onetruekev – Random Mutterings

Third Day Of A Seven Day Binge

After all, that is just what it feels like as we reel from game to game at this time of year. I was going to use this title around this time last year as we were due to play our fourth of five games in quick succession against Charlton Athletic on New Year’s Day, only for it to be postponed less than twenty minutes before kick off due to the ineptitude of the referee. The song is one from Marilyn Manson’s 2015 album, “The Pale Emperor”, and reflects a feeling I used to know quite well.

Quiz time answer – until Barnet won the National League title last season to take the outright record of most titles at that level, which other team did they share it with at three wins apiece? Macclesfield Town, who have won that title three times, but only been promoted the once as their stadium wasn’t up to standard the first time they did.

The Barnet piece got three times as many views and reads as these usually get, as someone had put it on their forum. They are a much friendlier lot than the Birmingham City fans were last season when someone did the same.

It was another loss on New Year’s Day in that game, and we had chances to equalise, and their keeper made a great save at the end to deny Louie Watson’s effort, but it would have been an undeserved point as we rode our luck in not being half a dozen down within twenty minutes.

The January transfer window is going a bit mental, it’s only the fourth, but we now have five signings, the rumoured one of Jonny Russell, the Northern Irish U21 defender did come to be, but there was another in before him with Tobi Adeyemo coming in on loan from Watford for the rest of the season, a striker and another who counts as an U21 and so doesn’t count towards the squad size. A couple of wags on the forum were quick with the chant of “there’s only two Adeyemos.” Something which brought back memories of repeatedly watching the Danny Baker video “Own Goals And Gaffs”, where there were a couple of gaffs from John Polson, and when a clip came up of another Norwich City player making one, Baker came out with chant “two John Polsons, there’s only two John Polsons”.

And then as I was checking into the hotel last night, we signed Akin Odimayo who had been on a short-term contract with Newport County after being released by Northampton Town in the summer. He is another defender and is on an eighteen-month contract. He is another player to have previously played under Scott Lindsey (as Swindon Town).

As for today’s opponents, it is the CTFC derby as we play Cheltenham Town. We have played them twelve times in the league, all in League Two with six wins, five losses, and a draw. In Cheltenham, the record isn’t so good with two wins, and four losses. We also played them in the Capital One Cup back in 2013 losing them 4–3. Going back to non-league days we had one random season being in the same league as them in the sixties, the seventies, and the eighties, before five consecutive seasons in the nineties (at least I think so after going boss eyed looking at the seasons on the CTFC History web site), winning five, drawing five, and losing six in those seasons, there were also a draw and a loss in the Southern League Cup back in 1970, and a loss in the FA Trophy in the 87–88 season.

Isaac Hutchinson who spent half a season on loan with us in 2022 is in the Cheltenham squad on loan from Bristol Rovers and is someone who seems to bust a gut trying to prove a point against us since, both for Bristol Rovers and Walsall. He is the only crossover between the squads today. Others to have played for both include Will Ferry, Josh Payne, Tom Nichols, Tyrone Barnett, and Pablo Mills amongst others.

There were a couple of programmes from pervious meetings in the collection.

As I said in the previous piece against Cheltenham, there were no football cards for them due to when they cam into the league, but since then the Panini album has come out so there are a few stickers with their players on.

And whilst in the charity shop yesterday I found an old Rothman’s annual from 1991, and their manager, Steve Cotterill is in there in the Wimbledon team photo. He’s on the middle row, third on the right. He is back at Cheltenham Town for his second spell there as a manager, taking over a couple of weeks after our game against them earlier in the season, and they have improved their results a lot since then. He also played for the club back in their non-league days, and was born in Cheltenham for good measure, definitely one of their own.

With Helen still not a hundred percent match fit, I made the journey over by myself and stopped at a hotel on the outskirts of Gloucester. Which is a blast from the past, I have stayed here a lot over the years as until a few years ago the company I work for used to have their largest office on the Barnwood estate. And the building opposite used to be where and mail I got from Lloyds TSB came from, but they are no longer here either.

Usually when travelling solo I go by train, but I drove by myself. I hadn’t thought about it before I set off, but it is the furthest I have ever driven with only me in the car. I hate driving, and usually only do short journeys by myself. Any longer ones have Helen with me, and we tend to share the driving (lopsidedly I suppose). But yes, at the age of fifty-five, it is my first solo hundred mile plus drive.

We start the game three places and eight points behind our opponents (as opposed to being three places above them when we played and beat them at home back in September). And after the defeat on New Year’s Day, we are now another point behind the trajectory from 2022-23.

Up nice and early and into the still awakening town centre, the car park I chose was well decorated with street art.

Picked up the Football League paper, and it has more quotes of the season and Scott is in there again “What’s disappointing for me, and I’m kind of confused and hurt by it, is that the same group of players beat Bristol Rovers 4-0, yet we turned up today and, I don’t want to be disrespectful to Under-10s, but we played like Under-10s”. (From the Boreham Wood FA Cup game.)

Somehow, I’d managed to spend most of the build up for the game under the distinct impression that it was the same as any other early kick-off this season and starting at 12:30, so it was a bit of a shock to see it was a 12:00 kick-off. But that is fine, as usual I was at the ground ridiculously early anyway.

At the ground, the club shop is compact and to my dismay they have sold out of fridge magnets and only have pencils, not pens. They don’t do programmes either, just team sheets.

Which indicate three changes from New Year’s Day, with Reece Brown back in the starting lineup, and new signings Jonny Russell and Tobi Adeyemo starting. Geraldo Bajrami and Theo Vassell drop to the bench with Ryan Loft out of the squad completely, I’m assuming due to the injury picked up in the last game. The other new signing, Adin Odimayo, is on the bench. There will be no ‘only two Adeyemos’ chants today, as Ade isn’t in the squad.

The heated air covers seem to have worked well enough, there are a couple of patches in the corners at our end which look a bit icy, but the rest of the pitch looks good. I’m happy that the sun is behind the stand we are in, no need for a cap or shades. I watch the linesman rough up his running route on the sideline in the shade to prevent slippage. I wonder if this game might not have happened if there wasn’t FSS pressure.

Cheltenham are in red and white stripes with black shorts and red socks, and we are in our all-black kit. Never a good sign, we haven’t been great in black all season. And my other team in red, the San Francisco 49ers wore an alternate black uniform last night in a game to clinch the number one seed and put in their most insipid performance of the season.

Looking out over the stands there are good views to the surrounding hills.

It isn’t a quick start to the game, almost as if no one really wants to be out in the cold at the silly early kick-off time. Cheltenham win the first corner of the game about five minutes in, it’s taken deep, and just about retrieved, laid back to the edge of the box and a shot forces a save from Harvey Davies.

Something looks different, it’s Jay Williams, he doesn’t have a bandaged head for the first time since November. Cheltenham attack down the left and a cross comes in, we don’t deal with it, and the ball is in the back of the net, fortunately the flag is up for offside long before the shot is taken. A long ball forward see Tobi Adeyemo wrestled to the ground, and unusually for one of our strikers, he wins a free kick for it. It is taken deep, and a cross in is blocked, it comes out to Jonny Russell and his attempted cross clears the terrace for ball loss one of the day.

We attack down the left and a ball inside to Taylor Richards sees him line up and have a curling shot which goes over the bar. It has been a very quiet half so far, as if everyone is still waking up, including the fans, as even they are muted compared with normal. But, saying that, it is still a lot better than the first twenty minutes on New Year’s Day.

Dion Conroy is taken out by a late challenge and is down injured, nothing but a quick word in passing to the Cheltenham player as Conroy gets treatment. Cheltenham get a corner which we clear and get forward and have a bit of play in the other half. We win a free kick on the left wing about thirty-five yards out. It’s swung into the box and headed out to Reece Brown, his shot is blocked, and Cheltenham break, come down the other end and win a corner. It’s headed clear by Williams.

We work it down the left, Josh Flint to Russell, and he puts a low cross in, and a Richards shot is well saved, we work it back in and there is a shot which goes just wide. Russell picks up a yellow card for a challenge in midfield, Which looks to be more due to the reaction of the Cheltenham players than for any contact made. The 1 on the back of his shirt is peeling off as well. In defence Charlie Barker is hacked down as he goes past a player come out from the back. No yellow for that. Please, just some fucking consistency from the refs would be great, that challenge and the one on Conroy were far worse than the one by Russell, yet we pick up yellows for sneezing the wrong way every fucking game. It’s a joke.

A long Cheltenham clearance is headed by Williams, straight at the back of Conroy, and it takes a great saving challenge from Barker to stop the Cheltenham player being in on goal. A throw comes in and Williams and Davies collide and both are down with Davies getting treatment.

At the other end we get a throw, and the long throw is the first view of Russell’s prowess, and it is a monster, it’s flicked clear in the middle of the goal and goes for a corner. It’s headed clear under the bar, and a Harry McKirdy shot is blocked, Russell shoots from the rebound and clears the terrace again for ball loss two. There are three added minutes at the end of the half, and nothing happens and the half time whistle goes with it at 0-0.

Into the second half and Cheltenham attack down the right, there’s a low ball into the box, and a shot is blocked and we scramble it clear. And have some patient build up before getting it out to Flint on the left, he beats two men and drives into the box, and his cross is deflected and forces a save from the keeper. We are having a decent spell of possession, and are pressing well, forcing a throw near the box, Russell comes over and launches another scud into the box, it is cleared and Cheltenham break and win a corner. We just don’t deal with it well (yes, I know, unusual for us), it pings about in the box, and a Cheltenham player pokes it in and we trail 0-1.

And almost straight from the restart we let a Cheltenham player run half the length of the pitch and take a shot from the edge of the area, which drifts wide right. We go up the other end and win a corner, it is headed clear, and we put it back in, and Harry Forster’s cross is just about scrambled away for a throw. Russell’s latest scud is also just about dealt with as well. We are keeping possession in the Cheltenham half, but can’t find a final ball in. (AGAIN)

Cheltenham have a quick break and get it into the box and have a shot saved, but they are quicker to the rebound than us and they bundle it in and we trail 0-2.

We try to attack down the left and Flint is pulled back in midfield, We win the free kick, but yet again there is no yellow card, a shirt pull back like that should be an automatic one, and it certainly would be if it had been a Crawley player doing it. The free kick goes into the box and is headed over the bar. We come forward again but as soon as we lose the ball Cheltenham break at pace and win another corner. It’s taken to the near post, and the header goes straight in, and it is 0-3.

I’m sure there are better things I could be doing with my life.

Later than usual, and probably far too late to do anything about the result we make some substitutions. Brown, Richards, and Adeyemo are off, and have been replaced by Dion Pereira, Jack Roles, and Kabby Tshimanga. And Cheltenham win another corner which we just about scramble clear.

It looks like the Russell long throw is how we are going to do most of our attacking. One goes in and all the way across the box, we retrieve and cross it back in but there is a foul in there and Cheltenham get a free kick. And again, another scud is cleared, we work it back to Flint, and his cross goes in and there is a clash of heads in the box. It’s two of our players, Williams is up first, Barker takes a bit longer and some treatment before he is back on his feet.

McKirdy clashes with a player in midfield, and there is a marshmallow booking for him. Roles gets taken out in midfield, and there are loud ironic cheers from the Crawley fans as the ref brings out a yellow card to book a Cheltenham player. During all that, the board had gone up to say there are six added minutes. There is no huff, there is no puff, and there are absolutely no houses getting blown down during that, and the final whistle goes on another loss, this one finishing 0-3.

Considering the manner of the defeat, the reception for the players at the final whistle was a good one. We don’t move anywhere in the table, but after the two early games, where FSS have pulled out all the stops to make sure they go ahead, none of the other League Two games beat the weather. It might have been better if ours hadn’t either.

A wander back to the car in the centre of town, and then a longer journey home than the one to get here, ten miles of which were stuck doing thirty behind a queue of traffic behind a grit spreader on the A40. Splendid views out over the rolling countryside. Definitely the best viewing of the day.

Quiz Time – When Cheltenham Town were last promoted to the Football League in 2016, which other side were also promoted from the National League?

And breathe. The festive period is over, and due to Cambridge United being in FA Cup action next weekend we don’t have a game now until Saturday the seventeenth, when we are at home against Notts County. Let’s hope the week off gives a chance for a bit more transfer market action, and for the new players to have a chance to bed in before we go on that rampaging winning streak to finish the season.

Come on you reds.

Devil’s Haircut

Well, playing Barnet, it had to be a hair reference, and with the way our season is going it needs to be this number twenty-two hit by Beck from 1996, from his fifth album – Odelay. Well, I had got a devil’s haircut in my mind.

Quiz time answer — Bromley were founded in 1892, which two current league sides (both in the Premier League) were also founded in 1892? Liverpool and Newcastle United.

After Monday night’s loss to Bromley we have reached the halfway point of the season, and although we aren’t in the relegation places, we are worse off for points than we were in the relegation haunted season of three years ago.

In sorting out directions to get to today’s game I found that I have been under a near forty year misapprehension about where Barnet were based. This is my first visit, and I always assumed that they were in northeast London near to High Barnet tube station. I didn’t realise they were from Chipping Barnet, and so are in northwest London instead.

Tickets for this game were only available from the Barnet website. Getting them was a terrible experience, worse than our old ticketing system. It says you can buy as a guest, but then kicks you out at checkout, couldn’t get back in as hadn’t set up a password, so had to register, then the amount of data you have to supply for my own and Helen’s tickets was illegally excessive. And the PDF they first sent was corrupted, so had to deal with their “customer service” to get a usable version. And they’ve refused to remove the account I didn’t want to set up. So I’ve reported them to the ICO for illegal data harvesting.

After the abuse of captain Dion Conroy on Monday night, there have been a number of statements. Harry McKirdy’s video was good, although an indication of just how much our fan base will moan about anything is that the first reaction to the video by one fan was to criticise McKirdy for what he was wearing. Subsequent statements have come from CEO Tom Allman, and the CTSA, calling for fans to get behind the team, and not to abuse the players. There was even a rare video of the owners where they gave Scott their backing and said to look out for signings in the January transfer window.

Speaking of which, reports in the Northern Irish press last night were that we have agreed a fee to sign Glentoran’s Northern Ireland U21 international defender Johnny Russell, so we’ll see how that goes.

Two new signings this morning, the first is experienced defender, Theo Vassell, from Barrow. Experienced defenders are a good thing, but the last defender signed from Barrow didn’t work out well. The other is free agent Taylor Richards, an attacking midfielder, who was let go between QPR in September after being on loan for part of last season with Cambridge United.

In between games I’ve been catching up on reading the last two editions of The Blizzard, this paragraph talking about legendary Wolves manager Stan Cullis, did raise a wry smile from me.

The other piece that caught my eye was the story of Joe Lapira and his very surprise cap for the Republic of Ireland on their ill-fated US summer tour in 2007. He was a college player and was invited to train with the team after twenty-five players had dropped out. If that wasn’t a big enough surprise, him getting on the bench for the Ecuador game came along, and to top that he goes on for the last seven minutes. He played professionally in Norway for a couple of seasons but never made a big impression. That he wasn’t a household name wouldn’t have bothered my dad, in his soft Irish lilt he wouldn’t have called him by name anyway, he’d have been ‘yer man’ or ‘eejit’ anyway.

There are a few programmes in the collection from over the years, both home and away.

There is no current crossover of squad players, but there has been a lot over the years, with this programme from the festive period in 2011 being an example, with John Akinde and David Hunt in our squad who both went on to play for Barnet, and in the Barnet squad there is Gavin McCallum who played briefly for us, and Izale McLeod and Mark Marshall who would play for us in the future.

Other players to have played for both include Luke Gambin, George Francomb, Jordan Maguire-Drew, Reece Grego-Cox, David Sesay, Dom Telford, Josh Wright, Josh Payne, Bondz N’Gala, Josh Dohery, and Barry Cogan, with another dozen or so doing so as well.

I mentioned for the Colchester game that I’d gone to the Proset 1991-92 season to find a card for them only to realise they had been relegated from the league. The team that replaced them were Barnet, so there is a card in there for them. It’s the manager/fixture list card with Barry Fry on it, looking much younger than he did when he was at the Broadfield earlier in the season for the visit of Peterborough in the Vertu Trophy.

