Take a ride, take a shot now

Go on, admit it, the post Wembley euphoria was weird and unsettling. The frustration and disappointment is cosy and familiar, like your favourite old hoodie. You’re glad that it’s back.

I could have really done without the early KO last Saturday, as we went to see Fontaines D.C. and Kneecap at Wythenshawe Park last Friday night. Judging by how we started the game, I'm not sure that some of our players weren't also drinking limoncello spritzes in a field the night before.

Thanks to said post-gig hangover, we missed the opening goal, and that probably wasn't a bad thing. Like me trying to get my arse out of the house, we were way too sluggish, too hesitant, too slow to react. I hate singling out players, and I especially hate singling out Manny, but he should have just hoofed it instead of effectively playing the assist to Snowdon.

As early in the game as it was, Swindon's second goal had been coming. We had plenty of chances to clear the ball into the box, we didn't, and it was a good finish from Nichols. FFS.

We finally woke up 20 minutes in. A passage of play that started with an Ogle long throw (they're better than you think, y'know) and ended with a foul on Daniels resulted in a free kick on the right of the box. It was a good delivery from Woods, and Quigley headed just over.

The new Niall Quinn got off the mark for us 10 minutes before half time. Fondop was fouled on the other side of the box, Conlon put a great ball in from the free kick, and Connor Ripley (aw remember him?) got a hand to Quigley's header, but couldn't keep it out. Game on.

📷 Phill Smith

Alas, we had chances second half but couldn't make them count. Fondop had a decent header early on, but it was straight at Ripley, as was Morris' low shot from outside the area. Hudson made a good save from Harry Smith at close range; Smith blasted over the bar from the 6 yard box shortly after.

Woods (who I thought had a decent game again) had a fair go from the edge of the area, but his shot was deflected over. At the time, I was convinced (from my prime vantage point at the other end of the ground) that we should have had a penalty for handball, but the replay suggests it came off his back. Probably still more of a pen than the one Dirty Leeds got on Monday. Poor Tarky. In any case, Ripley was out of position, and we should have scored.

Back to back wins for Swindon, an off day for us. A poor performance, but we're still getting going. While some people reacted angrily (not without some reason to be fair), and certain weirdos posted bizarre tweets about the replica kits not being available (that we all read in bemusement wearing our red and purple and green/orange/pink shirts), the mood was generally one of frustration but hope. A familiar feeling.

Mellon was not a happy teddy afterwards, and quite rightly spoke about us needing to start games better, to work harder and to show character. He also spoke about needing to see more 'big guy action'. I'm not entirely sure what that is, but I think I like the sound of it. 

The lunchtime KO did mean that we could go the all day Ozzy tribute gig at Whittles, which was a slightly different vibe to Fontaines and Kneecap. A couple more Union flag t shirts, for one thing. It was a cracking night.

Will you indulge me and let me list the actual highlights from Tuesday? The pink lemonade radler I had in the Left Handed Giant. The mezze we had in Lamaya. Meeting up with people in the Wellington, in particular getting to finally meet well-respected writer Neil Tague in person. (He's written for Mundial, you know. I'll never be cool enough to write for Mundial. I pitched an article about the Rothwells' takeover to them and they never replied. Madri-drinking hipster wankers.)

Let's call a spade a spade, the match was shite. I don't know whether playing nearly all last season up front on his own is catching up with him or his head isn't right, but Fondop looked strangely out of sorts. We had some chances first half, and Quigley should have done better with his header.

We had our backs to the wall second half, and Hudson kept us in the game and was player of the match. Mellon was too slow to make substitutions, and Harratt should have come on far sooner. We appear to have adopted the draught excluder method of defending free kicks, and I absolutely hate it. All in all, we could be delighted with coming away with a point. 

📷 Tom Sandberg

We had a very enjoyable visit to the M Shed museum the following day, where this was one of the exhibits. Good lord.

We haven't started the season as well as we'd have liked. We had a tough few opening games, we performed well at Milton Keynes, we haven't performed great since. We're still nowhere near the finished product and we've got a load of players to come back from injury. Hopefully we'll come good. Sooner rather than later, please God. 

Safe travels if you're one of the lucky few who got a ticket to Fleetwood. We couldn't be arsed, having not had the best experience when we went there in 2015. When we got in the ground, the terrace we had tickets for was clearly full. Advice from the stewards ranged from "sorry, it's full" "OK, where do we go then? We've bought tickets" "*shrug*" to "just push your way in", which definitely wasn't one of the recommendations of the Taylor report. We stood by the floodlights initially, but were told to move because we were 'in the way of the turnstiles' (we weren't). We ended up stood at the side, with this view:

When Andy asked a police officer why it was so badly organised, he was told [this is a direct, verbatim quote]: "Sir, this is Sky Bet League One. If you want good organisation, go to Anfield or Old Trafford." In case you were wondering if the police and football authorities have learnt fucking anything about treating football fans as human beings and paying customers since the 1980s.

As I say, stay safe and look after each other. Today is gonna be the day that we get our first win in League Two. KTMFF. 

📷 Tom Sandberg

Written by Arlene Finnigan