Tag: Peterborough United

I had a few titles in mind depending on how the game went, it was bright sunshine all day and it was still light when getting to the ground for the first time in six months, so was tempted by The Questions’ “Tuesday Sunshine”, if it went badly then there was always Stevie Wonder’s “Tuesday Heartbreak”, and a tough game could have been Sheryl Crow’s “No One Said It Would Be Easy” from her album “Tuesday Night Music Club”, but I couldn’t resist Lionel Jefferies from the Chitty Chitty Bang Bang soundtrack, linking in with our opponent’s nickname, and by the end we were certainly Pissed Off, Sodding Hell.

We didn’t go to the Rotherham game on Saturday but spent most of Thursday evening and all day Friday to make the decision yes or no. it had been bouncing around in my head all week to go. There was FOMO there without a doubt. And unlike Huddersfield two weeks before they were selling tickets at Rotherham on the day. I had confirmed this at the club shop when I’d gone in Friday afternoon to get Stevenage away tickets, and Helen had double confirmed by ringing Rotherham. We had been through all the different time combinations on ticket splitter (for some reason it was cheaper to go from Crawley than Three Bridges), had selected trains and clicked on buy, only to not complete the purchase. The umming and aahing suggesting to Helen I wasn’t fully committed. I should be, I think the rightful FOMO was being overtaken by the fear of memories – all bad – of Rotherham itself.

What a dumbass decision. Our best result of the season. The new (old) manager bounce continuing apace, even if it does question (to me anyway) just how fucking unprofessional a lot of the players were being the last couple of months. I busied myself doing other things, writing, and going to the last of the month’s Crawley WORDfest events, ten choirs singing in the bandstand in Memorial Gardens. I probably knew then I’d made the wrong decision, as just about the time the game was due to kick off, the rock choir were on the bandstand just about to start singing ‘Somewhere Only We Know,’ talk about signs. And it made a change not to be walking past there when there were performances on and them not to be singing god damn ‘Boys Don’t Cry.’ And as it turns out, the win turned out to be the last game of this Steve Evans era at Rotherham, as he was let go on Sunday morning, his post-match interview suggested he knew the writing was on the wall.

Anyway, after the Bristol Rovers match when I had mentioned thinking about using Second Coming as the title, I did put a poem together containing most of all the Stone Roses song titles as an ode to Scott Lindsay

The Second Coming

I am the resurrection.

As the second coming is declared,

So the fan’s love spreads.

You’d have to be made of stone,

Not to feel it in the air.

In the stands, in the crowd.

It is a ten storey love song.

As she bangs the drum,

It echoes in the heartbeat,

And there are tears like a waterfall,

As the crowd is united with one love.

Is it what the world is waiting for,

Or at least the Crawley fans.

Give it straight to the man.

He is driving south, it’s daybreak.

Now he stands arms open wide,

As if saying I wanna be adored.

Everyone hopes the team are now all for one.

Don’t stop bringing the good times,

We don’t want to shoot you down,

Or be walking the tightrope.

The need is that your star will shine.

Make us feel as if we are breaking into heaven.

Tell me, I’m begging you,

That this beautiful thing, so young

Will not turn out to be fools gold.

Without a doubt there is a manager bounce from the arrival of Scott and his motivational powers, but there is an element of luck with the return of Josh Flint, and some of the other players need to take a long hard look at themselves for the lack of effort over the last couple of months under Rob.

Having gone to the away game against Peterborough I’d already done one old card from them, so as for Bristol Rovers last time it’s back to the faithful 1991-92 Proset series this time.

Me constantly reminding myself about old football cards did lead me to write a piece about that obsession which can be found at the link below.

And linking to that, whilst casually flicking through eBay (as you do) I found these beauties from the 1976-77 Scottish set at an incredibly low price.