Barnet hold the record for winning the Conference / National League title, as their title last season meant they had won it for a fourth time.

All of our previous eight league appearances against Barnet have come in League Two, with four wins, two draws, and two losses, with it being two wins, a draw, and a loss both at home and away. There was also a 1993 FA Cup tie against them which we lost. We also played them in non-league; in the Southern League Division 1 in 1965-66 drawing at home and losing away, in the 1969-70 Southern League Premier season again drawing at home and losing away, in the 1976-77 Southern League Division 1 season winning at home and losing away, and in the 2004-05 Conference season where we lost home and away. We also played them in the Southern League Cup in the 1967-68 season, winning at home, and losing away, and going out on aggregate. There was also a pre-season friendly against them in 1998 which was a home goalless draw.

The journey up to Barnet takes us through Wembley Park station and we can see the arch of the stadium as we trundle by. With our position now it is hard to believe we were celebrating there less than two years ago.

We go into the game eight places and thirteen points behind Barnet, who are just in the top half of the table. Not only does my usual spiel of the last month of us being in the relegation places if results go against us today stand, but it’s also now possible for us to end up bottom of the table, although with Shrewsbury playing Bristol Rovers it would take us getting a bad beating to kill our goal difference for that to happen.

Even for us, we are at the ground early, chance to go into the club shop, pick up a fridge magnet and pen. Programmes are online only. For an online offering there are a lot of adverts in it. And they don’t necessarily go for accuracy in it either as apparently the last game between the two sides in 2018 was played at Town Mead!

Once in the ground there is a massive indoor bar area, which is just what is needed on a freezing day. Food isn’t bad, even if it is a bit pricey. Yet at pitch side it is an odd stadium. Two decent stands, including where the away fans are, but then one half covered seating area along one side of the pitch and a grass bank behind the other goal. And they only bother with a working tannoy in the main home stand.

There are changes in the starting lineup from Monday night’s game, Gavan Holohan and Dion Pereira are out of the squad entirely, Ade Adeyemo and Reece Brown drop to the bench, and the two new signings start, and the two Harry’s start – Forster and McKirdy.

We are in our all-white kit with red trim and Barnet are in orange and black shirts and black shorts and socks.

And we start the game as if we’ve only just rolled in from an extremely late New Year’s Eve party. It is all Barnet. An early corner is half cleared but comes back and they win another corner.

We win a free kick in our own half and Dion Conroy tries a shot, which has neither the power nor direction to beat the keeper. Barnet come back down the pitch and win another corner. It is blocked and goes back to a Barnet player, and we tackle and concede another corner, this one beats the first man and most of the team and is headed in at the back post. Harvey Davies was down and claiming a foul. The ref tells him to shut up after awarding the goal and we trail 0-1.

And from the restart Barnet are almost in again, we give away a cheap throw, miss a tackle and a Barnet player has lots of time to shoot, Davies gets an outstretched foot to it and deflects onto the post and the follow up is blocked. There is no let up, they are through again, a shot pinball around in the box before being cleared. And they come again, this time down the left, a tackle just inside the box sees the Barnet player go down and the ref waves away penalty claims. Which is lucky as that looked a stonewall one.

We finally manage to get out of our own half, only for the ball to come straight back, and only a great saving tackle from Charlie Barker prevents another shot. It is like a fucking shooting gallery, there’s a blocked shot, and another shot forces a save from Davies, and it goes for a corner, which we head away for a throw.

There is a Crawley break, Harry McKirdy gets it in midfield and moves it onto debutant Taylor Richards who plays it to the left to Josh Flint who is playing as left wing back today, he drives into the box and shoots and the shot comes back off the post and is cleared. Predictably Barnet come straight back down the left, and the winger puts a great ball in straight to their number 9, who thankfully muffs the shot, and Davies gets enough on it to stop it.

At the other end Harry Forster works an opportunity and has a shot parried, and we put the rebound over the bar. Ryan Loft and Davies are both down injured, the ref takes ninety seconds before he allows anyone on to treat Davies, all the players are on the sideline long before that, and Loft needs replacing (if only I had a quid for each time I’ve heard or seen that kind of comment), and Kabby Tshimanga comes on to replace him.

When the game restarts Barnet win another corner, Forster gets to the clearance on the left, he beats two men down the line, cuts inside and is hacked down, bringing a booking for the Barnet player. The resulting free kick goes into the box, bounces around a bit, but is cleared.

We have shaken off the hangovers now. A Barker long throw gets to the edge of the area, and a shot is saved and scrambled away. We win it back and Richards runs through midfield to the edge of the area and his shot goes just wide right. Another long throw from Barker goes all the way across the area and the keeper collects. As he goes to clear he doesn’t check behind him as he puts the ball down, McKirdy nips in front, nicks the ball, and slots it in, and we are level 1-1.

Another Barker long throw into the box comes out to McKirdy and he tries a spectacular long-range effort which goes well wide. We are creating more pressure now and work the ball from left to right and Richards has another shot from the edge of the area blocked, it comes to Forster and his cross is put out for a throw. Barnet clear and surge forward and win a corner, the headed effort from it goes wide. Barnet get another corner, taken to the near post and headed over.

There are four added minutes at the end of the half, an attempted attack is broken up and Barnet stream forward again, passing it on and on and always seeming to have another player in space to get it to, the final attempt is put out for a corner which is flicked out for a throw and the half time whistle goes with the score at 1-1.

Out of the corner of my eye I can see tube trains rattling by, and the sun is setting over that way as well and the sky looks great, at least at half time I can get a proper look and a photo so I can concentrate on the game.

The second half starts with Barnet back on the front foot, getting a shot straight at Davies. But there are signs that the usual half time bromide ingestion hasn’t taken place as we win a ball, get it to Jay Williams, he plays it on to Forster who beats a man and crosses it in low, but it fails to beat the first man and is cleared.

Barnet get a corner, it’s cleared out of the box and then pumped back in, but the offside flag is up. Another Barnet attack, working the ball through the middle and a shot from the edge of the box goes just wide.

A long ball down the left sees McKirdy take it down well, beat a man and play Flint in, he is tackled in the box for a corner. It is headed clear from under the bar for a throw on the right. Barker hurls it into the box, and it’s headed out to McKirdy on the edge of the area and his shot is blocked and cleared. The other debutant, Theo Vassell gets a booking after Barnet win a throw as he puts a hand on a player as he runs it and the player goes down like he’s been shot by a sniper.

We make a substitution with Richards going off to be replaced by Louie Watson. Geraldo Bajrami gets to a ball in midfield and gets a shot off which is blocked. We keep it, McKirdy beats a man on the left and dinks a cross in towards Tshimanga at the near post, it goes out to Watson, and his shot is well saved for a corner. It comes to Bajrami and his shot is blocked, a second shot from Tshimanga is saved and a Flint effort goes over the bar.

Watson picks up a yellow card for kicking the ball away after the ref blows for a foul by Williams, a bit harsh as he was already kicking it as the ref blows.

The free kick is deep to the back post and put back across the goal and headed over, the first Barnet chance for a while. We can’t clear it out of our own half due to doing the fannying about goal kick routine and Barnet work it to the left and get another cross in and we head it out for a corner. We half clear it for a throw, which is taken short and played back to the taker, and it was crossed in and Davies somewhat flaps at it, and it goes to a waiting Barnet player who rifles it in and we trail again, 1-2.

From the kick off we attack and Forster, Tshimanga, and Watson link up and we win a corner. It is swung in and Barker wins the header, but it goes well over the bar At the other end a Barnet corner is headed out of the box, and a shot comes back in and takes a deflection and goes for another corner which comes to nothing. We make a couple of substitutions with Forster and McKirdy being replaced by Ade Adeyemo and Kaheim Dixon. But there is another Barnet attack, and another cross, and another header, this one sees a Davies save.

There are six added minutes, a ball into the box sees Tshimanga win a header and then the Barnet keeper runs into him and goes down like a sack of spuds, and the ref gives the diving piece of shit a free kick. Compare and contrast to the decision in the same place in the first half for the Barnet goal. Barnet attack and put a shot over the grass bank. Flint wins a corner, it is headed clear, Dixon wins and puts a cross in which lands on the roof of the net. Late late and there’s a long throw in from Flint and as that is headed clear the final whistle goes and we have lost 1-2.

It’s probably a fair result given the first twenty minutes in which we were dreadful. No idea if there was an announcement about the crowd numbers, as they don’t want the away fans to hear anything being said. Our fans were in good voice and there was decent back and forth between the two sets of fans.

Somehow the journey back always seems longer after a loss, there was some lovely art deco architecture on West Hampstead tube station on the way, but it’s another miserable return back to Crawley.

The loss sees us drop a place after Bristol Rovers beat Shrewsbury Town for their first win under Steve Evans. Harrogate and Newport both lost as well, so we are twenty-first as we start the new year.

Quiz time – until Barnet won the National League title last season to take the outright record of most titles at that level, which other team did they share it with at three wins apiece?

Next up, another away trip, this time to Cheltenham Town on another different day of the week as we play them on Sunday, and we desperately need to change the run of results we are on. Come on you reds.

Perfect Murder

It’s part two of the Robert Smith derby with the return fixture against Bromley. But I’ve already used both a Cure, and a Siouxsie & The Banshees track for titles for pieces this season already, so I’ve gone for a bit of a mix with this album track from the short lived group The Glove, which Robert Smith formed in 1983 for one album (Blue Sunshine) with Steve Severin of the Banshees.

Quiz answer time. After I mentioned it in the cards and stickers section of the previous piece, Colchester United were the fourth team to suffer automatic relegation from the Football League after it was introduced in the 1986-87 season. Which three teams suffered that fate before them? Lincoln City, Newport County & Darlington.

After the ultimately disappointing draw at home to Colchester United on Boxing Day, it’s on to the second game of four in the hectic festive period, and it is at home again against Bromley.

Reading The Football League paper yesterday, they had quotes of the season so far, which included two from Scott Lindsey: “I don’t understand how the chances are not going in. It feels like there is an invisible brick wall stopping the ball.” (after the Barrow game), and “It is clear we are millimetres away from being a good side.” (after the Walsall game).

Having only played Bromley three weeks ago, a lot of the usual pre-amble needs very little updating (i.e. just copy the lot) for me to be able to reuse in this piece.

Going into the game we are eighteen places and shit ton of points behind Bromley, who are seemingly unstoppable in second place in the league, and could go top with a win this evening, whilst a loss for us could see us slip into the relegation places if results go badly for us elsewhere (I may have written that sentence a few times over the last month or so). They come in off the back of a second half comeback against one of the few teams below us in the league, Bristol Rovers, on Boxing Day.

The two Harry’s — Forster and McKirdy both used to play for Bromley, and our assistant manager Neil Smith used to play for them and also used to manage them for a while as well. There are no ex-Crawley players in the Bromley squad, although they do have Dillon Addai, the younger brother of Corey in their ranks. Others to have played for both include Ellery Balcombe, Mason Bloomfield, Frankie Sutherland, Dennon Lewis, and Ryan Hall.

No cards, but there is a fall back now that there is the Panini album for this year’s EFL teams, I included eight of the twelve players included for Bromley in the collection this year in the previous piece, so I’ve gone for the shiny this time around.

With it being only Bromley’s second season in the league, we hadn’t played them before in the football league until the 3-1 loss away to them earlier in the month. And in fact games against them are scarce, there have only been a few competitive games against them, mainly coming in the FA Cup Qualifying Rounds, winning at home in 1977, winning in a replay at home in 1988, a loss at home in 1996, and a loss away in 1999. The only other game came in the FA Trophy in 2007 with a home win. We have also played them six times in pre-season friendlies, twice at home in 1981 and 1983 (programme below),

winning both, and four away in 1985, 2010, 2012, and 2023, winning all apart from the 2010 game which we lost 1–0. I have no programme in the collection from games against them, but after the piece for that game, Mick Fox has sent me a couple of images of excerpts from some of those old games programmes, one of which I’ve included above, and the other from the 1977 FA Cup qualifying game which I’ve included below.

And speaking of programmes, this is the second game included in our Christmas double header programme, and due to how the games fell it also includes a write up on the away game at Bromley.

The two Steve’s were doing selling duties outside before the game, when I left them, they only had thirty-odd copies left to sell out of the run of four hundred for the double header, so it has done well.

The away support may not have had the drummer that Colchester brought on Boxing Day, so it wasn’t obvious before getting in the ground, but they brought a lot more fans with them, and it was a packed looking away end before kick-off.

Helen still isn’t well enough to make it to the Broadfield, and a lot of those who sit around me didn’t make it either. I was feeling ropey when I got there myself, but a couple of hours of misery in the cold fresh air seems to have cleared most of my head cold out, I wasn’t a hundred percent, but I’ll keep the streak going for this season until the point it becomes impossible.

There are two changes in the starting lineup, with Gavan Holohan and Ade Adeyemo starting and Harry Forster and Jack Roles dropping to the bench of six subs without a keeper as usual. It is back to the table football colours as we are in our all-red home kit and Bromley are in their all-blue away kit.

Bromley start as they mean to go on by forcing a change of ends before kick-off, which is always annoying, and their fans are chanting to the tune of ‘Hey Jude,’ so they can fuck right off, I hate that fucking song.

It’s a cagey start; there are a lot of balls coming back down to the pitch with snow on them. Which seems the wrong tactics to be employing against a team of brick shithouses, was no one watching the game at their place twenty days ago? Josh Flint and Ade Adeyemo combine down the left and Flint gets to the byline but gets too much on his cross and it goes for a throw. A ball is played into the box down the right, but Gavan Holohan can’t quite get it under control, and it goes for a goal kick.

The Bromley keeper puts a ball over the east marquee for ball loss one, that might have ended up with the other ball on the roundabout. Ryan Loft is trying, he’s making a nuisance of himself closing players down and winning free kicks, but he’s not winning many headers as the two central defenders tower over even him. Ball two disappears quickly after ball one, with a hoof over the west stand.

It has been scrappy, which means only one thing, the first cross into the box from Bromley sees their prolific number 9 with the freedom of the box and he heads into the top corner and we trail 0-1.

Ball three disappears next, out over the side of the Eden Utilities Stand as Charlie Barker blocks a clearance at that end. We are struggling, as we seem to have done a lot recently, with that final ball just not happening, or just not good enough. Three crosses into the box don’t really find anyone, and the ball comes out to Barker thirty-five yards out, but his powerful shot goes wide left. A Holohan shot is blocked on the edge of the area and comes back to Barker, who shapes to shoot, but instead tries to play it into the box to a Bromley defender instead and it is cleared.

Dion Pereira is taken out in midfield as he tries to break. No idea why there was no booking forthcoming then. There is no TAFKAL on hand to try and encourage the Bromley players to get a move on when taking throws on our side of the pitch. Another decent Bromley cross is just about dealt with and cleared. A free kick given against Barker in midfield sees Scott Lindsey get irate and draw a yellow card from the ref as he disputes the decision.

Again, we work it down the right wing, but the cross is deep when there is no one out to the left. At the other end Flint blocks a cross and the ball goes out over the KRL Logistics stand for ball loss number four of the game (one over each stand), if it carries on at this rate there won’t be any balls left by the end of the game. The corner is taken deep and headed clear, but the ref has blown for a free kick to us anyway.

It would appear the ref is showing some consistency, as Dion Conroy stops a break with a foul in midfield and isn’t shown a yellow card either. Only for a Bromley player to get one a few seconds later for preventing us taking a quick free kick. We win a free kick about thirty-five yards out on the left wing, Pereira takes, but he slices it and it curls straight to the keeper.

Flint goes marauding down the left wing, he beats a couple of players and gets to the byline where is cross is blocked for a corner. It is taken deep to the back post and Barker gets on the end of it and heads it back across the keeper and into the far side of the goal and we are level 1-1.

Of course, we nearly make a hash of it straight away, giving the ball away on the right-hand side at the back and the cross comes all the way across the six-yard box and Harvey Davies does well to smother the shot out for a corner. The ref blows before it is taken to have a word with a few players about the pushing and shoving, and when it does come in, he blows for a free kick.

There are two added minutes at the end of the half before the half time whistle goes with the scores level at 1-1. That first half was like a negative image of the game at Bromley with the goal times nearly identical but the other way around in terms of who scored when.

