franchise FC watch: Lost 4-2 to the bottom club. Guffaw. Can I really be arsed to write much more about them? After all, nobody seemed that bothered about finding out ANYTHING on what they were doing during our game today, so I don’t think I’ll trouble that much more until they manage to annoy me sufficiently.
Anything else? Yeah. W2K beat AFC Wallies 3-1….
So, was it worth it? Um, suppose so. It was a nice sunny spring day, the birds were singing, the trees a-rustling in the April breeze…
In a nutshell: Keep on keeping on