10 Reasons to Look Forward to the 11/12 season

So the fixtures are out on Friday and the waiting is starting to get to me, so to pass the time I present to you

FMD's TOP 10 reasons I’m looking forward to next season.

1 The Battle for Promotion
After a season of battling to keep our heads above water it will be nice to (in theory) have a battle up at the top of a table. Some good wins will energise the team and fans alike. I think it's a tougher league 2 than last time we were here but I reckon a playoff push is on the cards.

2 Barnet
Der da'der der der der derrrrrrr who the fuck are BARNET!?
Well Barnet managed to stay in the league by the skin of their teeth so our little derby day is back on. Good times.



3 New Grounds
AFC Wimbledon and Crawley are of course the two that a lot will be looking at. As well as those there is Morecambe's new "Globe Arena" and as it was a Daggers away crowd that joined the shrimpers for their last game at Christie Park it will be nice to say hello to the new gaff.



4 The Cups
A new season brings new cups to get kicked out of and the prospect of a tie with a big club or one of our rivals. The first stone in this year’s paths to the cups will be laid on Thursday with the Carling Cup draw, where we will of course draw Mk Dons away and get dumped out, probably. Despite all the glib pessimism there is always the hope of a big tie in the later rounds and it has been a while.

Despite its tag of "tinpot" the Johnstones Paint Trophy is always a nice golden ticket for lower league teams to go to Wembley.  An example of a cup no one cares about till they think they've got a chance of winning, funny that!

The Fa Cup whilst also offering a chance at the big teams gives us the chance of some of a stab at some of the old non-league rivals as they endeavour to put together a cup run, I mean imagine Crawley and Boston in the same season!



But all of this pales in comparison to the mighty Essex Senior Cup! As I have said before I genuinely like this cup. A chance to see our young'ins on the way up and ties against old local rivals. I would love to see more people turn out for these games and get some atmosphere going. Especially as we're one of the teams with the best chance of winning it!

5 Bristol Rovers
As regular readers will know I have family in Bristol and both the home and away ties provide the perfect excuse for a reunion and some friendly banter.

6 Home games & The Burgers
I can smell the onions now. Even when I’m not planning on eating the best cheeseburger in the league, the smell of the onions and the steam from the cooking food rising out of the front of the Sieve all add to the match day feeling. Tuesdays under the lights, the rain pissing down, that old guy moaning about us not “keeping it on the deck”. Man I want it all now!




7 Away days
Away days to me are the best bit. Home is always great because it's home, our home! But away days they have the feeling of an adventure. It's like we're a group of pirates raiding the opposition for three points.  The camaraderie at away games seems a little tighter, everyone is out of their territory and everyone wants to make their presence felt. Add that to the journey itself complete with songs, service stations, a game of "guess whose fans they are" and if you're in our car listening to Burzums "Daudi Baldrs" (Norwegian black metal is a must on away days!)

8 The Pub
Before the game, after the game, at the clubhouse or at the Bell. The pub is the beginning and end of most home games. Will you be toasting another historic win? Or crying into your pint? No matter what happens, it will happen at the pub.

9 Crawley
Not so much the team, but the manager. Yep, St*ve Ev*ns. Every great story needs a villain, and boy is he ours. Even if he hadn’t been the man in the centre of "Bostongate" his constant torrent of gob-shite directed at any club or management that lays a challenge to whatever team he is managing would make him very dislikeable.

Not seen at Victoria road since that bitter time Ev*ns is now in charge of Crawley and their massive wage bill and spending more money last January that  the whole of league 2 has shattered any illusions of "non-league boys  make good" (no matter what the poxy Sun says). Ev*ns will return to what I can only assume will be a very hostile reception. To help towards this atmosphere I have penned 2 songs for the occasion

Ahem

"Evans, wherever you may be"

Ev*ns wherever you may be, 

Boston scum, or Creepy Crawley
You always cheat, you dirty runt. 

You stupid f*cking loud mouth c*nt!