We come out for the second half a good couple of minutes after Bromley take to the pitch, and we attempt an attack first, only for Bromley to break down the length of the pitch in seconds and get a cross in which their number 9 heads just wide. Then they get a corner, and we break from it, Reece Brown plays it forward to Adeyemo on the right wing, he plays it into the middle where Flint is the man furthest forward, but his touch is heavy and off to the right and Bromley get back to clear, a decent chance wasted.

Bromley come again and get a corner as Adeyemo blocks a cross. It is headed out from under the bar by Flint and cleared for a throw. It goes back to a Bromley defender in the centre circle, he is given a couple of weeks to decide to run forward and take a shot on from forty yards without anyone going near him. It takes three deflections on the way through and lands at the feet of the worst person possible and the Bromley number 9 isn’t going to miss from there and he tucks it away and we trail again 1-2.

We make a substitution before the restart with Brown being replaced by Harry McKirdy who is roundly booed by the away contingent. A long clearance from Davies is flicked out to the left by Loft and Adeyemo a shot from outside the box which is blocked and Bromley come streaming forward again and cut through us like a samurai sword, getting it to their number 9, who turns Conroy inside out and then strokes it past Davies for his hat trick and to make it 1-3. What we wouldn’t give for a striker like that.

A ball out to Adeyemo and his cross into the six-yard box is blocked at a stretch and goes for a throw. It is flung in long by Flint and Loft flicks on to Williams about five yards out who can’t get a decent contact on it, and it just trickles to the keeper.

It is turning ugly in the home terrace; they are booing the captain when he has the ball. It is not a good sound. We make three more substitutions with Adeyemo, Holohan, and Geraldo Bajrami going off to be replaced by Kabby Tshimanga, Jack Roles, and Harry Forster. Barker picks up a booking after giving away a free kick twenty-five yards out just right of centre. Nothing comes from it. The Conroy gives it away in midfield and Bromley try a shot from their own half, Davies is scrambling back towards his goal, but the ball drifts wide.

The terrace is now outright hostile towards Conroy barracking him, and as he tries to gesture for them to clam down they are chanting at him “Going to cry in a minute.” It’s not big, it’s not clever, and it helps the team how? Not at all.

Bromley players surround the ref trying to get Loft booked after a coming together, one of them puts both hands on the ref and still there is no fucking booking for this shit. For the fourth game on the trot, spineless refereeing in the face of intimidation. We work the ball over to the right and Roles’ cross is met by Loft and the effort is well saved by the keeper. We recycle and Roles has another cross which is blocked by a handball, and we win a free kick twenty-five yards out on the right-hand side of the box. It’s taken deep and put out for a throw. Taken long into the box and cleared.

The Bromley keeper then goes down with a tactical injury as all the Bromley players rush to the sidelines for new instructions. They also substitute off their number 9. Thank fuck for that. A ball into the Bromley box is headed out to Pereira on the edge of the box and he curls a shot in, but again it lacks power and is an easy save. And Bromley just break at speed again, Barker blocks a shot for a corner, it’s taken deep and put out on the other side for another one, it bounces across the six-yard box and evades everyone and goes for a goal kick with a big sigh of relief.

We get through and Loft is in on goal, but his shot doesn’t beat the keeper, and it doesn’t matter anyway as the flag was up well before he got the ball. There are six added minutes at the end of the game. Bromley win a corner and just play keep ball with it. When we do get out there is a ball into the box and Tshimanga finally gets it to a place he can shoot, but it is blocked. Another ball in by Conroy is headed out as far as Forster and his shot in is saved. A Loft cross is blocked; it gets to Pereira who shoots but that’s blocked and Bromley break again. Another ball forward see Roles attempt a speculative shot – guess what – it is blocked, and that’s the last action of the game and we lose 1-3.

The crowd was announced as being 4,058, with 1,004 very buoyant away fans in that number. Unsurprisingly there was no mention of a sponsors’ man of the match. Players coming round and applauding the fans is somewhat sporadic, and with the abuse thrown at them I don’t blame them. I understand the frustration of poor defeats and poor performances, but I don’t see how abusing the players is going to help that. Why the hell would they want to try if that’s what they are going to get.

The tactics against a good and physically strong Bromley side were all wrong, seriously, long high balls were never going to work against them, we knew this from the game earlier in the month, so why? The definition of idiocy is trying the same thing over and over and expecting a different result!!!!

Somewhat unbelievably we stay twentieth in the table as the three sides below us all lost. Newport won which takes them off the bottom on goal difference, but we are five adrift of Barrow in nineteenth, and eight adrift of Cheltenham who we play on Sunday. We can’t keep relying on the others beneath us to be dogshit for the rest of the season, we need to start getting some wins. Meanwhile, the win did put Bromley top of the table.

Quiz time – Bromley were founded in 1892, which two current league sides (both in the Premier League) were also founded in 1892?

Thankfully, this was the last game of 2025, with our next game being on New Year’s Day away at Barnet. 2025 has been a cacophony of shite and disappointment with us being constantly in the relegation places or a relegation battle in two different divisions. Let’s hope the new year’s resolution is to start winning games.

Come on you reds.

Good Grief

I heard this song on the radio whilst driving up to Morecambe before Christmas and thought of it again when I was writing the paragraph on penalty award celebrations. It is a 2016 single from Bastille, which reached number 13 in the UK singles charts and hung around on the chart for nearly half the year. The title of the track are not the words remembered from the song, but the more repeated refrain of ‘watching through my fingers.’ Which succinctly sums ups what it has been like for most of this season as a fan watching Crawley games.

Quiz Answer time – Swindon Town won the League Cup back in 1969, but which other League Cup winning side (in all its guises/names) have we played this season? Swansea City, in that exact competition way back in August.

After another of those games last weekend, away against Swindon Town where we come away scratching our heads as to how the hell we managed to lose that, it is into that ‘holiday’ period around Christmas and New Year where we play a lot of games in a short space of time whilst trying to work out exactly what day of the week it is, and wondering when we need to put the bins out next.

At least the travelling to and from Swindon gave me some time to catch up on the backlog of magazines which needed reading, with the latest copies of WSC, Late Tackle, Mojo, and Uncut being read. Notable to me were an article on it being thirty years since the Bosman ruling, and in an article on The Damned, how (as often preached on the Memories of Crawley Facebook page) UK punk really started in Crawley with a band called Bastard, founded in 1973 in Crawley by Brian James who later founded The Damned.

I had gone to my original fallback year for cards and looked for Colchester in the Proset 1991-92 season, only to not find any. Having forgotten that Colchester were the fourth club to fall foul of automatic relegation from the Football League the season before. So instead all I have is the stickers from this year’s Panini EFL collection, where they are the team which share a page with us.

There are a few programmes dating back fifteen years in the collection as paths have crossed in both League One and League Two and in cup action as well.

In all we have played them twenty-four times, six in League One, sixteen in League Two, and one each in the Football League Trophy and League Cup. Overall we have won eleven, lost five and drawn eight. At home it is seven wins, three losses, and three draws. The last game at home came late in the promotion season two years ago, when we lost 3-2 as Colchester scrambled to avoid relegation.

I was looking for squad crossover, only to not find any current crossover, but prior to last season that hadn’t been the case for nearly twenty years, there is a lot of crossover. In fact the latest programme in the ones shown earlier has Aramide Oteh in our squad who used to play for Colchester, and John Akinde, Kwesi Appiah, Tom Dallison, and Tom Eastman in the Colchester squad list who used to play for us. In fact the latter of those is on the Colchester squad list for all the programmes I have against them.

Others to have played for both include Izale McLeod, Billy Clarke, Dean Howell, Josh Doherty, Sanchez Watt, Josh Payne, Billy Clifford, Thomas Pinault, Magnus Okuonghae, Beryiy Lubala, and Luke Gambin.

Going into the game I did have some words of warning for our fans. DO NOT CELEBRATE IF WE GET AWARDED A PENALTY. The reason being twofold for this, first up obviously is that in the last two games, such a decision has been overturned (after unpunished surrounding of the referee by the opposition players), and secondly, as the three awarded prior to that were either saved (two by McKirdy), or missed (Loft). So if the referee does point to the spot, there is to be no celebrating until after the penalty has been; a. taken, b. scored, and c. not disallowed for any genuine or spurious reason dreamed up by Mr Magoo and the rest of the officiating crew. It is definitely a case of watching through my fingers.

Going into the game we are ten places and thirteen points behind Colchester United, who sit just inside the top half, whereas we are a point outside the relegation places.

We left Morecambe at half seven this morning to drive down, and made it back to Crawley before two, enough time to change and get to the ground, only Helen has been stricken with illness on the journey, which was clear apart from the ridiculous queue on the M40 as people queued for Boxing Day shopping at Bicester Village, and the usual lunacy around the southwest corner of the M25. I got to the ground in time to pick up a programme, which Steve Leake had been doing another sterling job of selling with only a handful of the 250 they’d prepped for today (another 150 held back for Monday night).

Walking out of the underpass I could hear the large contingent of away fans and their drummer making lots of noise before kick-off (something they kept up for most of the game).

We are in the all red with white trim home kit, and Colchester United are in yellow shirts, blue shorts, and yellow and blue hooped socks. It looks as if we have the same starting eleven from the defeat at Swindon Town last Saturday.

An early long throw from Josh Flint is headed back out, and Dion Conroy plays it back to Geraldo Bajrami near the box, he slides the ball into Harry Forster and his shot from a tight angle is saved and then cleared.

Jay Williams wins the ball in midfield and gives it to Bajrami and he plays it out to Dion Pereira on the right wing, and he drives forward, then cuts inside and shoots, but it curls the wrong way and goes wide for a goal kick, Colchester attack down the right and beats Flint for pace and gets a cross in which Conroy puts behind for a corner which is taken low to the near post where Reece Brown is pushed over and we get a free kick.

A ball out from the back by Flint down the left wing to Forster sees him go deep and get a cross into the box where he finds Brown in lots of space, he tries to cushion it down to Ryan Loft but just stabs it wide for a goal kick.

Ten minutes in and the first seasonal ‘get on with it’ is yelled by TAFKAL as Colchester get their first throw on our side of the pitch. Colchester attack and win a corner, it is swing into the near post and headed clear. A Colchester striker pushes Conroy over as he passes back. He gets a long talking to (it’s his third similar offence), but there is no yellow card forthcoming.

From the free kick it is played to Bajrami, and it’s played on to Jack Roles, he slips it to Brown on the edge of the box, he turns and shoots and it beats the keeper and we lead 1-0.

Colchester break quickly, good passing and they are in the box in no time only to be stopped by a great sliding tackle from Bajrami. Another Colchester break and the cross in isn’t really dealt with, a shot forces a decent save from Harvey Davies, but it falls to another Colchester player who curls it past Davies and into the net and we’re all square 1-1.

We respond with decent move out of defence with a ball to Roles in midfield and he plays it out to Pereira on the right wing, he plays it back to Charlie Barker and he puts a cross in which is deflected wide for a corner. It is taken deep and the keeper is out well to claim. We win a free kick on the right wing, Forster takes it short to Brown, and on to Roles, who’s cross is put behind for a corner. And again the keeper claims easily under his crossbar.

At the other end the Colchester number nine finally picks up a yellow card, it appears to be more for a dive than a foul this time though. We have some concerted possession with it being pinged around all over the place and I think every player on the team getting involved before we get a corner which is swung in and there’s some head tennis in the box until the offside flag goes up.

Lots more possession but we lose it in midfield and Colchester break quickly and fortunately play it forward too quickly and the offside flag goes up. But Colchester are looking dangerous on every attack / break. A cross in is not fully dealt with, and half cleared, put back in, cleared again, only for Colchester to go down the other wing and get a cross in which between Davies and Conroy they manage to bundle behind for a corner.

There is one added minute at the end of the half. The corner is tipped over the bar for another one, it is punched half clear by Davies and the shot back in deflects twice before Davies gets his body on it before the half time whistle goes with the scores level at 1-1.

The second half starts with us at least trying to be on the front foot. An attack down the right sees the ball worked into the box to Forster and his shot nutmegs the keeper and nestles in the back of the net, but the flag is up for offside, so it doesn’t count. Roles gets fouled heading towards the box, only the ref doesn’t see it like that and Colchester break and have a shot which deflects for a corner. It’s taken low and hard to the near post and is put behind, the ref gives a goal kick, we’ll take that but not convinced it shouldn’t have been a corner.

Going up for a header see Bajrami get steamrolled by the brick shithouse, which is the Colchester number 33, who picks up a booking for it. We make a couple of substitutions before it is taken, with Bajrami and Roles going off to be replaced by Gavan Holohan and Harry McKirdy’s return from injury.

A free kick in our own half is pumped into the Colchester half and there are lots passes and keep ball, but it seems – as usual – we can’t find that final killer ball or shot and Colchester clear. It’s starting to get a bit chippy out there and the referee is letting a lot of it go. Only for Jay Williams to pick up a booking, which the ref suggests is from totting up, which is weird as he hasn’t made any previous fouls, and this one wasn’t a foul.

More subs, with Forster and Brown being replaced by Ade Adeyemo and Kabby Tshimanga. It doesn’t take long for Adeyemo to get involved, exchanging passes with Flint down the left and the latter gets to the byline and crosses, but it’s put out for a corner. It’s taken deep and the ref blows for an infringement.

A ball into our box sees the ref give us a free kick, whilst the fans behind the goal are screaming for a penalty. Their number 14 stops the free kick being taken quickly and hits the deck like an extra from Platoon, the ref ignores him and the free kick is taken when he gets up. Colchester make a whole raft of substitutions with the number 14 and 33 both being withdrawn as part of them, probably for their own good.

Colchester win a corner as we fail to deal with a couple of crosses into the box. We just about manage to clear the corner. Colchester attack again and a player is down in the box. The ref waves away penalty shouts. We may have got away with one there as there was definitely a shove in the back there.

We make our final substitution with Pereira being replaced by Louie Watson. Colchester attack again and we just about manage to clear, only for them to come again and they have a shot from the edge of the area but that goes well over the bar. We do manage to get out with a ball from Flint to Adeyemo down the left and he puts a cross in, McKirdy shoots and it is saved, Tshimanga follows up and his shot is saved well, but it falls to Loft, only for him to put his shot wide.

There are four added minutes at the end of the game, a long throw from Flint goes into the box but it is cleared and Watson picks up a booking for stopping the break. A Colchester clearance goes way over the west stand for the first ball loss of the day. Barker slings in the long throw and Loft flicks on only for the ref to blow for a foul somewhere in there. Colchester come away with the ball, and it ends up going for a goal kick which as we take the ref blows the final whistle and it finishes all square 1-1.

Another drawn home game where we had chances to get a winning goal but are unable to convert chances. It is ridiculous just how many failure to converts we have had this season, so many points dropped from either an unwillingness to shoot, or the inability to be able to hit a cow’s arse with a banjo when we do deign to shoot. Whatever, there is no shortage of moments to have to watch through our fingers.

The crowd was announced as 3,993 with an impressive 796 of them being away fans. And for the first time in a while there was a sponsors’ man of the match announced, with it going to Reece Brown.

Anyway, a point somehow lifts us up a place in the table to the heady heights of twentieth, as Shrewsbury lost, and Bristol Rovers somehow managed to throw away a 2-0 halftime lead to lose 3-2 against Bromley, who we face next.

Quiz time. After I mentioned it in the cards and stickers section of this piece, Colchester United were the fourth team to suffer automatic relegation from the Football League after it was introduced in the 1986-87 season. Which three teams suffered that fate before them?

It has taken me a lot longer than usual to type this up as I’ve been sat with Helen as she’s been watching a Bridgit Jones marathon which has been a lot more distracting than I thought it would be possible to.

There is little rest time at this time of year, on to Monday night next and another home game, this time the first return fixture of the season as we welcome (possibly stretching the word really) Bromley to the Broadfield, twenty days after we visited them and had another of our trademarked second half capitulations. Here’s hoping for two first half performances.

Come on you reds.

