I still don’t get it
Nearly 4 years ago I wrote a piece for South London is Black and White about our trip to Margate. Saturday I ventured off to Camberley. I still don’t get the whole glass half empty brigade.
Complaints re travel. Well I have to say it is so much nicer to get on an overground train for 50 minutes and then a regular scheduled bus. Rather than over an hour in a sweaty tube.
Complaints re the weather and the long grass. Both entwined and out of anyone’s control.
Complaints (and worse) directed at the ref. Why would you want to turn him against us if you’re a fan?
The weekend had started well to be fair with a chance encounter on Friday evening with management that settled fears of missing players for Saturday.
The game was always going to be a slog. Difficult pitch, large team, poor weather. I was posting an update on the first 10 minutes when they scored. Deflection off Dack by all accounts. Apparently he “should have used his other foot”.
Thankfully it didn’t take long for us to reply. We were always going to pick up free kicks with much more nimble players and on 15 minutes James put one such dead ball in and, after a little bit of pinball, Kieran tucked it away.
Just before half time James obliged once more with a beautiful ball from another free kick that Lewis “Speedy” Gonsalves neatly headed into the near corner. That goal meant we’ve now scored as many this year as we did the whole of last season. You can take that either way.
As the second half started, the referee’s assessor informed us of the news that Bobby Charlton had died, a sad day.
First 20 of the second half saw us constantly getting caught off side. With the pitch it was pointless trying to pass through midfield and long balls forward gave us the best opportunity of breaking down a tiring defence.
Up step Warren. A break down the wing, cross back over and he wasn’t missing from 2 yards out.
I think the best was saved til last. A break down the right wing by Kieran, a searching ball across the back and MOTM contender Blake crashed it into the net.
Credit has to be given to the whole team for an excellent performance in difficult conditions. As well as the aforementioned, Blake, Jayden and Lewis warrant a special mention with another solid performance in front of Tom.
Other stats of note from the day;
7 games in our league on Saturday produced 7 away wins.
Of the registered 76 in attendance ¾ were Tooting.
Our U23 won 6-1 at RPV.
My hope now is that the 1/2 full glass grows to ¾.
Up The Stripes
