Jesus fucking christ. You know, I wish this site was still down, as I wouldn’t need to write up Axe Wound 0 Beavers 1. It felt like I’d walked back into the worst excesses of last season. No idea, no hope, everything just going wrong. People think the sky is going to fall in after one loss, the Samaritans taking on extra staff to cope with a frenzy of calls from SW London, little guerilla cells testing their loyalty to The Cause by seeing how loud they can shout “DA out”, that kind of thing. I’m seriously tempted to copy and paste a bad match from last season, such is the feeling of deja vu.
OK, let’s put the knives out of harms way. Let’s be calm and collected about this. Perhaps the worst thing about today is that we have at least two weeks to stew on this. Yeah, I know we’ve got the FAC next week, but that’s different. Losing our unbeaten run sucks, and to do it in such a timid way sucks even more. Especially to a team that has our name, address and NI details.
So, what went wrong? Have we suddenly become a failure overnight? Probably not. What’s more likely to have happened today was this: we knew we were going to lose it before we walked out on the pitch. Seriously. It was as though last season just played on our mind too much. We looked different to what we have done this season, and it showed. Perhaps today might be down to a very simple thing that maybe, just maybe, a certain club always has the hoodoo over us?
I’ve always felt that we’ll be judged by Xmas (not 10 games). I’m not naive enough to think that these sort of performances will never happen again this season – they will. The key is that they’re few and far between. If these sort of things happen in one-in-four games, then I think that’s it for DA. The reshuffle would probably cost us a playoff place but that may be the chance to regroup and do it “properly” (ie no interim managership, getting the short-term and long-term balance right). If they don’t, well….
Anyway, is this enough for you? It’s bad enough having to do this, let alone think about RoI in Cyprus. Still, at least Scotland and Sanch cheered me up…
Plus points: Section temporarily removed due to unforseen circumstances
Minus points: Fill it in yourself.
The referee’s a……: Ah, let’s blame him. Chicken fucker. Actually, I’ll kill two birds with one stone here : Chalfers ye Buffet Slayer did me a spleen venting exercise that also doubled up as a BHT report from last Tuesday. Criminally, I forgot to put it up, but I’ll do so here (remember to use your back button after you’ve finished). Feel free to take everything written on Tuesday and use against the official today.
Them: Did a job and did it well. Managed to get rid of Curley early on and then took the scruff of the neck from there. Celebrated like they’d won the WC after the final whistle. Still, bet they end up losing the next three games on the trot, though I not too sure if we ought to feel flattered or even more POed.
Point to ponder: Lewis Cook. Why? Unless he’s a backup for Bubb, that is. Other thing is about Scott Curley. I gather that the management didn’t exactly put an arm around his shoulder when he came off. Now, on the surface that may not seem a good thing, but I noticed something last week whilst standing behind the dugouts: seems that Curley was, well, “pulling his weight” on occasions. Perhaps he can’t get away with being a hothead so much without the additional bits to his game? Anyway, don’t be surprised to see a replacement soon…
Truth is stranger than fiction: (1) Match sponsor was the Womble Virgins. Presume it means that they’ve never scored in their lives. A bit like our strikeforce at the moment. (2) Your humble and esteemed editor getting on Radio WDON not once, but twice. And I didn’t suffer a tourets moment, though the referee was tempting me. (3) I was doing NLP duties today, and I got slung out of the press box because of a meeting between the top steward brass and nice Mr Policeman at 3pm precisely. I know us press guys are as popular as a fart in a lift sometimes, but couldn’t they have waited until I’ve written my first sentence?
Anything else? No.
So, was it worth it? Section temporarily removed due to unforseen circumstances
In a nutshell: Gash.