Magic Style

Coming to a game at Swindon Town, when their ground is only just off the infamously named Magic Roundabout, only prompts me to take one of the two early nineties rave tracks which used the theme from the Magic Roundabout in their songs. I’ve gone for Badman’s ‘Magic Style’ – which limped to number 61 in the UK singles chart, as it’s the wrong season for Mark Summers’ ‘Summer’s Magic’ which was in the chart at the same time and was more successful, hitting the top thirty.

Quiz answer time, how many other sides have we played this season who have been managed by Micky Mellon? Three – Fleetwood Town, Shrewsbury Town, and Tranmere Rovers.

After the rollercoaster, but ultimately disappointing 2-2 draw against Oldham Athletic last Saturday the League Two grind continues with a cross-country journey to Wiltshire to visit Swindon Town.

Did anyone else notice the error added at the top of my piece in the Oldham Programme? I didn’t put the score (or teams) at the top, so someone had added it for me, but they wrote it as Salford 3 – Reds 4. If only that had had been the case. (And did you see they won their next home league game 4-3 as well, this time coming from 3-1 down in the second half and getting an injury time winner.)

I spent a lot of time condensing down the last two match reports to having two or three photos and about a thousand words each for the next programme. I hate editing so much. By the time it gets to the next one, I need to work out how to cram five matches into four pages.

With the programme selling pre-game on Saturday I didn’t get a chance to get my ticket for the Swindon game, so I wandered over on Monday lunchtime. Now, I’m not saying that we always go in the Downsman on the way back from the Broadfield, but I had turned and gone up the steps and was at the door before I remembered I hadn’t been to a game, it was only lunchtime and I had to get back to work.

When I picked the ticket up, I thought I was getting a normal ticket, but it would seem that as there is advertising for Specsavers on the ticket, I must have got one of the ones reserved for the match officials instead.

Tuesday saw the player of the month winner for November announced, with Harry Forster being the winner, thoroughly deserved in my opinion.

Ever since Cambridge United won their FA Cup second round tie, I’ve been repeating the mantra in my head for when the rearranged game should be, something along the lines of “any week apart from w/c 9th February”, so of course it has been rearranged for that week, so unless there is another postponement to that game for adverse weather, it scuppers what is likely to be my only ever chance to do all forty-six league games in a season. I’ll now be practising my rain dance for adverse weather to get it postponed to another date. Watch out for stories of the strange English bloke appearing to be doing a rain dance in the middle of the Uffizi gallery on that Tuesday.

For some reason I was convinced that Perry Digweed had played for Swindon and I spent some time looking for a card for him, only to realise he didn’t play for them at all, and it was a different ‘dig’ I was remembering, Fraser Digby, of whom I did have a card from the 90-91 Proset collection, and to add to my confusion (or maybe it is what caused it), he was a goalkeeper as well.

Also in the same collection is a rarity which features the current Swindon Town boss, Ian Holloway, playing at the time for Bristol Rovers (yeah, more southwest locations for him). And the rare thing? He has hair.

There were a plethora of programmes for games against Swindon in the collection.

A few stood out though, with this one being from THAT FA Cup run and a game against them in the 2^nd round in 2010, we drew that one and went on to beat them away in the replay.

Then I looked at this one as it would appear to be the home debut for the ill-fated short-term manager, Matthew Etherington, who wouldn’t survive until the end of the month this programme is from. And opening the programme up, we find Scott Lindsey, who was coming to the end of his time as the Swindon boss, and who would replace Etherington as the next (permanent) Crawley manager the following month.

The return fixture from that season is an oddity as well, it was the final game of the season, and had been moved to the extra bank holiday Monday as it was King Charles III’s coronation on the Saturday, I can’t think there have been many programmes with the reigning monarch on the cover. And on the day, they had a big fanfare for the announcement that Michael Flynn would be becoming their new manager for the next season, which didn’t go well.

That was during the peak smoke flare time, and several were launched down from the back of the stand, the main problem being those doing the throwing were shit at throwing them and were hitting our own fans without them making it to the pitch. We had clinched survival the previous week, but a 2-1 loss to finish the season did sum up how bad it had been that year. Yet we had more points at that point in the season than we have this season, which is worrying.

There is a fair bit of crossover in the squad today. As previously mentioned, Scott Lindsey was Swindon Town’s manager before taking over at Crawley in his first stint. Dion Conroy, Kabongo Tshimanga, Harry McKirdy, and JoJo Wollacott have all played for them as well. And Rushian Hepburn-Murphy, Ben Gladwin, and Ronan Darcy were all playing for Swindon under Scott in that season before he moved to us. In the current Swindon squad there are Crawley old boys Will Wright, Tom Nichols, and Ollie Palmer. Others to have played for both include Nicky Ajose, Gary Alexander, Anthony Grant, Mark Marshall, Luke Rooney, James Collins, Josh Lelan, Kellan Gordon, and Nathan Byrne.

There have been a lot of games between the two, with the two aforementioned FA Cup games, and last season’s Carabao Cup encounter there have been twenty-two games in total, with nine wins, seven draws, and six losses. At the County Ground, there have been four wins, two draws, and four losses, with our last game there being the 6-0 drubbing in the August of our promotion season.

Any mention of Swindon Town has me at least thinking mackerel, if not saying it out loud. This dates back to the early noughties and the Soccer Saturday drinking game, where if Swindon came up on the screen, the last person to shout out ‘mackerel’ had to do a shot. One of many, many ways to drink oneself into a coma by five o’clock on a Saturday afternoon. It came from Swindon Town being the only English or Scottish league side whose full name didn’t contain a letter from the word mackerel. (Dundee were the other team requiring a shout out, they were the only side not to contain a letter from the word football.)

Going into the game we are the mere eighteen places and nineteen points behind Swindon, who are in the automatic promotion spots and have more than double the number of points we do. We are a point above the relegation places, but with Bristol Rovers playing last night, and only getting a point from that usual new manager bounce, we can only end up in the relegation places if Harrogate get at least a point and we lose by fourteen.

The train journey over was a blast from the past. I regularly made the trip to Reading for monthly team meetings as it was equally inconvenient for everyone around the country to get to. The train didn’t stop there, but I did the wonderfully named Winnersh Triangle as we trundled through.

Being in Swindon early meant a chance to wander around taking photos, loads of street art on display.

And to poke in charity shops, where I found a wonderful array of books suited to a stats freak like me.

In the ground nice and early to pick the most favourable seat for me after nipping in the club shop and getting pen and fridge magnet, and a programme. A programme, which at four quid is at the pricey end, and is now a shadow of what it was on my last visit.

I check the lineup and there are two changes from last week’s starting lineup against Oldham, with Geraldo Bajrami and Dion Pereira starting, and Kaheim Dixon and Ade Adeyemo dropping to the bench.

We are in our all white with red trim kit as Swindon are in red shirts and socks and white shorts. Much to the disgust of the home support Dion Conroy wins the toss and swaps ends.

It’s a slow start to the game. Geraldo Bajrami is down and needing treatment as something has hit him in the face. Ryan Loft slides into a tackle in midfield a bit late and comes off worse.

The first real attack sees Josh Flint bring the ball out from midfield and take a shot from the edge of the area which is easily saved. At the other end Swindon fans are claiming handball as Harvey Davies picks the ball up right on the edge of the box.

Back on the attack, Flint and Jack Roles link up well down the left, and the former’s cross is deflected for a corner, which is flicked behind for another on the other side. That’s taken short and put out for yet another corner, but the attempted whatever goes out for a goal kick. A free kick is won on the right by Reece Brown in line with the edge of the D, it’s crossed in and cleared.

Dion Pereira turns his man inside out on the right and pings a low cross into the six-yard box, Harry Forster gets to it under pressure but can only poke it wide for a goal kick.

Swindon attack and get a free kick just outside the box on the left. They shoot and it goes well over the bar. Pereira drives down the right and into the box, he is tackled and goes down and the ref points to the spot. He is then surrounded by Swindon players, and it is Deja vu all over again as he changes his mind and gives a corner. Absolutely un-fucking-believable. And no action for surrounding the ref. The corner is cleared.

Again there is decent play from Pereira down the right, he plays it to Loft, and then on to Brown who crosses, but it’s claimed by the keeper. Then down the left Forster whips a cross in which Loft gets his head on, but it goes wide. A free kick on the left from Forster goes straight to the keeper.

A long Swindon clearance sees some hesitation and Davies comes out of the area and clears with his shoulder as the home fans scream for a handball. A shot in the box is blocked, and they are screaming for a handball again. But as it hit someone’s backside it just shows they don’t know their arse from their elbow.

Forster picks up a yellow card in midfield. Bit soft. A Brown shot on the edge of the box is blocked. A long throw from Flint is hacked clear. There are a lot of touches in and around the box but struggle to get a clear chance and there is another blocked shot from Brown. We win the ball back in midfield and Roles has a shot from thirty-five yards which takes a deflection and the keeper prevents going for a corner.

Another long throw from Flint is flicked on by a Swindon player and Loft gets on the end of it and it is blocked on the line for a corner. It is cleared and Swindon break and get a corner of their own which Davies punches clear. There are two added minutes which are our most frantic defensively of the half, and the half time whistle goes with it scoreless 0-0.

It isn’t a slow start to the second half, Pereira teasing the Swindon players before playing it to Roles, he plays it into the box to Forster, and he isn’t tackled and we get a corner. It comes across and Flint, Brown, and Pereira all attempt shots before the ref blows for a foul.

Another Flint long throw into the box and Loft tries an overhead effort which goes out for a goal kick. Swindon come down the left and into the box, Pereira treads on the back of a boot, which comes off, the player goes down and the ref points to the spot. We don’t surround the ref, so the decision stands. Ollie Palmer takes, sends Davies the wrong way and we trail 0-1.

We win the ball in midfield put it over the top to Forster in the box and he’s tackled for a corner. It’s taken deep and Charlie Barker gets his head to it at the far post, but it just goes straight up and the Keeper claims. A good ball out from the back by Bajrami finds Brown who plays it on to Pereira who’s cross is put behind for a corner.

Swindon clear and attack themselves only for us to clear long. Loft does well to get on the end of it and hold it up and is fouled on the right about thirty-five yards out. We make two substitutions with Ade Adeyemo and Kabby Tshimanga coming on to replace Bajrami and Forster (who typically, having won November player of the month has probably his worst game of the season). The free kick is cleared back to Roles, and he puts it back in and Flint has a header, but straight at the keeper.

Loft does another excellent job harassing defenders and wins the ball and then a throw. It’s taken long by Barker and headed for a corner, which is cleared for a throw which comes back to Barker and his cross drifts out for a goal kick.

Swindon break and look to be in in goal but Dion Conroy does well to get back in and block the attempt. At the other end a Swindon player is down getting treatment. Another swift Swindon counterattack sees Davies have to make a smart save down low. Jay Williams gets a yellow card for preventing another Swindon break in midfield and we make two more substitutions with Gavan Holohan and Louie Watson coming on to replace Roles and Brown.

A ball down the right and Pereira puts another good cross in and Adeyemo connects at far post and forces a save. Then a ball down the left sees Adeyemo win a corner only for the offside flag to go up. The board goes up and there are eight added minutes.

Another ball into the box, a shot blocked and it spins for a corner. It’s taken deep, flicked clear and booted high into the stand. We’re keeping the ball in the Swindon half, a long throw from Barker is put behind for a corner which is headed clear. It’s put back in, we’re keeping the pressure on, and cross sees Barker on the end of it, but not enough power to trouble the keeper.

We are struggling to find that final quality ball or shot. Then Pereira is fouled twenty-five yards out just right of centre. Conroy pings it right to Barker and his cross is booted high over the stand and the ref blows for full time rather than let us take the corner and we’ve lost again. 0-1.

The players traipse over in dribs and drabs to applaud the away fans, but it’s a subdued atmosphere. The performance and heart were there; it’s that lack of quality at the end of moves which is killing us.

Despite the loss we stay twenty first in the table as Harrogate took a hammering from MK Dons.

The crowd is announced as 8,172 with there being 213 more subdued than usual away fans. Their loudest and most coherent chant was the ‘you’re not fit to referee’ after the overturned penalty decision.

Post match curry location was changed as I had a look at the originally planned one on the way to the ground and it was really a takeaway. The one I did go to gave me a Christmas cracker, not sure who I was meant to pull it with, even against myself I’d have lost. It was a good curry, but the journey home seems to take forever, a late train from Swindon saw me watch the Gatwick train pull away as I got there, and the journey always seems to take longer after a defeat.

I did the match part of this on my phone on the journey home, instead of killing myself heaving my laptop around to get it out as soon as possible as there’s no point in rushing as it will sit awaiting admin approval on the Facebook page for twelve hours or more whilst everyone else’s posts get published without impunity minutes after they add them.

Quiz time – Swindon Town won the League Cup back in 1969, but which other League Cup winning side (in all its guises/names) have we played this season?

Next up is Colchester United at home on Boxing Day, a long journey down from Morecambe that day to make it for that one after Christmas at my mum’s. In the meantime there is the small matter of Christmas Day, so happy Christmas to all those who celebrate.

Come on you reds.

Spoils

A track from Dry Cleaning’s 2024 album “Boundary Road Snacks And Drinks & Sweet Princess”, seeing as we are welcoming the team from Boundary Park – Oldham Athletic. I’m looking forward to the soon to be released new album by them.

Quiz time answer — Apart from Bromley, how many other current league sides beginning with the letter B full names also end with a Y? Four – Barnsley, Birmingham City, Bradford City, and Burnley.

Today’s game follows hot on the heels of a disappointing Tuesday night fixture away at Bromley, both from the perspective of the result and the second half capitulation to lose 3-1, and from the utter contempt Bromley show the away fans with the facilities available (cramped Portaloo’s, a single refreshments tent which took until twenty minutes into the second half to clear the half time food queue, and the lackadaisical manner of how they dealt with the collapse of a fan in the away terrace). Thankfully, I’m back in our own somewhat weather-beaten marquee for today’s game.

There is still no update as to how applications for the FAB have gone, perhaps they are still trying to find how to get to Tracy Island.

Thursday night saw the club hold a Panini sticker swap, signing and meet and greet night, which I wasn’t able to get to, but which did see lots of stickers available for others, which is much needed as there are as rare as rocking horse shit anywhere else. Panini have massively underestimated demand, and their supply chain seems to be FUBAR, as nowhere in Crawley has had any for weeks (until a few scant deliveries on Friday to TG Jones and Asda), and nowhere else I’ve have had any either.

It’s been a bit of a rush this week for me since the Tuesday night game, with a couple of writing groups, book club, and a work’s Christmas party to occupy my time, but I did find some old programmes from games against them in the collection, but one is missing, misfiled so it could be anywhere, and that is from the last time we played them at home back in 2022, the season they were relegated to the National League. We drew both games with them that season, including the season finale at Boundary Park, when relegated had already been confirmed for them.

But they are back and this home game against them sees the return of a Crawley Town programme, unofficial and put together by fans, but it is a programme, something various people have been crying out for.

We have played Oldham fourteen times before, the first six games in League One, and the last eight in League Two, overall our record is won four, drawn four, and lost six, and the home three wins, two draws, and two losses. In League Two games it is two wins, two draws, and four losses, of which at home it is one win, one draw, and two losses.

I have already used two Oldham 1976 season Topps cards in previous pieces, one a couple of weeks ago in the Greater Manchester retro Kev issue, and then one in the Accrington one in a previous managers rogue’s gallery. So I’m going to use this as an opportunity to crack open the recently acquired older complete Panini collections book.

Well, it was that or this year’s, but back in 1980 they had second division teams included in the albums, and this was the Oldham Athletic half page in it.

We don’t have any former Oldham players in our current squad, and Oldham don’t have any of our ex-players in their squad either, but they do have a Jake Leake in their squad, so we should be asking Steve if he is any relation. There are a number of players to have played for both, including Nicky Adams, Mat Sadler, Anthony Grant, Lee Barnard, Mike Jones, Filipe Morais, Cedric Evina, and Rhys Murphy.

However it is Ernie Cooksey who will be remembered today, having played for both, and then passed at the early age of 28. To commemorate this, there will be a minute’s applause in the 28^th minute of today’s game. Only for the club not to announce it officially as they couldn’t contact the family, and so with it only being word of mouth it was a sporadic minute.