"We wish we were there"

We wish we were there,
We wish we were theeeeerrrre,
When you cried in court,
We wish we were there.

I even designed a t-shirt, and if enough people say they want one I shall get some printed.




10 My Fellow Daggers
Yeah, that's right. You lot! Being in the Sieve surrounded by the red and blue army in full voice is one of the best feelings I know. I have always loved the way that the Daggers bring us together. Being a lifelong metal head I can appreciate a place that brings people of all different backgrounds and tastes together. Who says football is all conflict?



ROLL ON FRIDAY!!!!

FMD

Coming soon  - The awards

Now It's Our Turn

 A little break from our normal offerings, not Daggers related but football related none the less. (and maybe it'll pass some time until the new season eh!) - FMD

 Now It's Our Turn
(or "how to try not to suck in a football team")

THUD!

That was the noise my outstretched body made as I hit the floor, kicking up a cloud of dust. I looked along my arm to my gloved hand and saw my fingertips ineffectually glance at the ball, which rolled past the make shift goalpost (my back-pack) and over the line. This wasn’t going to be as easy as we first thought, well maybe that's a lie, we never thought this was going to be easy! Forming a Five-a-Side football team with a bunch of unfit 20 somethings was always going to be a tough task. It was something that had often been bandied about during late night chats and even attempted once before with little success (This being due to the futsal league we wanted to join closing down) But this time we decided plain old 5-a-side was the way to go if we were actually to get this idea off the ground.

Let’s rewind a month...

The first thing to do was see if we could actually get enough people to form said team. We had decided that Dagenham’s Goals Soccer Centre was the best place to find a league to join and in their leagues a match day squad can consist of no less than 5 players (well, no guff!) and no more than 8 (which includes 3 subs) but a maximum of 20 players can be registered to our overall squad. So messages were sent, phone calls were made and interest was gauged. After about a week or so we had a preliminary team. That team was;

Ben (Me) - now many of you that know me know I am not exactly the owner of an athletic body, what many of you might not know is that I used to be quite svelte! But this was before a 6 year absence from work which encompassed a major spinal surgery and a good couple of years of recuperating. since then I have probably put on about 2 stone (maybe more, I daren't check!) and whilst my current physiotherapy is starting to give me back my full movement it isn’t exactly a way to get fit again. Now I am a member of my local gym, BUT!!!! I find standing/sitting in some machine in a room looking at the wall, running but going nowhere EXTREMLY FUCKING TEDIOUS!! But I do enjoy riding my bike around the park and playing football as a goalie. So this for me is the perfect outlet. In the Team I will be the Goalkeeper and the Manager.

James - A friend I have known nearly my whole life and also the guitarist in my band. It was just natural getting him on board; anything we set out minds too usually gets off of the ground. The fact he was pretty athletic in our younger days can’t hurt either eh?

Nick - You know him, he's the tall/loud bloke that I quite often go football with! Another friend for a fair few years who's love for football is second to none! He has pretty good tactical knowledge, he's loud, he's got a good pass and a sweet free kick on him. All this is why it was decided very early on he would be our Captain.

Abz - A friend of mine and Nick's. He is very very sporty, he's in at least one other 11 a side team that I know of and over the years has done all sorts of stuff including pro-wrestling. A solid geezer with nary a bad word to say about anyone. His experience as an outfielder and goalie in proper teams is why he leads training, because you know... he's actually done this before!

Mark - A friend of Nicks with whom he has played many games, got a right hard punt on him.

Chris - A mate of mine who I know through my life as a musician. The lead singer of Hardcore-Punk band "Local Mad Man" and another really nice bloke (for a Milwall fan!) and built like a brick shit house, a very smiley amiable one!

So not a bad start really!

told you I used to be skinny!

Second thing to do was find a League, it was decided a Thursday league would be best as none of us watch teams that will be in the Europa League and none of us wanted to miss any vital Saturday, Sunday, Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday Games!! And seeing as Fridays only had a 1 division student’s league, Thursdays 3 division adult league looked the way to go!