What fascinated me more about these was as part of the packaging they had wrapped the cards in four random pages torn out of a January 1978 Mansfield Town football club programme. Once I’d gotten over the horror of such sacrilege, I found it was an interesting snapshot from FA Cup third round weekend, and that it included their club shop price list. It seems our club shop is missing a few tricks. Who wouldn’t want from CTFC underpants, or even a club ashtray. Especially at those kinds of prices.

This, along with stuff I’d picked up when staying at my mums for the Blackpool game, led to me to write another piece, this time on the love of any kind of old programmes.

I was selling my exercise bike (clothes rack / dust collector) through Facebook marketplace, and it had been on for about a week with no interest, so it was a surprise when someone was interested and that they just happened to be Mark Dunford. After he picked it up, Helen’s son casually remarked, ‘he’s going to use it less than you did.’ Thus nailing two insults with one sentence.

I’ve gone off at so many tangents that I’ve started to develop sidelines in other trigonometric functions, which now sees me going off at sines, cosines, secants, cosecants, and cotangents. I know I can be obtuse, but it is a reflex. It may not be right, but it is an acute issue.

This will be our eighth game against Peterborough. We won our first two against them in our second season in League One in 2013-14, but then have lost the other five, three others in League One, one in the League Cup, and one in the Bristol Street Motors Trophy last season. Our home record against them is won one and lost one. Our fixture away to them back in December was another slobber knocker of a game when we scored three but still conspired to lose 4-3. Their games in League one this season have the total most goals scored, and we are third (after Bolton), so this one has goals written all over it. Perhaps I should change my standard prediction from 2-1 to something more realistic with the goals per game involved here. 0-0 anyone?

We go into the game seven places and nine points behind our opponents, but with two wins on the bounce we are now only six points off safety, and another win tonight would make the hope of survival so much more tangible.

No Helen for tonight’s game as she is at an enforced work meeting / prison up in London, and I worked from home, so was able to get to the ground nearly as early as I do for Saturday afternoon kick-offs. It was still light before kick off and the sun was just disappearing over the corner next to the west stand.

In the warmup it looked as if the two Peterborough full backs, and one of the linos were wearing ear defenders. Word of TAFKAL must have gotten out there. But they are worrying in vain as we have a TAFKAL free zone this evening whilst he is on holiday.

Speaking of TAFKAL, I’m sure he’d have had a field day yelling at their number 10, as the lettering looked as if his name were OOOH not Odoh. Peterborough were in all blue with some white trim on their shirts, and we were in out home all red.

We start well, pressing high up the pitch and force a mistake by a defender and Rushian Hepburn-Murphy is on to it but his shot is just wide. At the other end it doesn’t take long for ball one to disappear over the gap between the west stand and the Eden Utilities stand as JoJo Wollacott takes a bit too long with a clearance and it is closed down and deflected out. We have a lot of the ball in the Peterborough half, but they break quickly and Oooh is away down the left and his cross low into the box is cleared for a corner.

From it we break, and the ball gets to RHM, but his shot is deflected which takes the sting out of it and it falls into the waiting arms of the keeper. A ball out of defence and Jeremy Kelly goes across midfield and clips its through to the edge of the box, Armando Junior Quitirna just beats the keeper to the ball on the edge of the area and is in and calmly slots it in to give us a 1-0 lead.

More pressure wins us a throw down by the right corner flag and Charlie Barker’s long throw is cleared, and Bradley Ibrahim picks up a booking in midfield, more for the intent of the sliding tackle, rather than there being any contact before the Peterborough player dived over his leg. That free kick gets through to the edge of our area and Toby Mullarkey picks up a booking for a challenge. The shot from that free kick is well saved by Wollacott. The corner is headed over the Eden Utilities Stand by Barker for ball loss two and another corner.

We break down the left and Kamari Doyle and Kelly exchange passes, and Kelly puts a cross in which gets blocked and cleared. Peterborough break down the right and Mullarkey has to be careful already being on a yellow, the ball is crossed over and Barker goes full stretch to cut it out but misses it, and Oooh picks it up, cuts back inside and curls a shot past Barker and Wollacott into the far corner of the net and it is all square 1-1.

