Bad memories, thanks Barry !Leyton Orient away and a first return to Brisbane Road since 1978 when a Tony Funnell goal secured a draw and the point required to get Saints promoted to Division 1. Division 1 was a thing that existed before the Premier League Brand that we have today. I know very little about today’s opponents aside from the fact that Barry Hearn is the Chairman, the same Barry Hearn that brought us Chas n’ Dave singing Snooker Loopy which started the decline of snooker as a popular sport at the tail end of the 1980's. Of more recent relevance is the fact that Barry Hearn also thought that Saints should have further punishment for entering administration, something along the lines an automatic two division relegation. I don’t like Barry Hearn.
Saints team news saw nothing happen. Hammond was fit for midfield and Connolly was fit for the bench. Saganowski, despite a two goal performance away to Forest Green Rovers Reserves in midweek, didn’t make the trip. Once more it is mildly amusing to reflect on Saga’s career trajectory which has gone from the Euro 2008 finals to Forest Green Rovers Reserves away in just over a year.
What I’d heard in the build up to the game was that Saints had sold 3100 tickets for the trip and couldn’t get any more and they were actually changing hands on the black market. Selling out our allocation meant that we should have about 40% of the support in the ground so it should be a great day out. It’s days like this that make me jealous that I can’t get to away games anymore…sniff! Don’t feel sorry for me though as I’m in a water park in Florida with my family and a lot of fat people.
Had I been at the game, I expect my mood would have changed for the worst however when the O’s went in front with a header from Unpronounceablename. Now fully awake, the Saints piled forward and spent the rest of the first half knocking on the door in much the same way as they had in the first half against the fake Dons. No dice though and half time arrived with us still 1-0 down.
When Saints go into the 2nd half a goal down, Paul Wotton must know by now that he has ten minutes for us to equalize at best, before he gets hauled off and we switch to 4-4-2. A goal duly arrived in the 55th minute with a bullet header from Neal Trotman and Wotton was saved…. Or was he? Nope. Unfortunately, Trotters had put the O’s 2-0 up with an own goal and so Wotton departed, soon followed by Waigo with predictably, Antonio and Connolly coming on.
I’ve retrieved my phone from my locker at the water park at this point and am awaiting text goal alerts but once again, a text message with a gag at the expense of a recently deceased celebrity brings a smile… it’s a good job I’m not a Boyzone fan.
75 minutes, beep beep, 2-1 Lambert from a Lallana assist, come on!!!
83 minutes, beep beep, 2-2 Lambert from a Connolly assist, COME ONNNNNNN!!!!
94 minutes, beep beep, full time. Ummmm, how do I feel ? Hot… it’s 90 degrees here.
In the cold light of day I’m a bit disappointed with this result but when you are 2-0 down away from home with 15 to go then you take a draw. One question thrown up are when will Pardew go 4-4-2 from the start as in the last 2 games, we’ve dominated and scored goals when we’ve switched. Also, Michail Antonio has proved to be a real asset in the last 3 matches and his loan runs out after today’s game… the common concensus is that we should keep him on if at all possible.
For the second week in a row I’ve had to laugh at the comments from the opposition manager. Last week, the fake Dons assistant manager tried to make out they were the better side which even drew a slagging from the MK Dons fans. This week, the Orient manager Geraint Williams, said that over the 90 minutes that they were the better side… OK.. I’ve only got the stats in front of me and I know stats never tell the full story but they had 2 shots on target to our 9, and 4 off target to our 8. We also shaded possession by 52% to 48% and had 13 corners to 5. At one stage, courtesy of Trotters 50p head, Orient had had 1 shot and scored 2 goals.
Saints team news saw nothing happen. Hammond was fit for midfield and Connolly was fit for the bench. Saganowski, despite a two goal performance away to Forest Green Rovers Reserves in midweek, didn’t make the trip. Once more it is mildly amusing to reflect on Saga’s career trajectory which has gone from the Euro 2008 finals to Forest Green Rovers Reserves away in just over a year.