Since then we have had a few training sessions in Mayesbrook Park and a match against some people we bumped into in the park. Despite losing said match (to some very athletic looking eastern European dudes!) we came away feeling our general organisation wasn’t too bad and the goals we had given away were more due to our own mistakes rather than them outright dominating us. So in theory if we keep practicing we'll win some! As well as the practices, smaller groups of us (mainly Me Nick James and Mark in various combinations) have met up for little kickarounds. With all this though I feel we have all improved a little and more importantly; started to feel like a team!

Sadly, Chris's new job has meant he will be on the other side of London and his band, practices on a Thursday (which can’t be moved - he tried). So in a very apologetic call from him he bowed out. Despite this he is being registered in our squad so if at any time he can make it there is always a place for him.

On the bright side other team members have brought new recruits, these are;

Si - Abs' brother

Michael - Marks cousin

Our next step is a "Grading Match" which is essentially a friendly which will determine which division we are placed in. The general consensus is that we would like to start at the bottom and work our way up. This is the most exercise some of us have done in years so we just want to build up slowly. If it turns out (by some miracle) we're too good for the bottom division at least we'll be able to win eh! But before we could register for the grading match we had to pay our registration fee (thanks to Mark for covering that!) and give ourselves a name.

We had discussed names before, knowing we would need one eventually. Many joke names were made and trying to work in "Un-Athletic" and the like into names was tried. Someone (Mark I believe) suggested "the Misfits" or "Misfits FC" which was probably the best description of our little team. I myself had liked the idea of tying the team to location, which in my mind feel a little more real identity wise, something like "AFC Mayesbrook" or "Upney FC". So after one practice, sitting in my back garden When Mark said "what about Mayesbrook Misfits?" looks of agreement were shared and it became official.

We are Mayesbrook Misfits FC!

We had our team, we had our name, and we even had enough plain black shirts (that I had spare from when I last made a batch of merch for my band) which will act as our temporary kit. All we needed was a proper match...

...and now we have one

Mayesbrook Misfits FC vs. (Unknown Opponent)
(5-a-side Grading Match)
Thursday 2nd of June (20:15 KO)

Oh shit!   That's tomorrow!

FMD

NEXT - What will happen in our first match ? (spoiler - we're probably gonna lose!) and the Daggers Diary Awards are still to come!!

All Good Things...

So, our little league 1 adventure has come to an end.

The last game of the season was a weird day. 1005 roaring Daggers packed into the away end at Peterborough for a game that would decide our future. We rocked the terrace and made as much noise as ever, more so! We came so close. so, so close. But the writing was on the wall as goal number 2 found the net. For the last dying minutes of the game we threw everything at them but as the final whistle blew we we're on the wrong end of 5-0. Anyone that was there knows it wasn't a proper 5-0 loss, it was a battle. 



When goal three went in, the posh fans cheered for what seemed like 3 seconds. But we were still cheering on the boys. It was like the whole away crowd accepted relegation in a split second and this wasn’t the time to dwell on it, right now we had to show our lads on the pitch, show our management at pitch side and show the Posh fans, show EVERYONE "this is our team, and we are proud to be Daggers!". The next two goals rolled in with not much more than a whimper from the Posh end, all the while a one thousand strong Daggers army put on a collective brave face and sang. As the players came over to clap us I found myself really sympathising with them, I believe everyone tried their best this season and really believed we could stay up. I hope they can feel proud of the season, I can say I am.

As we filed out to the 10 waiting coaches it truly started to sink in, tears started to flow and sympathetic looks and noises were exchanged. We all knew how each other felt; I can say I have felt better. After many hugs, handshakes, goodbyes and "see you next season"'s me and my little troupe climbed into our coach, ready to be taken home. News filtered through that Barnet had saved themselves from relegation down to League 2 "Well" I thought to myself I look forward to losing at Underhill on a wet Tuesday"



It's easy to look over things that happened this season, results that didn’t go our way or ever thrown away and point them out as reasons we didn’t stay up. Believe me, as we had our post relegation drink down at the bell many were touted; that penalty at Orient, that fluff against MK, that 2-0 lead we let slip against Tranmere, losing Benno. All good points but all moot ones now.