The game is being played at breakneck speed, and there are quick breaks by both sides, but Peterborough’s wingers look to have the pace advantage on our defence. Mullarkey keeps going backwards with the ball under pressure and gives away a needless corner. It comes in and Barker wins the header which is more up than out and on the edge of the area Oooh hits a first-time volley into the other bottom corner of the net and we now trail 1-2. Oooh goes and celebrates in front of the home fans.

After the restart it feels as we have possession in the Peterborough half for an age, playing it back and forth across the front of the area. Over on the left it looks as if Doyle has lost the ball, but he shows some determination and wins it back, gets to the byline and crosses it low into the six yard box, and Kelly gets a touch on it and the ball dribbles over the line and we are level again 2-2.

Another attack and RHM has a shot blocked on the edge of the area. Peterborough break and Barker slides in and clears the ball and then Oooh goes over him a couple of seconds later trying to claim a foul. The terrace are less than impressed with him and are chanting at him ‘you’re going to cry in a minute.’

At the other end AJQ gets a booking for breaking up a possible attack. Then in midfield Panutche Camara is shoved over and the ref waves play on, Peterborough play it to the right and their wingers gets into the box and plays a ball nearly across the goal line and it is us who are crying as Oooh is there again at the back post to tap it in and claim his hat trick. Again he celebrates in front of the home crowd, and this time he picks up a booking for doing so.

From the restart Peterborough pick up another booking for pulling back Kelly on the left wing. There are three added minutes to the end of the half. AJQ gets down the right and crosses, it is half cleared, and Ibrahim gets a shot in which is blocked. AJQ gets taken out in midfield, and the ref plays advantage, and we get another free kick, this time on the edge of the box just left of the D. The ref comes back and books the Peterborough player who took AJQ out. Doyle takes the free kick which hits one of the wall, the one who had already ran three yards out from it before the kick was taken. And the half time whistle goes, and we trail 2-3.

There was a lot going on. I check to make sure I have a spare pen and enough paper if the second half carries on in the same vein.

And we get an early chance in the second half with Doyle through, but his shot is well saved and goes out for a corner. Caught by the keeper. Kelly slides a ball down the left to RHM and his cross just gets slid out for a corner, which is caught again.

Meanwhile Peterborough break and it is Oooh again, he gets a cross into the box and it finds an attacker and their shot is saved by Wollacott and then cleared. We are still trying to keep the high press going and in doing so we force a poor back pass, RHM beats the keeper to it, but takes it out wide, but then slots it in from an acute angle (the trigonometry is back again) and it is level yet again 3-3.

We get an unforced corner in almost a repeat of the one Mullarkey gave away in the first half. But we can’t take advantage as it comes in and is caught by the keeper again. We win it back and Doyle gets a shot in the box which comes back off the post and is cleared.

More decent work down the left between Doyle and Kelly, a cross comes into the six-yard box and is cleared, it comes to Ibrahim and his shot is saved and goes for a corner. There is an absolute melee in the box with the ball bouncing around all over the place, but there is no clear-cut chance, and it is cleared. RHM is down in midfield injured.

Peterborough break down the right and win a corner, and one of their players is now down in midfield injured and gets subbed. The corner is headed clear by Barker. We work the ball forward, Kelly plays it over the top to Camara on the edge of the area and he knocks it down to RHM, his shot takes a deflection and ends up with the keeper. We win it back quickly and get it out to the left only for Doyle to slice his cross and it to end up on top of the net.

A ball down the right and RHM is haring after it, the keeper comes out and picks the ball up. The Ref blows to say he has handled it outside the area, gives a free kick and a booking. Should that be a red? The free kick is taken short to AJQ, and his shot skims the top of the cross bar and goes out for a goal kick. Which as with everything else this half the Peterborough players take an absolute age to take.

We attack again, and again Doyle is in the box with the ball, but his shot is blocked and cleared. And it is time for our first substitutions of the evening, with Camara and Kelly coming off to be replaced by Ade Adeyemo and Will Swan.