Going into today’s game we sit four places and six points behind Oldham in the league table, and only two places and a point above the relegation places, and we could easily slip into them if results go the wrong way for us today. And looking at the points we have at this stage of the season; we are now a point behind what we had in our relegation haunted season of 2022-23. We need a win to stay within a point of that season’s point progression.

I got to the ground earlier than I usually do, and found Steve Leake was already on sales duty in the one remaining programme booth the club have and are letting us use.

Nearly two hours later, we were wheeling it inside the stand with not many of the initial run left (and me with hives rising as it was less than five minutes before kick-off, not the usual hour and a half I usually have going on for any game). It turns out by the time the game was over there was just the one programme left from the two hundred printed. Which is a great result.

Onto the game then, and there were four changes to the starting lineup from the Tuesday night debacle, with Harvey Davies, Dion Conroy, Kaheim Dixon, and Jack Roles all starting. Oldham were in a mainly blue kit with two wide white stripes to either side on the front of their shirts, like some kind of Tesco imitation kit, us being at home meant the usual all red with white trim. (You can tell how late I am compared to usual getting into the ground, as the head on – well back on – shot of the teams lined up before handshakes, was rushed from a strange angle.)

We start well, and there is an early Jay Williams shot from thirty-five yards which isn’t far over the top of the bar. A long ball forward is chased by Kaheim Dixon, and he is just beaten to it by a combination of the Oldham keeper and a defender, who collide and are both down getting treatment. The defender is not recovering and gets substituted.

When play restarts there is a long throw into the box which is headed back to Charlie Barker and he crosses it back into the box and Ryan Loft goes for the spectacular overhead kick, doesn’t quite catch it fully and the attempt goes wide. Oldham get forward quickly down the right and get a ball into the box and the shot goes over the bar and continues over the Eden Utilities Stand for ball loss number one.

It is quite quiet in our block of the marquee, there is no TAFKAL to keep the lino on their toes and hurry the opponents’ throw takers along. But there is a bit of chuntering as we give the ball away in midfield and Oldham have a shot on target. And then there is a suicidal back pass from Ade Adeyemo straight to an Oldham striker and their shot goes across the goal and just wide past the far post.

A ball down the left finds Adeyemo, he passes it across to Jack Roles, on to Reece Brown and then to Harry Forster, who plays it back to Roles and his shot takes a deflection and goes just wide for a corner. We keep possession and get it back to Roles, his cross is blocked, and then it goes back to him to cross again, the ball goes to the far side of the area and Loft shoots, and it goes in down low in the corner and we lead 1-0.

After the restart Barker takes a blow to the face and has blood coming from his nose. Oldham get a corner and there is a free header in the middle of the box from it, but it is straight at Harvey Davies. A quick release down the right to Dixon and on to Roles who can’t work a crossing opportunity from it, and it goes for a throw, it is taken to Forster, and his cross sees Josh Flint attempt a back heel flick, which goes wide.

We are definitely on the front foot, and the next attack sees Roles line up another shot, this one over the bar from thirty yards out. Some decent play down the right with Barker and Forster and the teasing cross in is cleared.

At the other end Oldham heave a long throw into the box, it is flick on and then put into the net, but the lino on the far side has his flag up for offside, but definitely a warning. A long ball out of defence from Oldham is flicked on and despite looking twenty yards offside the flag stays down, and the shot is well saved by Davies and cleared. And Oldham come again, getting a corner down the right after some attempted sliding interceptions miss. It’s headed straight up in the air and then Davies gets an unconvincing punch on it, but the ref has blown for a foul. Forster is pushed over from behind as he goes to pass it back to Davies and a corner is given, there is a flick on at the near post and Davies catches the second header.

After that spell of defending we come out and work it down the right to Forster, he pulls it back to Brown and his shot is saved, it goes across to Dixon who sees his shot saved and the ball is cleared as far as Loft in midfield and he is fouled, but the free kick is cleared. We are keeping the ball well and work an effort for Adeyemo who has a shot from outside the left of the box which is saved.

The ref is being extremely picky about where throws are being taken, he’s not letting them be taken more than a couple of paces up or down the pitch from where they were given, for both sides.

There are six added minutes at the end of the half, and Dixon has the ball down the left and is tackled in the box, the ball comes back to Brown and he floats it over the defenders and keeper only for the ball to hit the underside of the bar and bounce back to the thankful goalkeeper. We get the ball and attack again down the left, Adeyemo plays it inside to Forster who is fouled about thirty-five yards out. There is a well worked free kick from him to Dixon to the right inside the box, he plays it back across to Roles and his shot deflects wide for a corner. Forster takes but the ref has already stopped proceedings to talk to players, just as Williams is thrown to the ground. And the half time whistle goes with us leading 1-0.

At half time someone finally manages to get the ball through an appropriate hole in the County Mall penalty spot challenge, and we finally have a winner. And the sky looks great over the west stand.

Into the second half and it doesn’t take long to see it has been another disastrous half time team talk as we attempt to shoot ourselves in the foot from the outset.

An early misplaced pass to Oldham sees a shot blocked and go for a corner, it is cleared but put back in and a cross is blocked by Williams, and it spins up and out over the KRL Logistics stand for ball loss number two of the day. The corner in sees panic in the box, Davies makes a save, there is a block on the line, and it is hacked out for a throw. They keep it out on the left and it is pulled back to the edge of the box and a curling shot in beats Davies’ despairing dive and goes in the bottom corner and it is all square at 1-1.

Seriously, haven’t we seen enough of this damn script this season already. Don’t let the players into the dressing room at half time, there is something in there which is sapping the energy and drive out of the team.

It doesn’t get any better, we are now playing as if the players have never met each other before and have had their memories wiped. Misplaced passes galore, needless throws given away. Oldham get a shot and it is just wide. We make a substitution with Dixon coming off to be replaced by Louie Watson.

The first proper attack we have in the half sees Adeyemo down the left, and he pulls it back to Brown on the edge of the box and his shot goes wide left. It’s only a respite, Oldham go and win a corner, and have a shot from it, fortunately straight at Davies. An Oldham player goes down in the box, and the players and fans are appealing for a penalty.

Oldham are being more physical in the second half, and there are a couple of cynical fouls, which only get a talking to from the ref, where yellow cards should have been forthcoming. In midfield Roles plays a ball over the defence and Flint is onto it and his cross misses out Loft and gets to Forster beyond the back post, he crosses it back in and it eludes everyone and is cleared. Roles is fouled in midfield again and we get a free kick, but somehow it is Roles who is getting the talking to from the ref afterwards.

We make another substitution with Brown going off to be replaced by Gavan Holohan. Forster is hacked down on the right wing, and the yellow card finally makes an appearance.

After the extreme pickiness of the first half, the ref has given up policing where throws are taken from and an Oldham throw given on half way is taken fifteen yards down the line, it is flicked over the defender and shouldered into the box to a striker who has all fucking week to decide where he is going to place the ball past Davies in goal and we trail 1-2. FFS.

More substitutions follow, Adeyemo and Roles are off and are replaced by Kabby Tshimanga and Dion Pereira. But still Oldham attack, a free kick comes in from the left, and a shot is saved by Davies, and Oldham get a corner, it comes in and the shot goes wide. We play out from the back and Pereira plays it forward quickly and Tshimanga shrugs his man off on the edge of the area and rifles in the shot from just inside the area and we are back level at 2-2.

Finally woken up now, the team attack again and Loft breaks into the Oldham half and plays the ball across to Tshimanga, he drives forward and shoots from the other side of the box from the one just scored and it takes a deflection and goes just wide. The corner is swing in, and the ref blows for an infringement as the ball comes in. An Oldham ball into the box and the flag goes up, but Oldham shoot anyway, and it flies over the bar and well over the KRL Logistics stand for ball loss number three of the day.

There are four added minutes at the end of the game. We clear long and it is flicked on to Forster, he beats a man and breaks into the box. He is bundled over and there are claims from the players and our fans for a penalty, which are waved away. A clearance sees Oldham offside and a yellow card for an Oldham player for kicking the ball away as Davies goes to take the free kick.

Loft is bundled over twenty-five yards out on the left and Forster takes deep and it is flicked behind for a corner. It is swung in and a header is saved and the second ball is still bouncing around, and the ref blows his whistle and points to the spot for a penalty. There is pandemonium. Most of the Oldham players surround the ref and one rushes twenty yards to join in ad pushed the ref. Under this season’s rules, those players surrounding the ref should all have been booked, and it should be a straight red for pushing the ref. But the ref bottles it, no cards are shown and he shuffles to the lino who is in position ready for a penalty to be taken, they have a quick chat and the penalty decision is reversed, to add insult to injury the ref then rushes to show a yellow card to Flint, who is completely non-plussed by that decision, and furious. Fans behind the goal say the right decision was got to eventually as it looked as if it was Barker who handballed it, but both officials were guessing by the time it was overturned as there was no way the lino could see it when the ref was forty yards closer to it.

The final whistle goes and it is a draw 2-2. Dion Conroy does his captaining bit by catching and dragging Flint away from going to confront the ref at the end as he is completely steaming mad. I’m fairly sure there would be plenty of places they would like to break a spear on Mr Breakspear, today’s referee.

On the whole drowned out, it sounded as if the crowd was announced as 3,296 with 414 away fans (not the 5k+ that flashed up on the scoreboard). A point keeps us in twenty-first in the table, with only Bristol Rovers in the teams around us not picking up any points. We need to do something about the seemingly standard second half malaise that is plaguing us.

Quiz Time, how many other sides have we played this season who have been managed by Micky Mellon?

Next up is promotion chasing Swindon Town away, the last game before Christmas, perhaps a bit of magic from the roundabout can rub off on us and we can get some points there. They did win 3-0 away against Bristol Rovers today and are third in the table, so not an easy task.

Come on you reds.

Cities In Dust

The title is a Siouxsie & The Banshees track; it is a 1985 single from the Tinderbox album which made number twenty-one in the UK singles chart. That group started out in 1976, and Siouxsie Sioux was well known as a follower of the early Sex Pistols, and those followers were known as the “Bromley Contingent”. As Robert Smith of The Cure was guitarist for Siouxsie & The Banshees for two periods in the late seventies and early eighties, then perhaps this fixture should be known as the Robert Smith derby.

Quiz time answer — Apart from Salford, how many other current league sides beginning with the letter S also use the City suffix in their names. Two – Stoke City and Swansea City.

We’ve had a bit of a break since our last game, the heartbreakingly disappointing loss to Salford City last month. Having stayed in Manchester all weekend, I went to the Manchester Transport Museum the day after the Salford game, it dragged up a couple of memories from when I lived there, but there were far too many references to Salford City (albeit it in a transport authority sense) for my liking after the game the day before.

On the Tuesday night, it was goals galore again at Moor Lane, as Salford lost 2-7 to Rotherham, who scored 7, from 8 shots on target, only 9 shots in total and 41% possession (I’m sure there’s a lesson in there somewhere) in the Vertu Trophy. And then Peterborough, who knocked us out of the trophy, went and lost to Swindon in the first round of the knockout stages, and therefore their hold on the trophy is severed.

And on Sunday, Boreham Wood repeated the 3-0 FA Cup win trick, this time in the second round at home to Newport County, and received scant reward, another home tie, but against Burton Albion. The draw for the third round was a lot quicker than the one for the World Cup held during the week, and there was no FA peace prize given out, but then again Boris Johnson isn’t Prime Minister anymore, so no egotist to be stroked.

I spent most of Sunday driving myself crazy. Despite knocking these match reports out with thousands of words of drivel and having done an accompanying piece for the Salford game, converting that into an article for the new supporter produced programme was giving me hives. It’s a world of difference between writing something for yourself, on your own blog page, that maybe fifty people might see if you are lucky, and something that is going to go into print and have a (potentially) much larger readership. I hate editing at the best of times, for reducing six thousand words down to two thousand was difficult, and although I’ve submitted a piece, I can’t say I’m overly happy with it. And there’s no pressure; it’s not like the local paper has had part of an article on there being a new programme. Oh, they did.

Going into the game we are fourteen places and thirteen points behind Bromley, who are going well and are in the playoff places. They could go into the automatic promotion places with a win, whilst a loss for us could see us slip into the relegation places if results go badly for us elsewhere.

The two Harry’s – Forster and McKirdy both used to play for Bromley, and our assistant manager Neil Smith used to play for them and also used to manage them for a while as well. There are no ex-Crawley players in the Bromley squad, although they do have Dillon Addai, the younger brother of Corey in their ranks. Others to have played for both include Ellery Balcombe, Mason Bloomfield, Frankie Sutherland, Dennon Lewis, and Ryan Hall.

No cards, but there is a fall back now that there is the Panini album for this year’s EFL teams, with eight of the twelve players included for Bromley in the collection this year below – Corey Whiteley, Marcus Ifill, Idris Odutayo, Ashley Charles, Kyle Cameron, Byron Webster, Grant Smith, and Deji Elerewe.

With it being only Bromley’s second season in the league, we haven’t played them before in the football league, in fact games against them are scarce, there have only been a few competitive games against them, mainly coming in the FA Cup Qualifying Rounds, winning at home in 1977, winning in a replay at home in 1988, a loss at home in 1996, and a loss away in 1999. The only other game came in the FA Trophy in 2007 with a home win. We have also played them six times in pre-season friendlies, twice at home in 1981 and 1983, winning both, and four away in 1985, 2010, 2012, and 2023, winning all apart from the 2010 game which we lost 1-0. I have no programme in the collection from games against them.

It is my first time on the supporters’ coach going to a game this season. With it being a Tuesday night fixture, and a reasonably short journey I can just about cope with the coach travel, and there wasn’t the need to take any time off work for the trip. If it has been a weekend game, I’d have gone on public transport though.

A quick mooch around outside the ground, it’s a compact, if not necessarily bijou stadium, and they are still working on it to improve it now they are a league club.

The club shop was OK, but lacking in pens and fridge magnets, so not ideal, and they have a monthly magazine in lieu of a programme, which has two pages of content on Crawley.

Inside the ground the facilities available for a sizeable away support were woefully inadequate. This was it (in the photo below), and the half time queue was only finishing being served at 71 minutes into the game.

We had two changes to the team which lost at Salford with Ryan Loft and Charlie Barker both returning from suspensions, and Kabby Tshimanga and Louis Flower dropping to the bench. Bromley lined up in an all-white kit apart from black arms, and we were in our all-red kit.

Jay Williams kicked off for us, and he was sporting a smaller bandage than when he finished the game last time out. And he was involved in an early heavy challenge. On him, and he was down receiving treatment.

Bromley are peppering our box with enough crosses to keep a horde of vampires away, and we are just about managing to deal with them, but not managing to clear fully, and the ball keeps coming back.

When we do break it is from a poor pass back by Bromley, straight to Harry McKirdy, he gets to the edge of the area but is being forced away from goal, but manages to dink a cross to the far post where Ryan Loft is there to head goalwards, it somehow manages to squirm past the keeper and into the net and we lead 1-0 with pretty much our first attack of the game.

In traditional style we try to gift a goal back to the opposition, a stray ball across the front of the box goes straight to a Bromley attacker, but JoJo Wollacott does just enough to distract them, and the shot goes just wide.

There are a few quiet minutes until we concede a free kick thirty yards out in line with the left edge of the penalty area. The wind takes the ball straight to Wollacott, and he pumps it long to McKirdy, but his cross drifts out wide on the far side. The wind is taking the ball wherever it wants to as soon as it gets above head height.

We have a bit of pressure in and around the box and win a corner. It’s swung in well by Harry Forster and just headed off the line at the near post and cleared. Some decent work between McKirdy and Ade Adeyemo down the left sees a ball into Louie Watson in the box and his shot is saved and goes for a corner. Another wicked in swinging Forster corner is headed clear from under the crossbar, it goes to the back post and Josh Flint is bundled over and Bromley break, and Adeyemo picks up a yellow card for bringing it to a halt in midfield.

Straight after Bromley break again, this time from a throw which should have been a Crawley throw all day, they get into the box and have a shot which goes across goal and wide. We attack with a bit of pace down the left again, McKirdy to Adeyemo, the cross in somehow eludes Reece Brown and then Loft, and ends up with Forster beyond the back post, his shot in is saved and put out for a corner which gets hacked clear.