At the beginning of the season I only found one publication that said we could stay up; The Guardians new season guide which said "Dagenham & Redbridge really delivered when it came to the crunch games last season. THey were outstanding under pressure, and can stay up." but everywhere else we we're dead certain to finish bottom, not only bottom but with the lowest ever points total! To go down on the last day by one point, while it may not feel like it, is an achievement. And I think deep down everyone knew it.



So what now?

We now know who our friendlies are against, we have started to see who will be leaving us and the excitement can start to build again. The fixtures for the 11/12 season will be released on the 17th of June and on the 16th we get to find out who we're going to lose to in the first round of the Carling Cup (it be cursed I tell ye!!). We'll get to see our new shirt and then buy it. Most importantly though, a new season means another bash at winning the Essex Senior Cup! You know you care about it, don’t lie!

As for us here at Lazy Bastards Corp. Yes we admit we let things slip at the end of the season, but some personal/family stuff came up on both sides and that combined with our hectic (to say the least) end of season schedule left us with a bit of a backlog. But don’t think we have just been ignoring this page, OHHHHHHH NO! We have some plans! Next up will be the 10/11 end of season Awards (not to be confused with the "End of year awards").
So join me, let's look forward to the new season with renewed vigour.

Come on you Daggers!

FxMxD

Next - The Daggers Diary 10/11 End of Season Awards!

The Big Weekend

"call it half eleven man", "no problem dude" "poxy call of duty lol" this was the text conversation between myself and Jerk as i waited for him to get his hairy arse in the seat of his car to drive me and the missus to the land of cheese and cider. "Im now running even later due to no hot water...  ...wont be too late mate, just sorting my stuff out" "lol yeah yeah, enjoy your xbox time" at just before midday the bearded one pulled up outside our house and we loaded up the car with the supplies for a weekend for a weekend in the west country.

King F*ck "the Daggers Duck" our official away day mascot!

The journey up was pretty uneventful, but nether less filled with with all the classic witty and bollocks filled conversations that typify our road trips. The roads weren't to busy and the sun was bright in the sky, sunglasses were the order of the day. We stopped off briefly for some grub in the form of fried chicken at South Mimms services and stopped off for a game of Rambo and Guitar Hero further up the road. Today the main Musics for the road were some Burzum, some Dethklok and whatever my ipod shuffled up. The night before i had stayed up putting all my music back on the little silver box as it had recently crashed and corrupted all data. well it seems all this had been in vain as my little box of Steve Jobbs excrement was well and truely on the fucking blink! skipping songs half way through and refusing to play others.

We arrived in Weston-super-mare around five-ish and parked up in the Tesco car park. Jerk was spending the weekend with friends there but our journey still had one more leg. MrsMetal's cousin, Andy picked us up to take us to our destination in the small medieval city of Wells (the town they shot "Hot Fuzz" in) after an hour or so journey on the winding country roads we arrived. After some catching up Andy and his Dad took me out to participate in the local sport of skittles.

Todays skittles match was an away tie for Andy's team (top of the table) "Mendip Casuals" so we travelled to Shepton Mallet Town AFC to face (bottom of the table) "Cider Lads". For anyone who has never seen skittles it it like bowling without holes in the balls, gutters at the sides and everyone gets drunk, in short, it's pretty fekkin awesome. tonight I was an extra, thus was allowed to play but my score would not count towards the actual match. it was great watching everyone play with they're own individual styles and quirks and the atmosphere was friendly but competitive. When it was my turn to step up, a mumble went up as everyone wondered who this long haired Londoner in an ice hockey jersey was. in my first shot I took out most of the pins and after my three throws had scored a respectable 8, from then on every time i stepped up i was treated to shouts of  "Come on Barking!!" (good to know if i ever join the team i have my nick-name already!) sadly the Casuals lost in a close fought game, but I set my self a personal record of 38, 2 points shy of (Andy's brother) Phil's personal record.