The next five minutes are a bit of a stalemate, but we are trying to pressure up the field more. Swan has a shot which is deflected for a corner, it is half cleared and played back in, and a header goes just wide. Adeyemo picks up a booking to prevent a break. But Peterborough are attacking more, down the right they beat us for pace again and the cross goes right across the six-yard box, but fortunately there is no one there to turn it in and we clear.

There are six added minutes, which is probably less than there would have been if we had been wasting as much time as Peterborough were. But Peterborough are threatening again and a ball into the box sees something akin to pinball with there being three shots blocked by who knows what in quick succession before it is cleared. We make another substitution, with Doyle going off to be replaced by Gavan Holohan (although not according to the BBC website).

Again Oooh goes down the left and Adeyemo is struggling to keep up and clips his heels and it is a penalty. There is a lot of pushing and shoving on the edge of the area before it is taken. Wollacott dives the right way, but it is a good penalty, right into the side netting and we trail 3-4. As most of the Peterborough players celebrate in front of their own fans in the corner, their number 14 slaps Holohan round the back of the head nearer to midfield and Holohan reacts and pushes him back and is moaning at the lino about it. Nothing is doing, but one of the Peterborough subs gets a booking for joining in with the celebrations on the pitch, and the Peterborough bench get a talking to.

We try to hoof it up into the area, but it is being cleared time and time again and the full-time whistle goes, and we have lost 3-4. Their number 14 carries on being a dick after the final whistle and being in the Crawley players faces and gets a post-match booking, which doesn’t stop him still giving them shit before one of their coaches drags and then carries the little shit away.

It is another of those heartbreaking losses, one we have seen more times than we care to remember this season. It finished with the same scoreline as the away fixture against Peterborough did back in December. It is the sixth time this season we have scored three goals and lost, and the seventh we have scored three or more and not won. It does keep up both teams records of being in high scoring games.

The defeat sees us stay six points off safety, with Bristol Rovers, and Northampton Town (another point ahead) both losing, But Burton Albion won, and they are only three points from safety with a game in hand.

Six games left, probably five wins needed, next up is the twin town derby away at Stevenage. Come on you reds.

There is no logical reason for this 1969 Desmond Dekker & The Aces number off their Israelites album. I was looking at a copy of the album in HMV yesterday and saw this was one of the tracks, and just thought it is such a wonderful name to call people, that it really needs using more often. So, I’m going to start with it here. I’m sure it could be applied to many on the forum as well. I was briefly swayed to going for some 808 State based on the time of the train I caught this morning, “In Yer Face” would have been good if we won.

Somewhat cold on the heels of an excellent away win at Charlton Athletic last Tuesday night, it is back to action today with the visit to Peterborough United. It feels even longer than the eleven days it has been, as we should have had a home game against Stevenage last Saturday which Storm Darragh put paid to, much to some nincompoops displeasure. Granted it wasn’t as bad as some other parts of the country, but there were trees down on the main road near the ground that morning, and plenty of other trees down across roads elsewhere in Crawley all day. With the marquee nature of the east stand, and the fan zone, it was felt best to postpone. It may have hit the momentum a bit, but also allows a respite to try and get some of our overly long injury list of players fit again.

With the win on last Tuesday night taking us up one place to nineteenth, it felt a bit flat, but other results saw the table above us concertina. Only with us not playing last weekend it saw both Leyton Orient and Northampton Town win and jump above us in the table, and put us back in the relegation places, the latter doing so on Monday night against today’s opponents. Only five points separate us from tenth in the league (although our poor goal difference effectively makes us another point behind). A win today would jump us above Peterborough as although they are six places above us in fifteenth, they are only two points ahead. And they are one of the few sides with a worse defensive record than we have.

I saw something which said they hadn’t kept a clean sheet for twenty-four games (all their games in all competitions this season). As far as I can tell, they haven’t kept one for the last twenty-two league games, going back to last season, but have kept one against Stevenage in the BSM Trophy this season.