What I’d heard in the build up to the game was that Saints had sold 3100 tickets for the trip and couldn’t get any more and they were actually changing hands on the black market. Selling out our allocation meant that we should have about 40% of the support in the ground so it should be a great day out. It’s days like this that make me jealous that I can’t get to away games anymore…sniff! Don’t feel sorry for me though as I’m in a water park in Florida with my family and a lot of fat people.
Had I been at the game, I expect my mood would have changed for the worst however when the O’s went in front with a header from Unpronounceablename. Now fully awake, the Saints piled forward and spent the rest of the first half knocking on the door in much the same way as they had in the first half against the fake Dons. No dice though and half time arrived with us still 1-0 down.
When Saints go into the 2nd half a goal down, Paul Wotton must know by now that he has ten minutes for us to equalize at best, before he gets hauled off and we switch to 4-4-2. A goal duly arrived in the 55th minute with a bullet header from Neal Trotman and Wotton was saved…. Or was he? Nope. Unfortunately, Trotters had put the O’s 2-0 up with an own goal and so Wotton departed, soon followed by Waigo with predictably, Antonio and Connolly coming on.
I’ve retrieved my phone from my locker at the water park at this point and am awaiting text goal alerts but once again, a text message with a gag at the expense of a recently deceased celebrity brings a smile… it’s a good job I’m not a Boyzone fan.
75 minutes, beep beep, 2-1 Lambert from a Lallana assist, come on!!!
83 minutes, beep beep, 2-2 Lambert from a Connolly assist, COME ONNNNNNN!!!!
94 minutes, beep beep, full time. Ummmm, how do I feel ? Hot… it’s 90 degrees here.
In the cold light of day I’m a bit disappointed with this result but when you are 2-0 down away from home with 15 to go then you take a draw. One question thrown up are when will Pardew go 4-4-2 from the start as in the last 2 games, we’ve dominated and scored goals when we’ve switched. Also, Michail Antonio has proved to be a real asset in the last 3 matches and his loan runs out after today’s game… the common concensus is that we should keep him on if at all possible.
For the second week in a row I’ve had to laugh at the comments from the opposition manager. Last week, the fake Dons assistant manager tried to make out they were the better side which even drew a slagging from the MK Dons fans. This week, the Orient manager Geraint Williams, said that over the 90 minutes that they were the better side… OK.. I’ve only got the stats in front of me and I know stats never tell the full story but they had 2 shots on target to our 9, and 4 off target to our 8. We also shaded possession by 52% to 48% and had 13 corners to 5. At one stage, courtesy of Trotters 50p head, Orient had had 1 shot and scored 2 goals.
Contrast the Orient dreamer summary with Pardew’s summary which gave credit to Orient for the way they battled but said that that we created so many chances and we should have won. Who do you think is telling the truth here? There is a school of thought that you want to big up your players but they know when they’ve been under the cosh and you will generally find that fans have more intelligence than you realise and will know when you’re talking crap.
I was hoping to be out of the relegation zone after today but we’ll have to make do with being 5 games unbeaten in the league and still moving upwards. I don’t really want to get into all this ‘if we got the 10 points back’ bollocks but …… if we had the ten points back, we’d be in 7th place, one off the playoffs. In addition…. it would really annoy Barry Hearn but not nearly as much as Snooker Loopy annoyed the whole of western civilisation.
Next up…. FA Cup First Round for the first time in 50 years…. Bristol Rovers away and I feel that Lambo will be counting down the days to that one…
I was hoping to be out of the relegation zone after today but we’ll have to make do with being 5 games unbeaten in the league and still moving upwards. I don’t really want to get into all this ‘if we got the 10 points back’ bollocks but …… if we had the ten points back, we’d be in 7th place, one off the playoffs. In addition…. it would really annoy Barry Hearn but not nearly as much as Snooker Loopy annoyed the whole of western civilisation.
Next up…. FA Cup First Round for the first time in 50 years…. Bristol Rovers away and I feel that Lambo will be counting down the days to that one…
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