"Barking" King of Skittles!!!

after the game we sat down for cheese, bread and preserves to soak up the vast amounts of alcohol. When the locals found out I was a Dagger the first thing they all asked about was local boy Luke Wilkinson, i explained that what i had seen of him was pretty good, but at the moment he was on loan to boreham wood. we then left for home, where more beer was consumed and i embarressed myself by playing a dance game on Kinect then sang "My Own Summer" by the Deftones on Rock band. all in all a good night, but tomorrow was a very important game!

Saturday March 5th 2011 - Bristol Rovers - Away

I woke up at 7:30 with a very dry mouth and a banging headache, the lake of lager i had drunk the night before had taken its toll. I downed the rest of the ribena i had taken to bed the night before. In need of more liquid i made for the bathroom, where I sat on the toilet drinking glasses of water and willing my headache to go away. Back in bed i opened up my laptop and perused the forums and facebook untill everyone started to wake up. I went downstairs in search of a paracetamol to kill this forsaken headache, Phil and Andy's mum Kathy presented me with a much needed cup of tea and a huge breakfast which was most definitely needed. With breakfast done we left for Bristol, our group consisted of; Me, the missus, Phil (rovers) and Andy (city) and thier dad Gary (also Rovers).

We caught the bus from Wells bus station into Bristol, ipaid £7 for an "all day rambler" and a nice relaxing hour long journey through fields and villages later we pulled into Bristol bus station. A short walk to another bus station and then a nother short bus and we alighted close to the Memorial stadium. We ducked into The Royal Oak for a pint, then found out that all the daggers were heading to The Wellington just up the road. So we downed our pints and headed up the hill to meet our fellow Daggers. At the pub i introduced my adopted familys to eachother and we drank. Phil and Gary then said they're goodbyes as they wanted to get into the ground, Andy stayed with us because as a city fan he decided to join us in the away end and be a dagger for the day. With drinks finished we made for the Mem'.


Me & "Dagger for a Day" Andy

I picked up a programme and we walked round the back of the Uplands stand to the far end of the open air terrace that is designated as the away end. The ground itself is definitely not a souless bowl, it's a bit of a melting pot of designs and looks a bit more like a rugby stadium (which it is) than a football stadium. In front of us was the DAS stand which bore a resembelence to Orients main stand.the terrace we were standing on stretched in front of the uplands stand, those of us who didnt want to stand where seated in one of the temporary stands next to the portaloos at one end of the pitch along with some Brizzle fans oppasite them was the Blackthorn stand, which is where Phil and Gary would be.

the match itself was definatly not pretty, both sides knew how important it was and there was a nervous tension in the air. News came through that Phil Ifil would be in for Abu Ogogo who had taken a knock in training, this was not welcome news as Ifil had become a bit of a target for criticism in his last stint at right back. More unwelcome news was that the daggers would be lining up 4-5-1 and those who had been at the Walsall game saw this as a bad omen. within the first 15 the worries of the travelling Daggers were nearly justified when a shot deflected off of Will Hoskins and nearly looped in only to land on the roof of the net, this was followed shortly by a cross which found the head of Danny Coles who nodded towards goal but an outstretched Tony Roberts fingertipped the ball out into the path of Rene Howe who kicked his chance straight back at Robbo but he couldnt hold onto it and it bobbled about in the box, Hoskins swiped at it only for it to hit the bar and bounce back to the head of Coles who nodded it straight into the welcome arms of our 'keeper. Everyone in the away end breathed a sigh of relief and i'm still not sure how they didnt score. Down at the other end Danny Green whipped in a cross which Solomon Taiwo got his head onto only for it to fly just over, gameon!