It is my third visit to Peterborough this year. The first attempt saw our January quarter final game in the BSM trophy get postponed due to a frozen pitch as we sat on the Charters bar on the river with less than two hours to go before the game. I made the return trip when it was replayed, and I’m here again, on a nice and early train so I can get some sightseeing done. I was thinking about getting on the tower tour of the cathedral, only for this to be the only weekend they aren’t doing them. I was going to try to get a proper aerial shot of the ground from the top of the cathedral instead of the accidental one I got a few years ago when I did the tower tour previously.

We did lose that BSM game earlier this year and have lost in our only other cup visit here in the League Cup, but in the league, we have a win and a loss at London Road (and the same record at home).

Peterborough’s manager is Darren Ferguson, son of Sir Alex, and who seems to be on a bungy rope attached to the club, as he is in his fourth spell as manager here. Perhaps he is forever entwined with Peterborough’s other serial returner, Barry Fry, almost as if they are the modern-day footballing equivalent of Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton. He featured on a Topps card, but not as a player, it was as Peterborough manager in his second spell back in 2013.

Outside of that, A&BC had a few Peterborough players in the mid-sixties after they joined the league in 1960 and made quick progress to division two. From 1964-65 is Roy Horobin. If it had been ten years later that image might have been soundtracked by ‘everybody was kung-fu footballing’.

With the game being off last Saturday it threw ticket purchasing plans out a bit, so it required a trip to the club shop on Monday to get a ticket for today, and tickets for Leyton Orient. It also meant I could pick up the latest issue of Reds magazine, which has a couple of decent interviews with Charlie Barker and Max Anderson in, and a nice retro reds piece from Mick Fox. The shop also had a glut of Christmas t-shirts and jumpers, which as I’m the satanic bastard spawn of Scrooge and the Grinch, and for clarity’s sake, that is the pre ghost visits Scrooge, I didn’t buy.

The train journey up to Peterborough went through Stevenage, who we should have been playing last week. I was surprised to see they had set up one of those big wheels you see pop up in big cities and despite my fear of heights I’ve been dragged onto in places like Manchester, Birmingham, Budapest, Copenhagen, and others. You know, places with things to see from the top. So, fuck knows why there’s one set up in Stevenage town centre. Unless there’s an industrial estate appreciation society convention in town. Nincompoops.

Apparently, David Pleat was in their club shop for a couple of hours earlier doing a book signing. I hadn’t realised he’d had anything to do with Peterborough, but he played for them in the 1970-71 season. I remember him from my Tottenham supporting days and the free scoring 1986-87 team when he managed them to their only FA Cup final loss, against Coventry City. He left later that year due to “personal circumstances” and rocked up in Leicester where I lived, and those “personal circumstances” were quickly turned into a joke punchline. ‘How can you tell a prostitute in Highfields (Leicester’s red-light district)? They have a pleat in their skirt.’

Speaking of their club shop, I thought it was impressive when here back in January, but they’ve moved it into a bigger space and it’s even better now.

Got a programme. It’s a hefty affair of eighty pages, but it is an advert fest and only about a quarter of it is actual content.

I Swerved getting a pie at the ground in fear of it being as radioactively hot as the one at Charlton last Tuesday. Even now the roof of my mouth still hasn’t fully recovered.

I could have done with a cap pregame with the bright sunshine, but it had retreated behind the west stand by the time kick off arrived. There is great noisy support well before kick-off, and sorry Matt, the away drummer is better than you.

And there are a whole series of new stickers on any available surface before kick-off.

The stands have some proper old school wooden flip down seatage going on.

The teams line up with Peterborough in all blue and us in all red, as if we’re going to start an old school game of table football.

We start well, with good possession and pressure, but struggle with that final telling ball to get a shooting opportunity. And it’s nearly ten minutes before Peterborough have their first proper attack and they win a corner. It’s half cleared, fired back in, JoJo Wollacott saves, and some pinball breaks out in the six-yard box before the ball is cleared off the line and away up the right where Ronan Darcy picks up a booking for a clash in midfield.

