Another game, another leave of absence from your editor.
Not really much that needs to be said about this – by all accounts, we pissed all over them, and if we could take corners better than an Isuzu truck this could have been painful. As it was, 3-0 sounds pretty much par for the course.
There is of course a dampner over all this – unless you’ve been living in somewhere like a cave, or in Frenzyville, you’ll know that Fi$her is no longer spelt with the “$”. In fact, they are very close to going bellyup and probably will fall out of the league before the season ends. Effectively making today null and void. I’ve got a long awaited SW19 article brewing in my cognitive area for when that day does happen, but suffice to say it’s going to be a bummer if Main has to give back the match ball and our points/goal difference gets reduced.
I’m semi-tempted to pop over to Furruk vs the Champions Elect tomorrow, all depends if I can be arsed on various factors though. Like whether I feel Clacket Lane’s withdrawal symptoms a bit too hard to ignore…
Anyway, thanks to the kindness of 1346 (and technical assistance from Jabod), there’s a report from today. Enjoy…
I’m writing this still thawing out from No money FC 0 Loads a’money FC 3. There was a biting easterly wind which really dampened the crowds’ atmosphere. To coin a phrase there were almost as many isobars as in a polar-bears packed lunch. Talk before the game was all around whether Fisher would complete the season, and whether this & the return fixture next Thursday were likely to be completely worthless. A dreadful playing surface made passing football difficult, and probably kept the score down to a level which hid the true gulf in class between the teams.
Plus points: Clean sheet . Main hat-trick. The coffee in the car waiting to get out of the Sainsbury’s car-park.
Minus points: Size of the crowd and lack of atmosphere.
The referee’s a…: Actually found myself agreeing with most of his decisions. Apart from when he booked Jake Leberl for winning a header when he jumped over their player.
Them: Not sure I recognised a Fisher supporter although I did chat to a FCUM supporter on the way out. ( He was visiting family down here over Christmas & clearly needed his footie fix. ). Their manager was quite lively & didn’t enjoy the banter with our supporters. Didn’t take kindly to the alternative view that he thought if Jake was booked for that tackle it should have been a red card. Offered to meet one of ours at half-time & reportedly climbed into the stand, although I don’t think any afters ensued. If any of their players were playing only to enhance their reputation / attract interest from other clubs, then I’m not sure it worked – they were dire. Also I wouldn’t recommend their number 3’s hairdresser either.
Three’s a crowd: 1108 there, pretty poor turn-out for a Boxing Day derby. Guess many more would have made the effort if it had been H&R away.
[SW19 editor interjects : to be honest, I’m actually quite pleasantly surprised that it was 1108. Remember, Fisher hardly have much support as it is, and they’re on their knees in a rather nasty way. Apparently there was a recent supporters crisis meeting and only 10 people turned up. Not good. Plenty of people would have given this a wide berth because of the uncertainty of the fixture. And those who weren’t put off by that had to deal with some pretty shitty transportation problems. At the end of the day, we took over 1k for a game that may probably prove irrelevant….]
Point to ponder: How did we only score 3? Were John Main & Tom Davis vying with each other for “miss of the season†with their efforts just before half-time?
Truth is stranger than fiction: (1) Your editors Mum got locked in the toilets & had to bang on the doors to be let out! (2)  Has there ever been another occasion when the match-day programme was produced by the visiting supporters? Full-marks to WUP for their effort at short notice. Better value for £1 than some previous efforts I can remember (Withdean £2000 hang your head in shame).
Anything else?: Hopefully that’s the last time we will have to go back to Champion Hill for a League game.
So, was it worth it?: On balance probably no ( But try telling Jon Main that). At least it was 3 points comfortably won .
In a nutshell: Just how many will we score next Thursday? With a full team / a bit of luck & a better playing surface we could see one of those CCL type games. Time for a Golden Mainy goal raffle perchance. Mind you I suspect TB may well be resting some of the first team with half an eye on the Bognor Regis game 2 days later.