Damien McCrory went down with a knee injury with 10 minutes of the first half left and i must admit that having both of our current second choice fullbacks on made me a little nervous, especially considering Rovers where playing top scorer Hoskins as a right winger. It wasnt till right at the end of the first half that the deadlock was finally broken; Nurse put a good through ball into the path of Romain Vincelot who was tripped by (brother of our right back) Jerel Ifil, with Romain being the last man there was only one outcome and after a brief session of "handbags" (which included Gain getting all riled up and his shirt ripped) the red card was shown. Despite Danny Green placing the ball on the spot, the play was brought back to edge of the box for a free kick. Greeny stepped up and smashed the ball into the top corner (with a slight deflection off the wall) 1-0 to the daggers! We cheered and danced, including a nice little jig with me and Jerk. The wistle went for half time and with a man advantage you felt we had to come out of this winners.

So far it had been a nervous game and before the sending off and subsequent goal i couldnt honestly describe myself as confident. At times it seemed the 5 man midfield was causing a traffic jam, but the 1-0 lead was not to be sniffed at! As for the crowd, we had been in good spirits and sung for most of the game even if the open air terrace meant all our noise was somewhat dissapated into the cold bristol air. Being told we could only use the drum in moderation was quite funny though, i guess us using it for every chant and song must not be overdoing it becuase we recieved no complaints. There had been some top banter with the players warming up infront of us with rendisions of "he's got carrots on his feet" being met with applause from the pitch and special mention has to go to Phil Walsh for giving us a song as requested. After a quick trip to the toilet (conveniently situated right behind us) and a very tasty pasty (which i found out are only available in the away end) i was back in place ready for the second half.

The second half i have to say Rovers really stepped up their game and didnt let our man advantage scupper them. The Gas-Heads in the stand next to us had a chance to celebrate for about 1/10 of a second when Howe put a low cross to an offside Hoskins who netted but the linesman made the right call and no goal was given. And if once wanst enough it happened again, Hoskins danced past our defence and put a through ball into the box but Howe started his run prematurely and despite finding the net, was offside and for the second time The Gas found themselves scoring a non-goal. The Daggers switched things around and Darren Currie came off for former Bristol City man Bas Savage, straight away we started singing for Savage because we knew what would be coming from the home fans and sure enough for about 5 minutes all they did was sing their anti-Savage song (somehting about the way the Bristolians say "wankerrrrr" tickles me!). Bas nearly shut them up when Gains low ball deflected off of (the possibly fouled again) Vincelot and Savage got onto the loose ball and fired for goal. Sadly the Pirates on-loan keeper Conrad Logan got over well to save it. Danny Coles day ended prematurely when he went off injured for Rovers after tripping over Bas and injuring himself ,he had to be stretchered off.

We finally got the second goal to see us safe from a corner, Danny Green whacked it into the box and it was (who else but) Romain Vincelot who headed in into the goal. The home end started to clear and the walkway above and to the right of us was filled with Gas-Heads who wanted out! some clapped us others gave us the finger, we didnt care the points where pretty much ours and even someone remarking "remember Tranmere" couldn't fill me with any doubt. The final whistle went and we cheered the boys and the much needed 3 points they had earned. We clapped the lads and sang every player song we had, then spent about ten minutes trying to get Bas to moonwalk but he wouldnt, his moonwalks are saved for goals! So hurry up score Bas, we want another moonwalk! 

We then conga'd out of the ground a line of happy Daggers, I had to escape the Conga for fear of getting Conga'd onto the coach and getting a premature trip back to London. Everyone else got back on the coach but Me, MrsMetal', Jerk and (Daggers for the Day) Andy and (Jerks Friend) Fred went to meet Gary and Phil before heading to the bus stop. Whilst waiting for the bus i saw a Rovers fan scowling at me from the top deck, I smiled at him and he stuck 2 fingers up at me, "that's right" i thought "2-0!" and we threw some hand gestures back his way (not that i condone such behaviour!). We boarded a bus and stopped off for a pint in the city centre before going our seperate ways; us back to Wells, Jerk and Fred back to Weston, with nothing to look at but very very very dark fields i crashed out on the bus back to Wells.