Not sure if we are playing football or auditioning for the WWE, Loft has been body slammed to the ground twice, with nothing given, something which is an ongoing theme throughout the game, with no punishment coming. Watson has a shot from the edge of the area, but it tamely goes to the keeper.

Bromley have some pressure, they get a corner, it is headed out for another one on the other side of the pitch, which comes in and Wollacott manages to flap the ball clear for a third corner back on the original side of the pitch. It’s no real surprise when that one comes into the box and is bundled home from about two yards to make it all square at 1-1 a couple of minutes before half time. Or five minutes if you include the three added minutes at the end of the half, and that’s the score when the half time whistle goes.

The second half sees Bromley firing on all cylinders, an early let off as a ball isn’t dealt with and ends up with the Bromley number 9 in the six-yard box but thankfully he slices his shot onto the roof of the net. A left wing cross sees two Bromley players vying to get a touch on it in the box and they manage to steer it just wide between them. We are really struggling to get going. We half clear a cross and it drops to a Bromley player thirty yards out, their shot hits two Crawley defenders on the way through and totally wrong foots Wollacott in goal and we trail 1-2. Hopefully, that will wake the players up, as they really haven’t turned up for the second half yet. I’m not sure what soporifics were used in the half time team talk, but they need to cut that shit out. (Or get the kind of team talk the Bromley players must have had.)

Bromley get another corner and by the time we make some substitutions on 58 minutes I’m not sure we’ve managed to get out of our own half in the second half. McKirdy and Adeyemo depart and are replaced by Kabby Tshimanga and Kaheim Dixon. We are briefly a bit better after, but Bromley are back on the attack and win a couple of corners on the spin. We scramble the second one away and attempt a break with the ball out to Loft down the right, he plays it into Forster in the middle and he fails to beat his man near the edge of the box and Bromley clear, and come up the other end and win another corner.

Having dealt with the corner we decide it is time for some more fannying about at the back. Some may recognise this from pretty much every game for the last eighteen months. We lose the ball and Bromley are into the box, the final pass looks as if the receiver of it may have been offside, but nothing is given and they slot it in and we trail 1-3.

The Bromley players divert from where they were going to celebrate and deliberately run across the pitch to celebrate in front of the standing Crawley fans and are giving it loads and gesturing at them. Fortunately, we’re not as big a scumbags as Chesterfield so nothing is thrown, as just before the restart the ref does wave a non-committal yellow card in the general direction of any one of half a dozen Bromley players.

At some point whilst that was going on we appear to have slipped Jack Roles onto the pitch. As they don’t have working speakers in the away end, we’ve no idea what they announced, but a check of those on the pitch would make it seem it was Watson who was replaced. We have an attack, a ball into Loft in the box and his shot is deflected wide for a corner, which comes to nothing. A couple of minutes later there is another attack, a deep cross from the left is collected by Forster and he fires a ball across the six-yard box which nobody is near, and it goes out for a throw on the far side.

A Crawley fan has collapsed in the terrace, and the police, stewards, and the St John’s Ambulance people are all over there helping out. Meanwhile the classless Bromley fans are chanting ‘we can see you sneaking out’ as people remove themselves from the area so the bloke can get treatment. Nearly ten minutes later he is up on his feet and able to get out of the stand with some help. Hopefully, he is all right.

At the far end Forster is bundled over in the box and lands on the ball, so of course it is a free kick to Bromley for his handball as he fell over. Bromley have another corner; there is a shot and Wollacott saves. We must have had an attack as most of the team were in the Bromley half as they break and Geraldo Bajrami picks up a yellow card just in our half from stopping the break. It was a long way from goal, but he did look the last man, the way the second half had gone, I wouldn’t have been surprised to see a red there. A minute later Roles is cleared out on the left and Bromley pick up a yellow.

There are three minutes added at the end of the second half as well, not that we’ll do anything with it, but it was definitely light considering all the subs, stoppages, and general timewasting. The final whistle goes and it is another dispiriting loss Crawley Town 1, Bromley 3. (Or should that be The Cure 1, Siouxsie & The Banshees 3? At least they didn’t play ‘Boys Don’t Cry’, that really would have been rubbing salt into the wound.)

McKirdy wants to get into it with the fans after the final whistle again, and the ‘fans’ response is to chant at him ‘you’re not fit to wear the shirt.’ That kind of shit from both sides is helping no one. Frustrations are running high, and second half non-performances like that aren’t going to win friends and influence anyone. It is worrying times.

Results elsewhere see us drop two places in the league to twenty-first. It is a subdued coach journey home, and the man of the match vote was more a case of ‘do we have to’ and ‘who were the non-playing subs’ than anything else. But Harry Forster won. It was tempting to ask the coach driver to break the speed limit, at least that way we might have brought three points back with us.

Quiz time — Apart from Bromley, how many other current league sides beginning with the letter B full names also end with a Y?

Next up, we have Oldham Athletic at home on Saturday, a fixture which will see the first issue of the new fan produced match programme. An initial run of 250, so get there early to get your copy. The cover is already set, see the picture below so you know what to look out for. Also if anyone spots a win whilst out and about during the week, can they bring that to the game for us on Saturday.

Come on you reds.

Heaven Knows I’m Miserable Now

We are in Salford, so with an album cover being a picture outside the Salford Lads Club, it had to be a Smiths song. A lot was going to be left until I knew what the score was and how we played. There were plenty of options available if we don’t do very well. There was some ‘Panic’ in defence, ‘Frankly, Mr Shankley’ might have been said to a different manager, but (spoiler alert) after conceding two late goals within a minute, this title sums up my feelings.

Quiz time, with all the tangents I went off at last week I forgot all about giving the quiz answer from the piece after the Gillingham game, which was, besides Gillingham, how many other league sides have there been which have started with the letter G (all time), and if you’re really going for it, name them. There were four, only Grimsby Town are still in the league, the others from varying points in history were, Gateshead, Glossop North End, and Gainsborough Trinity.

Last weekend’s draw against Accrington Stanley was somewhat underwhelming after the previous weekend’s performance against Gillingham, which Scott Lindsey made reference to in his post-match comments.

I could have gone on for days with the preamble for this one, with having lived in Manchester before, so I took a load of that and channelled it into its own separate piece around football in Greater Manchester, which is at the link below.

During the week I read the most recent version of When Saturday Comes, two standout pieces for me in there were one on the difficulties Lewes are having with their ‘fan’ ownership model, and one on how, only six years before the Football League was set up, Walsall had two of the best sides in the country, and when they merged they were more of a force than Wolves, WBA, and Small Heath (Birmingham City), only for them to decline so they weren’t in the original twelve, and although they were founder members of Division Two in 1892 they never did end up hitting the big time and got overtaken by all the others.

Yesterday was the deadline for applications to become part of Tracy Island, sorry, the FAB, so now we need to wait for those who have applied to do the electioneering bit trying to get people to vote for them. We all know the likely candidates will be Jeff, Scott, Virgil, Alan, Gordon, and John, when we could really do with Brains, Lady Penelope, and Parker.

There are some other random tangents in this piece though. I came up to Manchester on Thursday and Avanti were their usual useless selves, only the three-hour delay. On Friday I went to see my mum in Morecambe and went for dinner around the corner from hers at the Hurley Flyer in the shadow of Morecambe’s ground. They just about managed to survive at the start of the season, and it isn’t a place we’d want to find ourselves in.

Pulling out of Lancaster station on the way I saw the Lancaster City ground, I tried to get a picture on the way back to Manchester, but due to more train fuckwittery it was dark, so have a sketchy photo that not even all my camera’s heroics could save. I remember reading about their 2006-07 season at the time, they got a ten-point deduction for going into administration, and only reached a positive points total in the last couple of games to finish the season on one point. They were relegated and went out of business. And somehow the Northern League allowed the phoenix club to stay in the division they’d been relegated to.

Anyway, back to today’s game, there is no current overlap of players between the two sides. Although looking through the Salford City squad, I did have to stop and do a double take when looking at the previous clubs of Fabio Borini, Chelsea, Liverpool, Swansea, and Sunderland in the Premier League, Parma, Roma, AC Milan, and Sampdoria in Serie A, which begs the question of is he lost? Did he think he was going to one of the Manchester sides only to be whisked away to Moor Lane?

Overall, our record against Salford City is in the positive, in the ten League Two matches played against them we have won four, drawn four, and lost two. But the record at Moor Lane isn’t so good, we have failed to win there, all four of the draws have been there, and the other game was a loss.

We are starting the day in nineteenth, we are seven places and nine points behind Salford City, who are just in the top half of the table, but it is tight up there as they are only four points off an automatic promotion place, and a single point from the playoff places. We are only two points above the relegation places, and if all the sides beneath us get results and we don’t then we could end up there by the end of the day.

There are no old football cards with Salford players on. Or any of their old players in previous years. Or old managers. Plenty of owners on cards from The Premier League era, but I try and avoid them like the plague. So only a couple of their stickers from the new Panini EFL collection.

I dug out some old programmes from the overflowing shelves.

I was up early and had a couple of hours wandering around Manchester taking photos, as the only ones I have from my five years living here are ones of gurning drunken fools in nightclubs taken on disposable cameras. I never paid any attention to the vast array of wonderful buildings in the city. Unless they had a bar in of course.

I went to the National Football Museum this morning. I can remember the building being opened when I lived in Manchester, when it was originally called Urbis, and it was a museum of the city, but it had changed to gigs and exhibitions by the time I left Manchester in 2006, and closed as Urbis in 2010 before reopening as the National Football Museum in 2012, moving from its previous home at Preston North End’s Deepdale. (Meanwhile we still struggle to get space at the Broadfield to put any of the exhibits from two museum exhibitions.)

On my way in they offered to take my picture, so here I am looking thoroughly underwhelmed between two trophies.

There was no mention of CTFC to be found anywhere, not even in the shop where there were prints of so many clubs, and old programmes for sale, but they all skipped from Coventry City to Crewe Alexandra, and there were lots of non-league clubs available.

In all it’s a decent place to visit though, the ‘Black In The Game’ exhibition was particularly interesting, and I didn’t know about the Len Cantello testimonial match. Jeez. Although judging by some of the comments our ‘fans’ make about Tshimanga being lazy or useless or giving only one percent, which seem to be blatantly racist, I think they would be happy with such an arrangement.

It had been hammering it down (I spent a lot of time wiping water off the lens of the camera), and some might suggest that is normal Manchester weather, but I don’t remember it ever raining that much when I lived here, but that is probably the alcohol related amnesia speaking again. It hadn’t even occurred to me that the volume of rain may put the game at risk, but there were two pitch inspections, one quite late before they confirmed the game was on and they started letting people in.

They don’t have an official programme, it is more of a fanzine, and there was a single page on us, written by Sam Jordan, at the end of October judging by the rest of the contents, but there are some interesting items in it that could be expanded on by the upcoming CTFC fan written programme. The delay on getting in meant I could also go in the club shop and get the usual pen and fridge magnet combo.

And by the time the players came out for the warmup the sun was fighting to burst through the cloud cover and there was no more rain. (Talking to Bob, apparently the coach was in a permanent deluge for the whole journey up as well.)

There are forced changes in the starting lineup, with Charlie Barker being suspended, and Dion Conroy and Ben Radcliffe seemingly out injured, Jay Williams was starting in the back three (on the right as it turned out), Joy Mukena could only make it to the bench. And we were going with at least two up front as Kabby Tshimanga was starting. And in the early kick-offs Accrington Stanley kept their decent run going by winning, so we won’t be catching them no matter what the result.

Salford really embrace the ‘Dirty Old Town’ as part of their persona, with it being played prior to the teams coming out, and including it on a lot of their merch.

With Salford playing in red shirts, with white shorts and socks, it meant we were in our third, all black kit.

We start the game reasonably well and get an early corner which is taken deep and cleared. And then we have a decent break out from the back and a ball out to Harry Forster wide on the right of the penalty area sees him fail to wrap his foot around it and get it across. At the other end Salford get a corner, it’s headed out by Geraldo Bajrami and there is a snatched shot from the edge of the area which bobbles wide for a goal kick.

Attacking down the left there is a low cross into the box, and a shot is deflected behind for a corner, it’s taken deep and the keeper flaps it clear and Salford attack down the left and Louie Watson gets a yellow card for a pull back. The free kick is taken deep, and Harry McKirdy just runs it out for a throw. Which Salford make a hash of, the ref gives it as a foul throw and we get the ball.

A ball out from the back by Bajrami gets to Watson and he slides it into Forster in the box and his cross cum shot is caught by the goalkeeper. And again, Forster is fed in the box, the shot is saved and it falls to McKirdy who puts it over the bar from about ten yards. A big opportunity missed there, I think.

There are some industrial challenges going in from Salford players on the far side. Louis Flower gets levelled in a follow through and then Ade Adeyemo gets battered, and as Salford play on, they get it into the box, and a shot hits the side netting. Then they get a corner after some decent defending from Forster, it is swung outwards and cleared from the box, put back in down the right and we concede another corner. The ref delays it to speak to players pushing and shoving in the box. It’s taken deep again, half cleared, put back in and it runs out for a goal kick.

We’ve not been seeing a lot of the ball, and don’t seem to be getting to the second balls either, and we concede another corner. It is played out to the edge of the area where no one is watching, or awake, but the shot lacks direction and power and limps wide. When we do get the ball we have a break, Forster beats a couple of men and surges through the middle, and he plays it to McKirdy on the right of the area, and his cross shot didn’t really become either and it goes for a goal kick. Then we have a free kick on the left about thirty yards out. Forster scoops it into the area, but no one is on that wavelength and the goalkeeper collects.

Flower gets dragged back in midfield, and it was pretty much the last man, yet there is not even a yellow for the Salford player, unlike the one for Watson earlier. The free kick is taken deep and looks like it might have gone out, but Jay Williams gets to it and has a shot, which takes some kind of deflection but ends up in the back of the net and we lead 1-0, somewhat against the run of play.

Which seems to wake the whole team up, and they are playing much better now. Forster is fouled in midfield about thirty-five yards out, it is put deep to the back post again and various players are down injured and getting treatment. It looks to be a clash of heads and Williams is the one down for quite some time before getting helped off. When he comes back on a couple of minutes later, he’s got a big fuck off bandage around his head.

Salford pick up again and have some concerted pressure, a shot from outside the area is just pushed around the post by JoJo Wollacott for a corner which we clear as the board goes up to say there will be four added minutes, the ball is put back in and Reece Brown heads it clear only for it to be pumped in, Williams attempts to bring it down on his thigh but it comes off him straight to a Salford player who says thank you very much and rifles it in for an equaliser and it is all level 1-1.

They are straight on the attack again and get a corner, which is headed behind for another corner, which gets flicked on and scrambled behind for yet another one, which we flick out for the fourth on the trot. Salford get a head on that, but it is wide, we can all breathe again and the half time whistle goes with it all square 1-1.

We notice that Salford have AIG sponsoring on their shirts and wonder if that’s down to the contacts of the owners. Although to me it only reminds me of the jokes after Manchester United went out to Juventus in the Champions League semi-finals when the final was going to be played in Athens. All the memes had it as Almost In Greece, and Another Italian Goal.

Into the second half and we start well, get down the left and McKirdy plays it through to Adeyemo in the box, he cuts inside and then plays it across to Forster who looks like he air kicks it, but the ref has seen something and points to the penalty spot. Thanks very much, we’ll take that. Or maybe not, McKirdy takes, and whilst it is better than his last attempt, it is saved and goes for a corner.

Pet peeve time. Everyone is moaning that he missed the penalty. He didn’t, it didn’t hit a post, go wide, or go over the bar. It might not have been a good penalty, but that is a world away from a missed one. It was saved, not missed.

The corner is swing in, and put back out towards Forster, he is tackled but the ball gets played back in only for the offside flag to go up. Salford break and play a ball into the box, it is well saved by Wollacott, but Salford keep the pressure on, a shot on the edge of the area is blocked out for a corner, it is swung in, played out, and put in again but Wollacott collects. The ref books Tshimanga who is chasing back down the wing, and it looks to be for a pull back, which is taking the piss, where is the fucking consistency on this? The free kick is swing in to the near post and there is a touch and the ball goes into the corner in a ridiculous slow motion scene, the stadium announcer gives the scorer as a Salford player but surely the wrong-footed-ness of the non-reaction would suggest it might have been an own goal. Whichever it was, we trail 1-2.

