(photo courtesy DSF)
Yes, I know I didn’t do a report for Wealdstone. Shit happens (actually, I wasn’t ill or anything like that, but I was busy doing some things that were really quite interesting….)
On the surface of it, Paaaaahhhhht 1 Rickay 1 sounded like every other game this season. Go a goal down early on, murmurings about whether DA should stick to van driving and then getting back into it and everyone feeling all right with the world. Scratch the surface and you’re half right. First half saw us concede a soft goal. It seemed to happen in slow motion (or was that our defence?) and it felt like deja vu all over again. Nothing was quite happening. Passes never going to the right players, that sort of thing.
And yet, in the second half, we had a David Cameron type metamorphication (is that a word?). We threw everything at them a la old style WFC. High balls. Low balls, sweet and sour balls, the kitchen sink, the waste disposal unit and the contents of a Mr Muscle oven cleaner bottle to boot. Barry Moore’s free kick straight after the second half started was the sort of goal you’d get on 90 minutes and everyone wondering why we couldn’t do that for the rest of the game. Today, we really should have won. And he even got booked for giving it to the ‘Rickay bench……
We hit the post through our #16 (some sub-editor is currently using the headline “So near and yet so Farr”), came close more times than is healthy and I’m sure we hit the bar. To quote a Womble after the game, “that was proper Wimbledon in the second half”. And it was. Whether it’s the new TE* or not I don’t know but today something started clicking. We looked hungry for a start. On another day we would have put four goals in the second half. And really, that’s all we ask.
* – is it possible to have some advertising hoardings on the roof, just like old times? I for one would kill to have the big John Lelliott sign back up again. Judging by the way they went out of business and ended up having to do a tie-up with Bovis, they clearly weren’t building a better London.
Oh, and wasn’t the handbags mass brawl kewl? Even better when their coach got sent off – reportedly started giving it some to our fans though…
Anyway.
Plus points: The second half – even our defence looked a bit more solid. More passion. The will to win.
Minus points: The first half. Defence still shit. Shooting as good as David Beckham’s attempts to keep his temper.
The referee’s a…..: Rather than waste your time and mine describing him, here’s how I transcribed his performance in teeline shorthand.
I’m sure you all agree that no further comment is necessary.
Them: Considering they were full time (as in, some of their players train full time), they weren’t that much better than we were. OK, they whipped us with a leather strap at times in the first half so much that we started calling them “master”. But there seems to be a lesson here – no matter what the team, get at them and they look as vulnerable as we do. I said it last time and it’s worth repeating – why shouldn’t we do to the money teams what everyone else has done to us for the last three years? Oh, and they lose one mark for the MK stuff – the song of small timers everywhere – and Justin Edinburgh loses 100000 marks simply for being ex-Spurz.
Point to ponder: Why was the game 1.30pm? Yes, I know you’re going to say “cos of the Ingerlund game innit?”, but what I meant was, why not 1pm? Or 12.30pm? Or even a Friday/Sunday effort instead? The reason I say this was because there quite a few mutterings about saying how little time they would have had to get home to watch the most important international game that day. Hadn’t the heart to tell them that Cyprus v RoI kicked off at 6pm 🙂 In all seriousness though, while international weekends give smaller crowds anyway, and the desire to keep people in the bar is of paramount importance, perhaps pissing some people off isn’t entirely worth a few extra quid..
Truth is stranger than fiction: (1) Had my first ever chicken kebab from that stall in front of the bars before the game. And yes, I do recommend them, although £4 is a little steep. (2) The amount of people looking forward to H&R away on Tuesday. Did somebody say “awayday”? Also, it’s quite amazing what a couple of semi-decent performances can do. (3) The realisation that we’ve drawn yet another game 1-1. What’s the record for most drawn result in one season? And more to the point, have we beaten it yet?
Anything else? Yeah – anyone see one of their subs giving it the big one at half time? Deliberately aiming the ball into the crowd proves really why footballers are fast becoming the most hated sportsmen going. Pity he wasn’t arrested for incitement (hell, if Vinny Jones got a ticking off at QPR once by a copper on the field for swearing…) I know there’s an argument for players being able to dish it out as well as take it, but I wonder if they’ll act the hard nut if there were no barriers between the crowd and themselves…?
So, was it worth it? Hmm, maybe. H&R will be be good though.
In a nutshell: Should have won.