Another very good day!

I woke up the next morining without the hangover of the morning before, but alot later. after tea and toast i was taken on a tour of Wells where i eagerly sought out and was showed all of the main locations from "Hot Fuzz" and acted like a complete tourist. I was offically christened as a citizen of Wells when i tripped and put my foot straight into the running water channels that line either side of all the roads. The cathederal is very nice, and I bought 2 little Catapults and a gargoyles head keyring fromt he gift shop. After a pasty it was time to go back and pick up our bags then onto Weston to meet Jerk for the trip home (with a drive through Cheddar Gorge as per my request).


Me standing next to where Tim Messenger got "splatted"


  Jerk was a little worse for ware after what sounded like the second heavy night on the trott for him. So we slowly drove home with a few stops at services for food an coffee. Once again many pounds where pumped into fruit machines and games of chance and all prizes will be coveted as prizes of a great trip until the day they break or are lost. We got back home at about midnight and i had a giant cup of tea before retiring to bed and falling asleep watching "Aqua Teen Hunger Force"   

A third very good day.

Come on you Daggers!!! oh,  and remember...

FxMxD

Next - Colchester, let's see if it can finish with all player conscious.

Undone By A Late Goal Again

Saturday 26th February - AFC Bournemouth - Home

Previous seasons have found us both, as clubs facing various ups or
downs - i remember a game a couple of years ago when a decent crowd
came down for a game which was seen as a turning point in their
fortunes  - for a 1-0 win for them at our place gave them hope they
could stay in the football league after a point deduction of 17 was
administered before the season kicked off.



Then, looking at last season too, a great season saw Bournemouth
promoted as runners up under the management of Eddie Howe, a ginger
bloke who got sent to Burnley for stealing fruit buns...at least,
thats a more friendly spin (read 'lie') on how things happened.  The
corresponding fixture ended up with The Daggers running out as 1-0
winners.  As we know, it transpired that both sides were promoted at
the end of the season.

This season Bournemouth have been flying high at the right end of the
table, an amazing achievement considering that they only have four
players and an elderly Yoda-like figure (Mr Fletcher).  Indeed, they
gave us a bit of a spanking back in the days when the sun existed, i
think September it was.  That ended up as a 3-0 home win.  Fair play
to them, it was deserved when looking back.   In contrast we have, by
no fault of our effort or performances, struggled to find our feet.  I
blame the occasional lack of concentration toward the end of games,
and the worst bunch of match officials in history for our plight.

With due respect to Bournemouth, i just dont think they are that good.
Obviously the table doesn't lie, but i cannot say ive ever been that
impressed with them - especially when considering who else is in this
division (Southampton, Brighton, Huddersfield to name but three).  I
was therefore hopeful that we would be able to exact some form of
revenge in this game.



A notable change on kick off was Romain Vincelot starting the game at
centre back, and a lack of Scott Doe.  Obviously the fact that Romain
is the leading scorer means it'd be favourable to have him playing
further forward, but needs must - at least we have a player capable of
filling in at times like this.

Jon Nurse opened the scoring on 48 minutes, and it seemed as though
maybe we were to get that revenge, in fact the best chance before that
fell to us when a Danny Green free kick was fumbled by the usually
reliable Shwing Jalingling - but it wasnt to be, goals from Ings and
Robinson ensured the points went back to Dorsetshire.  Worth
mentioning is the manner in which we conceded the winner - another
late goal, we really must put a stop to this if we are to remain in
the division.  Another even game lost to a late goal, and a brief
appearance by a very aggressive Steve 'Yoda' Fletcher (Foul you i
will, pull your shirt i have hmmmm).  One really must look at these
games and note that we are STILL missing a 20 goals a season kind of
player.  Where we'd be if we had one is anybodys guess.

JerkFromTheCoach



NEXT - Bristol Rovers away, a real 6 pointer...