The now 'Limited Edition' Guly shirt.My word, an away game…. and a nice one for us as it was at Bristol Rovers where we won twice last year. In the second one of those wins, we battered them 5-1 and hopefully that result would still be in their minds as we could do with a repeat. Of course, Sir Rickie was returning to his former club and you know what always happens when a striker returns. Also, Rovers have a defence as reliable as Pompey’s finances and have let in something like 15 goals already this season so after one point from two home matches, the season has to start here really.
To the teams and Saints are unchanged from the Bolton game, meaning that deservedly, Aaron Martin keeps his place. Onto the subs bench went Guly do Prado who has mercifully seen the light and had ‘DO PRADO’ put on his shirt instead of ‘GULY’, ‘TESTICLE’ or ‘BOLLOCK’. the GULY shirt he was holding up for the website picture is now I assume, a collectors item. I’m listening to Uncle Dave Merrington on Radio Solent and as the frequencies are split and the Skates re-tune to a less desirable frequency, I find myself at St Mary’s with my kids, buying tickets for the JPT game on Tuesday. Did you know that they went to charge £10.50 for a car parking space for that game. I shit ye not – you can park in the centre of London for that. Anyway…
Whilst I was reeling from being offered a gold plated parking space, Sir Rickie rode a tackle and smashed a shot narrowly wide of the near post. The kids and I (with radio earpiece in) are around the front of SMS when Puncheon whips in a corner and Jose Fonte gets in front of his man to put Saints in front. I punch the air and do a little dance, my kids wonder what I’m on and Ted Bates stands, smiles and waves.
It’s all Saints and we’re failing to score a second and Rovers have a chance when a header comes in from a corner and Superkelv pulls off one of those saves that makes you forgive all the ‘nailed to the goal-line stuff’. It’s a turning point though as on the half hour, Hammond lines up a blockbuster, takes a massive swing and scuffs it along the ground right into the path of Lallana who is 6 yards out, onside and with no one near him. 2-0.
The second half starts and is barely two minutes old when Lallana’s knee has packed up again and he’s replaced by Ryan Dickson. Dickson takes all off ten minutes to make an impression as he picks up puncheon’s overhit cross on the left and returns it into the middle, where Lee Barnard tries to shield it with his back to goal, only for a Gas defender to cart him up in the air in extremely amateurish fashion. Sir Rickie, botton left, 3-0, Game. Over. He said he wouldn’t celebrate and he didn’t.
Dickson is having a great impact on the left wing and skins his man before pulling back to Sir Rickie who with the whole goal to aim at, hammers is straight back towards Dickson to give the Gas fans something to chuckle about. No matter though as we’re about to have a Brazilian as Guly warms up. First Brazilian in 116 years quotes Uncle Dave but it’s a dummy and he sits down again. Rovers fashion a rare chance for themselves as Sawyer conjures up a dipping volley from the left wing which everyone stood and watched as it pinged off of the bar on the far side.
We are needing some Guly and we don’t get it – we get David Connolly coming on for Sir Rickie – still not firing on all cylinders but getting there. We have to wait until the last five minutes for the moment we’ve all been waiting for, now that the game has been won and which player would be kicked in the Guly’s. Come in Mr Schneiderlin, your time is up. Deano immediately gives the new arrival the ball and he gets caught in possession – welcome to League 1.
Uncle Dave forgets all about the other players on the pitch and just does Guly-watch for five minutes which is actually quite good and also gives the impression that he was involved throughout when ‘tackling back like Patrick Vieira’ and ‘getting annoyed when Connolly had a shot instead of teeing him up’. Sounds promising.
Our best palyer this season has of course been Lee Barnard but as we know, he hasn’t scored. This was sorted out in the 94th minutes to send everyone home happy as Punch cut infield, fed Hammond who helped it on first time to Barnard who crashed it into the net. Nice finish and a nice way to end the game and get the league season up and running.
Isn’t it nice to win a game and win it well and especially as it was away from home against a side expected to finish in the top 10. It sounds to me like Bristol Rovers were almost beaten before they started today as a result of us beating them 5-1 last season and didn’t really put up much of a fight. If teams are beaten before they start against us then that’s great. The one worry is of course Lallana’s injury which doesn’t sound like it’s going to go away on its own without a longish layoff. Ryan Dickson I’m sure will prove to be an able deputy if that scenario does indeed occur. We also have Heather Mills who can slot in there as well as well as the walking waste of space that is Lee Holmes.
Uncle Dave was talking about Sir Rickie after the match saying that he hoped Lambert doesn’t take it for granted and that he keeps his work rate up and stays fit – basically implying that he’s a fat lad who may rest on his laurels. Personally, I think Dave’s talking shite on this one. For starters, Lambert doesn’t seem like the Billy Big Bollocks type to think he doesn’t have to train too hard and secondly, he’s been injured and missed a load of pre-season. Also – being 29 he must know that whilst time is not running out, he needs to really be playing in the Championship next season which will only be achieved by hard work and him scoring loads of goals for us this season.
Next up we are defending our trophy. It’s our trophy Swindon and you’re not having it and I expect us to have a near-as-dammit full side out with maybe only Lallana missing. It will of course be interesting to see if Guly do Prado starts and I think that maybe David Connolly may get a run out in place of Barnard.
Having spent the duration of the game driving my kids to various parks and shops around town, I was heading home at 5pm and drove past St Mary’s as the radio was telling me that Saints had won 4-0 and Pompey were bottom of the Championship. Ted Bates smiled and waved as we went by.
No comments:
Post a Comment