A ball to Flower in the Salford half sees him fouled and a Salford player get a yellow card for the challenge this time. It is taken into the box and we keep recycling it, Bajrami is bundled over on the left wing for a free kick. Forster takes, and takes the defence by surprise as it squeezes in at the near post from an acute angle and we are back level at 2-2.

Salford attack and have a shot from the edge of the area which goes wide, and the ref manages to slip over and fall on his arse as it happens. We take the opportunity to make some substitutions, with McKirdy, Flower, and Adeyemo coming off, to be replaced by Jack Roles, Dion Pereira, and Kaheim Dixon. And Dixon is straight into action with a shot from the edge of the area which he pulls wide right. A ball is in to Tshimanga in the box, he turns back inside and shoots, it flicks a defender and is saved.

A quick break and Salford get a cross in; it goes all the way across the six-yard box untouched (thankfully), and we manage to get a goal kick. We go down the right, Dixon plays it to Forster, he pulls it back to Brown and he steps inside and shoots and it is just wide. A ball in and Roles and Tshimanga attempt shots and then it falls to Pereira and his shot is blocked and it spins out for a corner. It is taken short to Roles, and he swings it into the box and Williams gets his bandaged head to it and it nestles in the back of the net and we lead again 3-2.

Salford attack and a tackle in the box has the fans behind the goal screaming for a penalty and then screaming at the ref when he only gives a corner. It gets half cleared and put back in, but it is an easy collection for Wollacott. Josh Flint plays the ball into the box to Pereira, but his cross is just behind the two players in the middle. Salford break and win a corner, and it’s headed out, then played back to the corner taker, but he is offside.

Flint has a couple of storming runs forward out of defence in quick succession, on the second one he plays it to Roles who has a shot from thirty yards which just goes over the bar. A quick Salford attack sees a ball played out to a man on the right wing who is all alone in his own postcode, the cross goes to the back post and is bundled in, and it is back to all square 3-3.

We lose the ball directly from the kick off, and the ball is played to a striker in the box, he beats Wollacott to the ball and slots it in and in less than a minute we’ve gone from leading to losing 3-4. Seriously, what the actual fuck just happened there?

The Salford players are now throwing themselves to the ground in extra from Platoon style. The board goes up for five added minutes. Most of which we spend trying to attack and fashion that one decent chance, it’s all a bit too frantic with a lack of composure, and it could be worse, Salford break and have a one on one with Wollacott who pulls off a great save to keep the score at 3-4 as the final whistle goes.

What a strange, frustrating, infuriating game. Played like prime Rob Elliot games at this time last season, scoring three goals away from home and not even getting a point.

But somehow, we stay nineteenth in the league, with everyone below us either losing or drawing, but we are right in amongst it in a relegation battle.

Quiz time – Apart from Salford, how many other current league sides beginning with the letter S also use the City suffix in their names. (And of course, feel free to name them.)

We have a ten-day break before our next game as it’s FA Cup round two action next Saturday and a team that wasn’t us (Scott Lindsey’s words) were knocked out. The next game is a fairly local trip away to Bromley on Tuesday the ninth of December, the ticketing for which has caused the usual whinging bastards on the forums to whinge out all their usual agenda laden diatribes.

And now that this is typed up and posted, I’m thinking about heading off to Rusholme and the curry mile for dinner. I already know that Lal Qila, although still there in name is now closed and so there can be no post meal Vimto lollies when they present the bill? But I’m just feeling totally drained now, the rain has started in earnest again, and am toying with the idea of the unthinkable, coming back to Manchester and not going for a curry. It’s been one of those days.

Come on you reds.

Hometown

A banging tune this one, it was track two on the album “Tales From The Thames Delta”, which was the 2012 debut album by the group The Milk. So it shouldn’t take a genius to work out why I’ve picked that seeing as we’re playing Accrington Stanley.

After the stirring away draw against Gillingham last week, which saw what was probably our best performance of the season, and a draw against a team in the play-off places felt somewhat of a disappointment, it is back to home action with the visit of Accrington Stanley.

During the week I completed reading Steve Leake’s fourth book – Better The Devil (if there wasn’t the milk connection this week then the title of today’s piece may well have involved a bit of Kylie). It is an excellent read, and reminder of the roller coaster of emotions of the last two seasons, and an overview of one of our rivalries.

It turns out the injury to Max Anderson was a serious one and he has a broken leg and is therefore out for a considerable amount of time. And yesterday it was announced we have sent Will Heater out on loan to Sheppey United for an undisclosed time period, where he is likely to get game time and not be a bench warmer.

The current Accrington Stanley side are not a team to be confused with the entirely different Accrington team who were one of the founder members of the Football League back in 1888, the Stanley team existed whilst that Accrington team were in the league, and only took on the Accrington part to the name after the original team left the league and folded before the end of the nineteenth century. The original Stanley team folded themselves in 1966, and the current team are a phoenix club founded two years later in 1968. That original team resigned from the league during the 1961-62 season after thirty-four games and had their record expunged, along with Aldershot, one of only two teams to have done so (Maidstone and Bury never got around to starting their seasons when they were expelled, and Port Vale took over expelled Leeds City’s record midway through the season). They were replaced in the league by Oxford United.

But I did confuse the two sides as a kid, it was many years before I learnt that they were two sides. As a kid totting up years worth of stats taken from Rothman’s yearbooks into graph paper notebooks (making my own manual spreadsheets long before Microsoft had even thought of Excel), I treated them as the same team (a mistake I also made with including Middlesbrough Ironopolis’s one season in with Middlesbrough). Meanwhile as I scribbled in the notebooks, my parents looked on thinking what the hell the little freak was doing and wondering if it was too late to go back to the hospital and query whether they’d been given the wrong baby.

But I had certainly heard of Accrington Stanley long before their name was dragged by the infamous Milk Marketing Board advert of the eighties which I’ve referenced with today’s piece title. Exactly.

The first of the programmes I’ve dug out is from our first season in the Conference (a game we won 2-0). The Accrington Stanley lineup has a very familiar look about it. However it isn’t THAT Robbie Williams, and it isn’t THAT Paul Mullin. The Jagielka is the brother of the more famous Phil (and now sadly deceased), and the Flitcroft is no relation to Garry and David. Paul Cook was their manager on the next programme I’m going to look at, and we’ve faced him this season as he’s currently Chesterfield’s manager. The Michael Flynn isn’t the one who was sacked by Cheltenham Town just over a week after we beat them in September. Ged Brannan is Accrington’s assistant manager now. It is one of them where a quick glance might have you thinking, “I know all of them”.

The second one is a game longer serving fans than I remember with great fondness as it was the away game where Crawley secured promotion to League One in their first season in the league.

And the third one if from our game against Accrington, just over three years ago in an FA Cup first round loss, the last season we had a programme. The only member of our squad on the programme that day still with us is the much-maligned captain, Dion Conroy. Whereas Accrington have Liam Coyle, Shaun Whalley, Josh Woods, and Connor O’Brien left in their squad from then.

It was nigh on impossible to find any old cards for Accrington Stanley, there are only some stickers from this year’s brand new EFL Panini collection.

But then when looking at this programme from 2006,

I saw that John Hollins was our manager, and I knew I had an old card for him from his QPR days.

Speaking of the EFL Panini collection, it was launched on Thursday at a ceremony at the National Football Museum in Manchester (somewhere I’m planning to visit next weekend when up there for the Salford City game). It’s been more than twenty years since Panini, Topps, Merlin, or anyone else has released a collection not concentrated on the Premier League, so it is good there is a more inclusive collection.

There are 788 stickers in the collection, which at a pound for a packet of five would mean if you never got a duplicate, it would cost £160 to complete the set. When I first started buying cards back in the seventies, a pack of six cards (and a stick of bubble gum) was five pence. So £160 would have bought me 19,200 cards.

In the collection, Championship teams get 18 stickers per team, shiny club crest, stadium, home/away kit, and 15 players. League One teams get 8 stickers per team, shiny club crest, shiny star player, and six with two players per sticker on them. League Two teams get 4 stickers per team, shiny club crest, and six half stickers each with two players on them, and the halves are on the same large sticker as a half for another team. 5 EFL general ones to start, 11 for last season’s playoff’s, 24 elite players from the three divisions (includes Will Wright), 12 ones to watch, and 16 ‘raised in the EFL’, so players like Harry Kane and Jamie Vardy. Only the players in those last three groups get named in the books, the rest are only known when you get stickers, so there is no guide to who the Crawley players are (yet).

There is no overlap of current players in the two squads today, and there has been very little overlap over the years with only Tom Dallison, Joe Maguire, and Jack Rose who have played for both.

Apart from the FA Cup game mentioned earlier, we have played Accrington Stanley ten times in the league, all of the games have been in League Two, we have won five, drawn two, and lost three. At home it has been two wins, two draws, and a loss. We played against them for two years in the Conference when we first got promoted, and before Accrington were promoted to the league in 2006. We won one of the four games and lost the other three.

We go into the day in twentieth position in the league, one point and two places behind today’s opponents, and the form guide over the last six games is identical for both sides, two wins, two draws, and two losses apiece. Therefore a win would see us climb at least one place, whereas a loss could see us slip back into the relegation places. Although by the time kick-off comes around both sides could be a place lower in the league if Harrogate Town win their early kick-off at home to promotion chasing Walsall. (They lost, so we were safe from the relegation places this weekend.)

It’s a strange day, as for the first time this season, there is no away travel, nor writing group before the game, and so it is a case of wondering how to fill the time (apart from writing this). There was a wander into town before getting to the ground about the same time I usually do, but Helen is wandering around in a state of shock as she’s not used to being here that early, but it did mean that there was talking to people before making it into the ground, which gives me a state of shock instead. It is getting cold, so the big coat makes its debut for the season.

There is a forced change from the line up from last week, with Harry McKirdy returning from his own injury to replace Max Anderson. Accrington are in all blue with a bit of patterning on the bottom of the shirts, and so with us in our usual home kit it is the third game on the trot with it being all red versus all blue and looking like a big game of table football.

From the kick off we play it forward and win a corner, it’s taken short and then put in as a deep cross and Geraldo Bajrama gets his head to it, but it goes out wide for a goal kick. We attack quickly down the right, and Ade Adeyemo and Harry McKirdy combine and win another corner, it skims across the box and to the far post and Jay Williams gets down low to get a header on it, but it loops up and over the bar.

Accrington have their first attack, and their left winger has about twenty seconds of turning Harry Forster every which way but loose before putting a cross in that JoJo Wollacott flaps away. It may take a few minutes for Forster to detangle the knots he’s in after that.

There’s a great ball out of defence from Bajrami which slips McKirdy into the box, he has a look and tries to dink it over the keeper, and it goes just wide, but the keeper must have got something on it as we are awarded a corner. It is taken low and towards the penalty spot, just as ones we’ve conceded from in the last two games, and Louie Watson gets a shot from it which is saved and wide for another corner. That is half cleared and we play it about before putting it back into the box where it is cushioned back to the keeper.

A long ball out from the back gets to Adeyemo down the left and he plays it back to Reece Brown, he puts it across the front of the box to Watson and he puts the ball into the box where Forster stretches to get a shot only to be able to just poke it to the keeper. A poor Accrington pass in our half sees the ball go straight to Louis Flower in their half. He beats a man before being clipped, and there is a booking for the defender. As the ref is getting the card out of his pocket he catches McKirdy in the face with it, and after the booking does go back and apologise to him. The free kick is taken deep, and the ref blows for a foul somewhere in the box as the ball is in the air.

We put some sustained possession together and it seems as if all of the team get touches on it as we play it across the pitch and back before getting it into the box where there are a couple of attempted shots blocked before an attempted clearance hits Williams’ arm and a free kick is given. There is a coming together in midfield and Flower picks up a booking. That looked as harsh or more so than some of the bookings he’s picked up this season (last week at Gillingham, and the ridiculous one at Boreham Wood spring to mind). There is another coming together nearer our box between Charlie Barker and their number eleven, who goes down like an extra from Platoon and rolls about for a bit. The ref isn’t interested in the slightest in giving anything for it.

When play gets going again we are attacking only to see a quick ball down the right wing see their number seven beat everyone for pace and then pull it back to an unmarked paly actor in the middle of the box, and he steers it in and we trail 0-1. To say that was against the run of play is an understatement similar to saying Hitler was a little bit naughty.

TAFKAL sees an opportunity to shout ‘get on with it’ at an Accrington player taking a throw, and he sees the ball slip out of his hands and the ref gives it as a foul throw. We are still having a lot of possession, but it takes an age before we fashion a chance out of it, as Josh Flint gets it to Watson and his shot from twenty-five yards is just wide right.

There is a minute’s applause on forty minutes for former club vice-president Jim Green who died during the week. I’m not sure where the club announced this beforehand, his picture appeared on the scoreboard and clapping started slowly.

Two added minutes are shown on the board and we attack again, get a ball into McKirdy, who lays it back to Flower, his shot takes two deflections on the way through and is saved by the keeper with his feet. We are trying to keep the pressure on, but there is no shot at the end of it again and the half time whistle goes with us trailing 0-1.

The half time game of kick the ball through the County Mall hole, has changed from the top corner in the canvas covering the goal, to roll it though a hole in a smaller plastic / cardboard stand they put in the middle of the goal. Still no winners though, and the thing got blown over by the wind halfway through.

Into the second half and it is properly persisting it down. The walkways around the ground are now just one large puddle, but the pitch seems to be holding up remarkably well considering, and making a mockery of those negative ninnies on the forum saying the game would be postponed due to a waterlogged pitch (after those who’d said it would be a frozen pitch causing a postponement a couple of days before – almost as it they are willing games to be called off.)

Accrington start the second half better than they did the first and win a free kick on the left wing. It is taken deep, and we head it behind for a corner. It is taken short and then played deep, but the linesman has the flag up for offside.

We make a couple of substitutions, with McKirdy and Brown making way to be replaces by Kabby Tshimanga and Jack Roles, respectively. A long ball down the left if just caught in the corner by Adeyemo and he manages to win a corner out of it. It is taken deep and there is a scramble in the box but Accrington clear and break quickly down the right but the cross in is too deep and harmless. But their number thirty-eight is fucking rapid, he’s been leaving everyone in his wake over and over. They win a free kick on the right wing and the ball put in is headed (well) over his own bar by Adeyemo for a corner. It’s taken low to the near post, and we put it out for another corner, that’s taken short, played in and a shot goes wide.

There is a lot of possession, but as so many times this season there appears to be a real unwillingness to take a shot. Of course, as soon as I scribble that in my notebook, Bajrami has a shot from outside the box, it goes straight at Tshimanga, who controls it, turns and shoots and scores and we are all level at 1-1.

Which brings about a bit more urgency from the players. A ball out from the back to Barker, and he puts it down the wing for Forster, he cuts inside and exchanges passes with Flower on the edge of the box and then lays it across to Roles, who we all know rarely needs a second invitation to have a shot, only he scuffs it a bit and it goes harmlessly to the keeper. Accrington break quickly and force a decent save out of Wollacott, and we try our own quick break only for things to go a bit skew-whiff and see the ball put out for a throw.

An Accrington player is down injured after what looked to be a bit of a late one from Flower. We take the opportunity to make the (quick and very tactical) substitution of Flower as the player is getting treatment, much to the annoyance of the Accrington players who are calling for a second yellow for Flower. That one looked a nailed on yellow, but perhaps the ref realised what a non-event card he’d given to the player in the first half.

And again we get the ball to Watson on the edge of the box, and again we seem to be unable to work an opportunity for a shot. In midfield Roles beats a man and gets hacked down and the yellow is out for an Accrington player, not the one committing the foul though, a different one for arguing with the ref for giving the free kick. Nothing comes of the free kick anyway.

Fannying about (imagine that) at the back and give the ball away and Accrington get a shot out of it, but it is fortunately wide. We go down the other end and win a corner on the right; it is taken deep and cleared. Accrington break down the left and Forster brings the winger down at the corner of the box, gives away the free kick in a dangerous position and picks up a booking for his troubles. It comes in low and we manage to clear.