Peterborough win another corner and the shot flies over the tall, empty south stand for the only ball loss of the day. Another corner soon follows, we clear and Darcy crosses from the right and Tola Showumni’s shot is blocked on the edge of the area. We go down the left and Ade Adeyemo cuts into the box, wrongfoots a couple of defenders before his shot is blocked. It falls to Panutche Camara, and his shot is over the bar.

There is a long clearance, and Toby Mullarkey fails to deal with the ball or the attacker, Joy Mukena makes a hash of an attempted headed back to Wollacott, leaving it short, the attacker rounds Wollacott and slides it in past the despairing lunge from Charlie Barker to score and it’s 0-1.

We attack and have a shot blocked on the edge of the area, Peterborough break and their right winger cuts inside, across the box, past three statues and slots it into the corner and in true Tommy Cooper style, just like that, we are down 0-2.

It could have been worse. Camara is fouled in their half, but nothing is given, they break quickly again, and force a save from Wollacott. It’s followed by another Peterborough corner and another shot over the bar. Mukena picks up a yellow card for a mistimed lunge trying to stop their flying right winger.

We break from the free kick down the right, but Darcy’s ball is too strong for Showumni to get on the end of. A minute later another Darcy cross goes deep and it’s Peterborough’s turn to make a hash of things, and Adeyemo slams it in to pull one back and it’s 1-2.

And again, Peterborough give the ball away in the box, this time to Showumni but his shot is blocked. We go back down the right and win our first corner. Put into box and headed clear for another one, only for that to be too long and go out for a goal kick.

A left-wing attack sees a deep cross from Camara and Darcy has his shot saved. We keep the pressure on and a ball into the box sees Showumni tangle with a defender and them both go to the ground and a free kick for Peterborough. Two minutes of added time are played before the half time whistle goes with us trailing 1-2.

The promising end to the first half is deflated on Peterborough’s first attack of the second half. There is a long cross right to left, it’s played into the six-yard box, and two Peterborough players have unchallenged touches before ignored is turned in and we trail 1-3.

But we pick up the pace quickly. Adeyemo goes down the left and his cross is deflected for a corner. The cross bounces around in the six yard before their keeper saves it. Peterborough attack, have a shot blocked and the follow up goes wide. Adeyemo down the left again and his cross is put behind for another corner.

We rob Peterborough in midfield and the ball is fed to Will Swan on the edge of the area, he goes past a defender and slots it in the corner, and it is back to 2-3.

A throw in front of the away support on the left gets played over to the right and Darcy floats a cross over the keeper and Showumni is on hand to poke in from an inch out and we are level 3-3. What a fucking game this is.

Adeyemo again down the left, cuts inside and has a shot from twenty-five yards out which the keeper saves on the second attempt. We go back down the right, and it’s crossed to Swan who has two shots blocked. Only for Peterborough to break with speed again, two passes and slotted in for us to trail again 3-4.

We’re back on it again, Adeyemo down the left, cross blocked for a corner. Cleared for another which is played short before the cross in is collected by the keeper. And it’s time for the substitutions to start. Darcy, Showumni, and Swan are off and replaced by Harry Forster, Tyreese John-Jules, and Rushian Hepburn-Murphy.

Forster is straight into the action and crosses from the right, Adeyemo’s shot ix spilled by the keeper, who just beats RHM to the ball and stays down “injured”. Once we restart, it’s Adeyemo down the left, (and please stop me if you’ve heard this before) and his cross is put behind for a corner.

Camara is the next to be subbed being replaced by Jack Roles. There is a bit of a lull in proceedings, some back and forth. Peterborough win a corner and we make our final substitution with Max Anderson being replaced by Bradley Ibrahim before the corner is headed clear. A Wollacott clearance is flicked on by Adeyemo to Roles who feeds it to RHM who beats a defender and gets into the box and shoots, but it is inches past the far post.

