Newport (Home) 17.09.2019

Jen Kelly – The Word Nerd – brings ilovemacc her own take on the highs and lows of The Silkmen

Football fans are always right. Always. I mean, we’ve all been saying for weeks that Daryl should start with Gomis; that he’s a much better option upfront that Ironside. And, lo and behold….we were right!

Tuesday night football at its best

Last night’s game was one of those nights where you relish supporting a lower league team. Beautiful evening, a bit of random fanfare from the sponsors, and two equally matched teams going into proper battle on the pitch. The only thing that spoiled it was the early Newport goal, but on balance I’d say a draw was probably a fair result.

I didn’t see the Newport goal. I was too busy taking pictures of the sky. I’m sure you’ll agree it’s a lovely picture, and much more heartwarming than seeing the ball in the back of our net with barely a minute gone. Going a goal down that early on can kill off a game, leading to scrappy play or sometimes desperation lumps up the field from the losing side. However, it seemed to kick us up the arse. There were a good few players on that pitch in blue who knew that, if their performance was less than perfect, they’d be benched by the weekend. All in all, I’d say they all gave a decent account of themselves to cause Mr McMahon some problems in selection.

Take Gomis, add a sprinkle of Ghanoea, and what have you got? A fast, explosive front line that can hold off a defender and move the ball forward. Neither are the perfect player (it is League Two, after all!) but they were a bloody revelation up front. With two up front there was immediately more space to play with, which allowed Paddy to get more involved from the off.

I had just opened my month to comment that surely our shirt (un)sponsors would be praying for a Paddy goal when up he popped. A really cheeky dink over from little Harris and there was Paddy. It took him two attempts, granted, but we quickly decided that he meant to do that to put the keeper off. You could almost feel the marketing gurus at Paddy Power salivating at the prospect of a ‘Paddy Power gets the equaliser’-type headline.

Non-football chatter…

As is often the case on a football terrace, our conversation veered in and out of football talk. As well as commenting on the game, we covered Brexit (standard topic nowadays unfortunately!), recycling, Cheshire East council and the trouble at Bury FC. One of the LRT posse was complaining that the media seemed to be unfairly focused on Macc’s money woes (as opposed to Southend United, for example). As I argued back, stating that maybe it because we failed to pay the players and staff, along with everyone else we owed money too, someone caught my eye. Standing right next to me, grinning, was Tyrone Marsh! Whether he had been ear-wigging or not it’s hard to say. But I was definitely glad to have been arguing for the players, rather than against! Awkward situation averted!

The other result of that rambling conversation was for the London Road Collective to ban any politics talk from the terraces. The small group of us hold many, many different political stances and so it’s never a straight forward conversation. However, it is yet more proof that football can be a great equaliser, and brings people of all ages, backgrounds and creeds together in one common goal…to tell the referee that he’s a humongous twat!

The lesser spotted good ref

Last night though there was no call for that, however. For once, the referee was decent. Letting the game flow, playing advantage…you sometimes forget when you’re in the doldrums of the leagues what a decent ref should look like. It was another reason why it was such an enjoyable game.

I thought we were the better team for the second half. We succeeded in quieting a lively Newport, and with a bit more composure in front of goal we could’ve won it. Our defence held up nicely, led by our very own Irish Backstop, Kelleher. I think the analogy is a fair one – no-one wanted either when they first appeared, but they’re both starting to look like a sensible option. Or the only option, but let’s not dig too deeply into that already rather shaky metaphor…!

There were a few contenders for MOTM. I gave my nod to Kirby, based on the fact that he had a cracking game flexing his muscle in midfield. He is certainly not the finished article but has real talent and drive, and more than held his own against older and more experienced opposition. A close second for the award was Andy Worth, who’s announcement that the MOTM award had apparently been chosen by ‘no-one’ had me chuckling all the way home.

3rd time lucky in Grimsby?

And so to Grimsby on Saturday. We must have that route memorised by now. Whether we’ll get anything from the game is another matter, but last night proved once again that we do have some real talent in our team, and it’s down to Daryl to work out how to use it. And it’s down to Daryl alone, as Danny, Steve and pals are buggering off on a lads weekend to Magaluf wearing t-shirts with their silly nicknames on the back and a pair of tits on the front*

Another draw wouldn’t be that welcome to be honest. Last night’s stalemate was a decent result, but too many more one pointers and we’ll free-fall down the leagues faster than a speeding Arthur. We had 24 shots last night, 9 of which were on target. Simply by the law of averages, if we keep that up we’re bound to net a couple at some point, aren’t we…?

#againstallodds https://thewordnerd.home.blog/

*Pretty much definitely not true. Although, with this club, you never really know…!

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