There are four added minutes at the end of the game. We win a free kick on the right wing, and it swung in and headed over. Barker picks up a ridiculous yellow on the far side, and he plants his feet, the Accrington player runs into him and throws himself to the ground in a (successful) effort to win a free kick out of nothing. Watson is absolutely flattened but the ref waves play on and Accrington shoot which forces a great save from Wollacott which goes for a corner. That is cleared and the ref blows for full time, and it finishes as a draw 1-1.

Looks like there are a few fractious words between the players at the end, and if Accrington had scored after the foul on Watson, I think Scott Lindsey might well have blown a gasket at the official.

The crowd was announced as being 2,885 with there being 90 hardy souls down from Accrington in the away end. There was no sponsors’ man of the match announced. Personally, I’d give it to the groundsmen for the pitch being able to handle all the rain being thrown at it.

A point sees us stay a point behind Accrington in the table, but we did go up a place to nineteenth as Bristol Rovers lost to Cheltenham Town and both of them are on the same points as us, only behind us on goal difference.

The club were (I’m assuming given by the EFL / Panini) a number of sticker albums to give out before the game. Some people took them, looked through them and just left them dumped with the rest of the rubbish they are too lazy to take to the bins themselves. TAFKAL pointed out that the Panini website was sold out of all stickers for the collection though, almost as if they were thoroughly under-prepared for the demand of seventy-two clubs across the country. There were no sold-out Premier League items.

And onto the next game, which is an away trip to play Salford City next Saturday, which will be an all weekend trip for me, visiting old stomping grounds from when I lived in Manchester, and a day up to Morecambe to visit my mum. I don’t think I’ll have any problems finding a post match curry either, the Rusholme curry mile is already calling to me.

Come on you reds.

Breaking The Law

As always there is a reason that is somewhat loosely related to the game. This time this 1980 number twelve hit is probably Judas Priest(field)’s best known track. Yes, a lame attempt to link a track to the name of today’s stadium.

Quiz time answer, Peterborough United were the first side ever to win back-to-back Football League Trophies, but who were the first team to win back-to-back League Cups? Nottingham Forest in 1978 and 1979.

After back-to-back wins in the league (playing more than half the games against ten men) there was the interruption of the Vertu Trophy midweek where we lost to Peterborough United and tumbled out of the competition. To which there were some epic (and completely laughable) over-reactions on the forum and social media. I’m naturally downbeat, and triple-ly so at the moment, struggling to do anything but survive each day, but this lot make me seem Mr Brightside. Most of them obviously wouldn’t know irony if it came and slapped them around the head with a wet fish (gills included) as they are on their high horses slagging people off for not being ‘true fans’ whilst riding roughshod over them in slagging the club and everyone in it off at every opportunity.

The club did announce the winner of the player of the month for October on Monday, but they snuck it out on X only, and the vote went in favour of JoJo Wollacott.

We have played Gillingham six times in League Two before, with two wins, a draw, and three losses. Then four games against them in League One, with a win, a draw, and two losses. We’ve played them five times in the various names of the Football League Trophy, a single win and four losses (including our first ever game in the competition back in 2005 when conference sides were invited into the competition instead of the under 21 sides), and a loss on penalties against them in the League Cup. It’s not a great record. Although one of our two wins against them at The Priestfield came in our last game there, the 2-0 win on Boxing Day 2023.

We originally signed Scott Malone from Gillingham, before the left under mysterious circumstances last season before rejoining us this year, and manager Scott Lindsey and assistant Neil Smith both played for them. Scott lives in that area (and his father played for them in the seventies), and there was great consternation when during the 2023-24 season that he might leave to go and manage them after they parted ways with Neil Harris. In the Gillingham ranks, they have Glenn Morris who we signed from them in 2016, and then he went on loan back there before signed permanently for them again in 2023 (he’s won their player of the season for two of the last three years). Both Tom Nichols and Ashley Nadesan went to Gillingham from us, and we had Jake Hessenthaler come to us from them, others to play for both include John Akinde, Jack Payne, Mark Marshall, Luke Rooney, Luca Ashby-Hammond, Josh Wright (another to win their player of the season), and Will Wright.

After months of trawling through various sites and books, I’ve now found a site which has a comprehensive database of players/clubs to search those who have played for multiple clubs, which will save me time in the future.

https://fbref.com/en/friv/players-who-played-for-multiple-clubs-countries.fcgi

I could have gone for cards from the early nineties Proset, but when looking at the list of Gillingham managers over the years, there were a whole host of them who were on Topps cards of the late seventies, John Gorman, Peter Taylor, Mike Flanagan, Glenn Roeder, all managed them. In fact there are a whole host of interesting other former managers, including the legend that is Steve Evans, along with Keith Burkinshaw, Tony Pulis, Martin Allen, and Justin Edinburgh.

There are a few programmes in the collection going back to our first season in the league, both home and away.

And perhaps it isn’t as uncommon as I mentioned earlier in the season about players being on the front of the programme for games against team they have also played for or go on to play for as Jake Hessenthaler is on one of them.

Yesterday it was announced that Erdem Konyar is returning to the club and he will be the new Director of Football, three and a half years after leaving his role as Technical Director three and a half years ago when WAGMI took over. I clicked on the link to read the article and was pleasantly surprised to have a big pop-up advert cover the page advertising Safer Gambling Week which starts on Monday. A shame we can’t kick out all gambling advertising from football full stop though. After all there was a University of Bristol study which said there were more than twenty-seven thousand gambling messages in the opening weekend of the season’s Premier League games, including a staggering 5,262 gambling adverts and logos in the match between Wolverhampton and Manchester City, an average of 22 per minute.

I’ve started reading Steve Leake’s latest book, and for me any book which starts with a chapter on etymology gets my vote. I’ve completed the history part of the book and have got as far as the lowest point of the 23-24 season, the 0-6 loss to Swindon Town. It’s a good read and thoroughly recommended.

We had a nice early start, no holdups on the M25, and a chance to go and visit the Chatham Historic Dockyards for the day.

The ticket lasts for a year, which is good as there’s far too much to see and do in a single visit, had to see the Lego shipwrecks though, as that exhibition closes tomorrow.

and we went on the submarine. Rope making will have to wait until next time.

They make a lot of being Medway towns around here. So, just a quick reminder that the River Medway rises in Sussex (at Turner’s Hill), long before Kent lays claim to it.

At the ground there is a trip into the club shop, where the home support look at me as if I’ve grown three heads being in Crawley colours in the shop. But they have the pen and fridge magnet merch I’m after, so I don’t care.

And there is a programme; it isn’t bad but not as good as some of their older ones and has a few too many ads for my taste. There are five pages of Crawley content in there though.

Thankfully, we are in the Gordon Street stand and not in the supposedly away end of the uncovered temporary stand which makes the east marquee seem like luxury times.

There are a few changes in the line up from the winning side last weekend, and I wonder how much of that is forced, as looking at the bench it would suggest we are down to bare bones. We do have a keeper on the bench (Harvey Davies), but both of the youngsters (Fate Kotey and Jude Robertson) are on it as well. Jay Williams is back in the starting lineup and is captain, and it looks like the back three will be Charlie Barker, Geraldo Bajrami, and Josh Flint. 66away will be happy. Joy Mukena is on the bench, so no sign of Ben Radcliffe, so perhaps the sub at half time on Tuesday night was more serious than we thought.

In the normal time kick offs, Shrewsbury Town and Accrington Stanley won which sees us slip to twenty-first before kick-off. Gillingham are doing their Remembrance piece pre-game, and the stadium announcer said three times for fans not to applaud at the end of the playing of the last post as it will be the silence then, which will be ended by the referee’s whistle. There are some right goldfish recall morons in the stadium as there is a lot of clapping when the bugler finishes.

We are in our all red with white trim home kit, and Gillingham are in all blue, so it looks like another game of table football under the lights.

It isn’t by any stretch of the imagination a quick start. Williams commits a foul within two minutes, and then Gillingham win a corner on five minutes gone. It’s headed clear and we break. Reece Brown is fouled but the ref plays advantage as the ball goes to Louis Flower on halfway, he plays in Flint racing down the right who gets into the box and shoots and the keeper makes a good save, and it goes out for a throw. Barker slings it into the box and Bajrami gets a head to it, we all think it’s gone in, but it hits the post and is cleared off the line and away.

Gillingham break and we make a bit of a hash of it in defence before managing to scramble it away and we break ourselves, we put a couple of crosses in and have a bit of decent possession before Barker has a shot from twenty-five yards which forces a low save from the keeper, and it’s cleared for a throw. Flint takes it long into the box and it is hacked clear.

For the next ten minutes I didn’t make a single note, there were a couple of goal kicks, a couple of harmless crosses at either end, but nothing to get excited about, there is no one stamping their authority on the game, it’s just a case of waiting for something to happen.

There is a long range shot over the bar from Gillingham, there’s a hefty tackle in midfield and Williams is involved, but it is him being on the receiving end and the yellow card which comes out is for a Gillingham player. It is thirty yards out, Harry Forster takes it deep, and Williams gets on the end of it but can’t steer it towards goal or back across the box and it goes out for a goal kick.

We have a break, and Max Anderson plays it out to Flower, and he crosses it in, Brown’s first touch is heavy, but he gets the ball, the Gillingham defender dives over his outstretched leg and goes down like an extra from Platoon and rolls around injured. It wasn’t even a foul yet there is a bullshit yellow card for Brown, and as soon as it appears the cheating Gillingham defender is up and running around as if nothing has happened.

At the other end a ball into our box sees a bit of a scramble, JoJo Wollacott makes a save, there is a block from another shot, and the third effort loops up over the goal, and their number nine finishes the move off by stamping on Anderson who’s on the deck. No free kick or yellow card (a quiet word from the ref a couple of minutes later), and Anderson is down injured. He has to be helped off the pitch. He is trying to shake the injury off but can’t and we play with ten men for nearly five minutes before Jack Roles comes on to replace him.

A ball out from the back see Flint push it on to Ade Adeyemo who gets into the box and has a shot which takes a deflection and crashes down off the underside of the bar and is half cleared, a cross comes back in but eludes everyone and goes for a goal kick. The is a Gillingham throw, everyone is expecting to be launched long into the box again, but it is short and back to the taker who whips a cross into the box, it bounces in the middle and is headed just over.

There are four added minutes, a long clearance down the left is taken down (ish) by Roles and he gets to it and has a shot which goes wide. Gillingham clear long, Bajrami is dragged down but nothing given, and the ball is in the box, a shot is saved and then the ball is put out for a corner. It is taken low just behind the penalty spot, and we fall for it again as we did on Tuesday night and the Gillingham striker rifles it into the top corner and we trail 0-1. Which is how it ends up when the half time whistle goes.

I’m sure the stadium announcer thinks he is commentating on the snooker as he appears to be imitating whispering Ted Lowe for most of his utterings.

Into the second half. Watson is flagged offside, yet the officials allow Gillingham to take the free kick from inside our half. Surely that’s an impossibility, you can’t be offside in your own half. It’s taken long and we concede a corner, we clear and it comes out down the Gillingham right, and they pump it back into the box, as soon as the player hits the ball the linesman has his flag up for offside, the striker heads it in, but it is disallowed. Apparently replays show that the striker wasn’t offside, but no idea who might have been as it was an incredibly early flag, well before the header connected. Probably got away with one there.

A ball out to Adeyemo, he plays it across the field to Forster, and it is worked back across towards the left and Roles cuts inside and shoots and it is blocked on the edge of the area. We keep the ball and get a corner, which goes out wide and it cleared. Gillingham break and have a shot which comes back off the post, but the offside flag was up again before the shot was taken.

Adeyemo skins the defender and gets into the box but seems to slow to a crawl and the ball is taken off him, but we get it and play it over to the right and Forster wins a corner. It comes into the middle of the box and Bajrami gets his head on it and it goes in and we are level 1-1. Both the opponent’s and our goal were carbon copies of the first two goals from the Vertu Trophy game on Tuesday night.

Only we don’t have to wait for injury time for the third goal of the game, a ball down the right from Gillingham sees a cross in, it is half cleared out towards the far side and there is a Gillingham shot back in. There are claims for a handball and the ref points to the spot for a penalty. Wollacott goes the right way, but it beats him and we trail 1-2. Those watching at home on TV suggest that it was never a handball and it hit their hip.

Flint comes out of defence and gets the ball to Roles; he beats his man and gets into the box and gets a cross in. Flower heads it goalwards and it is saved and goes back out towards Roles, but he is offside. Forster is bundled over in midfield, taken into the box it is turned behind for a corner which is poor, but still comes out to Adeyemo, and his shot from outside the box is saved for a corner.

A Gillingham long throw is put out for a corner, it comes in and Wollacott drops it, but we do finally manage to scramble it away. There is another right-wing attack which we struggle to deal with the cross into the box, it bounces around a bit and there is another claim for a penalty, but nothing doing, a shot comes in, and we bundle it behind for a corner. That is headed out for another, which we finally clear.

We are playing well though, patient build up and it comes out down the left to Adeyemo, he beats his man all ends up and his shot is beaten away by the keeper, the header back in from Brown is collected by the keeper. Back down the left we get the ball into Bajrami in midfield, his shot is blocked on the edge of the area, as is Louie Watson’s and Gillingham break at pace, but Forster tracks the man back the whole length of the pitch and wins the ball back on his own goal line. Brown is substituted, with Kabby Tshimanga coming on to replace him. And whilst that is happening the Gillingham keeper is down with a mystery phantom injury in the middle of his own half.

When we restart Gillingham throw it long into the box and it is headed behind for a corner. Wollacott collects. Bajrami brings the ball out from the back, and plays it to Flint on the wing, who exchanges passes with Roles and charges into the box and crosses it to Tshimanga who finishes well with his first touch since coming on and we are back level again, 2-2.

All game the Gillingham back line have been baulking, holding, and running across Flower to prevent him chasing the ball back to the keeper. The full back comes across to do the same and then goes down like he’s been shot when Flower collides with him. The ref blows, gives a free kick to Gillingham and another bullshit yellow card to Flower, which is a fucking disgrace.

Another break and Tshimanga holds it well in midfield and feeds Watson, who plays it on to Flower and his shot is saved. We get it back out to the left to Adeyemo, and his cross is blocked for a corner. It’s taken back to him, and he pumps a deep cross in which Barker can’t steer back across, and it goes for a goal kick. Gillingham break and get a cross into the box, there is a bit of head tennis before Wollacott collects.

Seven added minutes go up on the board and are whispered over the tannoy. We are having shots (no Jagers though) Flint and Watson both have shots blocked on the edge of the area. There is decent work again down the left and we get a corner. It goes deep and the goalkeeper misses it, but it gets cleared, we recycle and Flint plays it into Tshimanga who turns and shoots, but it is blocked, and besides, the offside flag is up.

Gillingham go down the left and get a cross in, and a shot goes wide. We play it down the left to Adeyemo again, and he beats his man yet again only to be pulled back. we have a free kick in line with the edge of the area. Watson swings it in, but it is caught by the keeper, and the final whistle goes with it being a 2-2 draw.

The attendance was whispered as 6,252, but there was an even quieter whisper when he said how many away fans there were. I thought he said 205, Helen thought he said 476, and someone else has posted on the forum that it was 395, so take your pick.

No matter how many it was, they were treated to one of, if not the best performance of the season from the players. The officials were their usual useless selves (for both sides). And although we were behind twice, we might well be disappointed by only coming away with a point.

That point sees us go back above Shrewsbury Town on goal difference, but it is a net drop of one place today, we are a point behind next week’s opponents Accrington Stanley and Bristol Rovers.

Then it was back to the car and the almost clear run back to Crawley, only the one snarl up at junction six on the M25, and we were back to the Downsman in time to get a belated post-match curry.

Quiz time, following on from the question in the Fleetwood write up, as we were playing Gillingham, besides Gillingham, how many other league sides have there been which have started with the letter G (all time), and if you’re really going for it, name them.

Next up are Accrington Stanley at home next Saturday at the correct 3pm kick off time, unspoilt by FCC. As mentioned above they are one of the sides struggling with us at the wrong end of the table and are a point above us, so we need to pull our finger out and claim another home win.

Come on you reds.