I’m not going to do much of a report for Village 0 Suburb 4, as I’m not really sure there’s much to say. Well, that and the fact El Clasico is on…
We’re in the playoffs, likely to finish no lower than third (with the all-important second leg being at home), playing well enough without either breaking sweat or bones, and can now wind down sufficiently (ie not too much) before the real heavy shit begins after Grimsby.
Today could have gone badly wrong – not only could we have lost but in trying hard we could have had an injury to DK or any other important team member – but it didn’t. In fact, it felt like a pre-season friendly half of the time.
I’m not joking either – the weather felt a bit PSFish, we won without being much above second gear, and not many people seemed that interested. You half expected us to play a couple of trialists who complete a whole half, get subbed and never hear from again…
So, what? DK is looking like he’s finally discovered his shooting boots, and at just the right time too. Indeed, we look to have found that all important confidence that we’re going to need (winning the award for most obvious statement of 2011), but perhaps more telling in a season where I’ve never entirely believed we’ve had it.
Will we deliver? We’ll wait and see. But it’s a lot more promising than this time last month…
Plus points: We won. Handsomely. Without much of a sweat. DK netting twice. Ditto Luke Moore. Looking pretty comfortable throughout. No injuries. Qualifying for the playoffs.
Minus points: Would have been nice to get a nice 6-0 or 7-0er.
The referee’s a…: You got the impression after a while that he was being nice to Histon. Whether he felt sorry for them, or whether they gave him a nice cup of tea beforehand, or something else entirely…
Them: Relegated, and it shows. They tried hard, but you can see them in the Ryman Premier (or equivalent) this time next year. Really shocking how poor their crowd was too – no more than 20 behind their goal, and of a crowd of 750 we must have had 500. No wonder it felt like a pre-season game.
Point to ponder: Don’t we face a rather weird final three games? You may not see a full strength side put out in any of them, in fact TB is openly hinting this. And you have to wonder if that’s a good thing : on the one hand, we can’t afford injuries (as what happened to Aldershot under TB) – we won the Ryman Prem playoffs with a full strength side.
On the other hand – we’re playing well. Is it a wise idea to break up this team right now? What if we put a newbie in (say, Reece Jones) and he does well – does he play in the pressure cooker of the playoffs?
My guess is that we’ll stumble in the next three games as we will lose our drive – just like the run-in to the Ryman Prem playoffs. Of course, back then we knuckled down when it really mattered…
Truth is stranger than fiction: (1) A cup of tea costing £1. (2) Speaking of said beverage, anyone notice that the cups said “Liverpool’s Children Hospital NHS Trust”? You may write your own punchline. (3) Some decent music over the PA – Led Zeppelin, Green Day, Cast, and various other things you get from a Top Gear Compilation CD. Mind you, that is probably considered avant garde in that part of the world.
Anything else? £14 for a pre-season friendly is a little steep.
So, was it worth it? Indeedy.
In a nutshell: It starts again properly in under three weeks time.