Being a bit of a Christmas curmudgeon, Mr TLF will often incur my wrath by using the line, “it’s a funny time of the year”, as an excuse for all manner of grumpiness, or general blokey-slackness. I usually give this phrase the contempt it deserves and dismiss it. But this year I seem to have become similarly infected.
It all started on Saturday with a little bit of…..eek. Change. Once I have routine I am not a fan of change. So you can imagine I was reeling when on my arrival at Clarence Park, (having mustered the courage to use a different turnstile…well the other turnstile), I saw that Andy’s van was in the WRONG place. Not by much, but enough to freak me out. Turns out that the hordes at the Mansfield game meant it was all a bit tight in that corner of the ground, and so slight worries on the (Christmas) elf and safety grounds.
Still I hoped that would be the end of the afternoon’s trauma, but no. Due to the segregation the usual ‘behind the goal at each end’ approach was off the menu and so we ended up on the corner nearest the away end for the first half. More change. A minor plus was that John F and I did a brief double act chant as we walked round which he made me start. Although after 3 lines he got distracted with a conversation and I was left with a my slightly meek “yellow and blue army” disappearing into the breeze. The match officials contrived to sustain curmudgeon levels with some shocking decisions. While I think we would all accept that Cambridge were the better team (although not the better fans obviously) the last few minutes of injury time were farcical as the goal line seemed to become invisible and the Saints were reduced to 9 men. On the plus side that did mean no replay and so the home League game on Monday night against Bashley went ahead.
Now you would think that a 2-0 home win which lifted us to 6th in the league, within touching distance of the play-off places would see off this new and unwelcome curmudgeonly state. Not if you stand in the pouring rain for 90 minutes, on a skool night, watching an uninspiring performance against the bottom of the league side who were reduced to 10 men in the second minute and then go home to a blown fuse and a tripped fuse it won’t. Not to worry. I am sure a few hours Xmas shopping in central London later this week will make it all better.
………Won’t it?
Match 1 stats:
St Albans 1 Cambridge United 2
Attendance 887
Raffle tickets purchased 10 Prizes won 0.
Losing golden goal tickets purchased 1
Bacon fries consumed 1 packet
Lager consumed 2.5 pints Stella
Addtional retail item purchased: 1 small away shirt (for 6 year godson who WILL LIKE IT)
Match 2 stats:
St Albans 2 Bashley 0
Attendance: 280
Financial Investment Return: As above
Bacon fries consumed 1 packet.
Additional item from Andy’s now correctly placed van 1. A bacon cob
Lager consumed 0.5 pint Stella, followed by a point of Kopperberg. Mixed berry! What am I doing!?
TILT
It’s Carlsberg not Fosters
Ebenezer Fox