Peterborough attack and Wollacott makes a save for a corner. Roles smacks a clearance in the face of a Peterborough player, it rebounds to RHM who is off only for the ref to blow for a stoppage for a potential head injury. And then to start with a drop ball giving it to Peterborough on the edge of our area despite us being in possession twenty yards up the pitch when he blew his whistle. Absolute nincompoop.

There are five added minutes, which is a total piss take. Four goals, nine subs, two “injuries” and blatant time wasting. Ten would have been more appropriate. Not that the ref would have allowed us to score anyway. Forster is hacked down in full flight only for nothing to be given, as if it were Stevie Wonder reffing. That was a nailed on yellow card and free kick. Absolute fucking nincompoop.

And the final whistle goes, and it is a disappointing 3-4 loss. Another where defensive lapses have cost us. If we could attack with the kind of pace Peterborough showed we’d be unstoppable. We have shown we can score, but the defending is still our Achilles heel. That is the fourth time this season (in all competitions) where we have scored three and lost. The away support were immense all game, a wall of noise, so much so, that if the crowd was announced over the piss-poor tannoy system, then it was drowned out.

The result leaves us in the relegation zone now two points behind Bristol Rovers and Northampton Town, yet only six points behind eleventh place. It is tight.

Outside the ground a random Peterborough fan came up to me and shook my hand and wished us the best of luck for the rest of the season. And walking back to the city centre I was in amongst the Peterborough fans and all any of the weirdos were talking about was next year’s impending visit of Birmingham City. Not one was talking about today’s game.

There was time to get a very tasty post-match curry in at 1498 The Spice Affair,

And some night photos of the cathedral before the seemingly long train journey back to Crawley.

There are nine days until our next game, one rearranged by FSS against the aforementioned Birmingham City side now in the automatic promotion places in a game pitching the league’s biggest budget against the smallest. But as we know, anything can happen.

Come on you reds.

There was the temptation to have more Chitty Chitty Bang Bang lyrics, but instead it is Kim Wilde who needs apologies this time out.

Following the disappointment of the postponed away game at AFC Wimbledon on Saturday, another game lost to a frozen pitch, it is déjà vu all over again as I return to Peterborough to play United just under a fortnight since the original fixture was postponed for the same thing.

Only this time it is the usual Tuesday night midweek game for us instead of the Wednesday night the original was scheduled for. To recap (or blatantly copy what I said last time), this one is a cup game, a third-round tie in the Bristol Street Motors Trophy. Yes, the one that has had more names over the years than I’ve had hairstyles. It is the first time Crawley have reached this stage of the competition.

It is the first time we have played Peterborough since a 2–0 loss against them in the Carabao Cup at the start of the 2015–16 season. They are going well in the league this season, and now sit second in League One, and in the automatic promotion slots after winning both their league games since our cup tie was postponed.

What we don’t know (as I write this part of this up anyway) is how seriously both sides are going to take this game. We have already had wins over two League One sides this season in the competition without playing our full-strength side, and I’d expect a similar strength side again today. As for Peterborough, it is difficult to say how they will treat it. Flying high in League One they could look at this as a serious trophy winning opportunity. On the flip side they might want to rest players so they can push on for promotion to the Championship.

Meanwhile, we have had a disappointing loss at home to Salford City in a game reminiscent of the Alamo. And then the postponed game on Saturday (a double disappointment as I was to have a piece in the programme for that game – I’m not sure what is happening now, though I suspect they had already printed them before the postponement and it will be out of date by the time the game goes ahead now).

But with last weekend’s game off, and next weekend’s game away to Wrexham also postponed due to their participation in the fourth round of the FA Cup, it does mean we can have a pretty much free swing at this game and go all out to win it. Which would then mean the quarter finals for us and a home tie against AFC Wimbledon next Tuesday.

This time around I have come up by myself on the train and got here in daylight in lots of time. I can work out how long it takes to get from the station to the ground (ready for the quick march back after the game), and to take some pictures in the light. There may well be further sightseeing involved before the game.

It was a bit damp on arrival in Peterborough, but I stuck to the plan and timed how long it took me from platform to outside the away stand. So, I had a baseline for how fast I had to scuttle back for the direct train depending on what time the game finished.

I had a look around the ground and took some photos in the light.

And of the statue to Chris Turner.

I also went in to have a poke around in their club shop. Which is quite impressive for a League 1 side. So many different items to buy. If our club shop had a quarter of what was on offer at Peterborough, I’d be a pauper within a couple of months. It does seem like a massive, missed opportunity.

Then it was back to being a tourist for a couple of hours, taking black and white pictures this time around. Then a late lunch / early dinner (should that be a lunner or a dinch?)

I went into a charity shop to look at records and must have the look of a charity shop worker as people kept asking me where stuff is. It was difficult resisting the temptation to send them on a wild goose chase.

Then an hour in Charters nursing a non-alcoholic sugar-free drink before heading to the ground nice and early to take floodlit photos.

I was trying to count how many Crawley fans were coming in. I got into the seventies before kick-off.

Crawley were in white shirts, black shorts and socks, and Peterborough were in blue shirts and shorts, and white socks. And despite having a bag full of stuff with me, I failed to bring my glasses, so it wasn’t the clearest view of things.

We started brightly and had racked up a corner and a shot on target in the first minute. Another shot on target from the halfway line had the Peterborough keeper scrambling back but dropped into his arms a yard out. There was good early pressure on the ball as Peterborough played it around at the back.

There was nothing of note for nearly twenty minutes until a good move down the right ended with an Ade Adeyemo shot. Quickly followed by another attack and a shot from the edge of the D by Nick Tsaroulla went into the bottom corner and we lead 1-0.

Soon after we break down the left, Adeyemo turns on the halfway line and leaves his man for dead, plays it to Adam Campbell on the overlap, the cross goes into the box and Danilo Orsi is dragged down right in front of the referee, who sees nothing wrong, and waves play on. Peterborough break down the left and a cross is deflected and loops over Corey Addai and into the net to equalise. 1-1.

Two minutes later they go down the left again and another shot goes just wide. Peterborough’s left winger is having a field day.

We have some good play, but then comes the standard poor / lackadaisical ball to no one across the front of our own box and the Peterborough striker gladly accepts the gift and slots it in and we are behind. 1-2.

They have a penalty shout which is waved away, and Duncan Ferguson loses his shit in the technical area.

There are three added minutes, and their left winger is off again. They get a corner, and the header from it goes just over and the ref blows for half time.

We start the second half brightly and have an early corner again. All the early pressure is ours, but the final ball / shot is just off.

A free kick on the left side of the box is played in. There is a scramble in the six-yard box and the ball comes back to Adeyemo only for his shot to go over the bar and run all the way up to the top of the stand behind the goal before coming back down onto the pitch.

Peterborough start to have more of the ball and a break down the left ends up with a shot which Addai gets a hand to it and a defender clears it off the line. They get a corner; the wind takes it long and it is headed back across where the shot smashes against the underside of the bar and is cleared.

It is a frustrating watch and period of play. Now stop me if you’ve heard this before, but there is too much sideways and backwards passing, especially in our own half.

We get a free kick on the edge of the area, and it is wasted. And there is no urgency. There are only a couple of minutes of normal time left. However, there is an attack down the left and a shot is saved for a corner. But it is cleared.

There are three added minutes. We attack down the right and an appeal for a free kick is waved away and Peterborough break down the left. The cross is put wide by the striker and the referee blows the final whistle and that is it.

We are out of the Bristol Street Motors Trophy. So, no game next Tuesday against AFC Wimbledon. And with no game on Saturday that’s it for January. Our next game is the third of February at home to Morecambe.

I easily scuttled quickly enough to make the train, despite stacking it on the gravel of the stadium car park whilst failing to multitask and walk and text at the same time. But it is still tomorrow when I get home and publish this.

Come on you reds.