Beg, Steal and Barrow

23/03/2025 06:49

Fare ye well, automatic promotion. It was a nice thought while it lasted.

There’s been some games over the years when I’ve sat down the evening afterwards (or the following day), and I just don’t want to write anything about it.

Usually, it’s because it was yet another dirge of a game, with as much direction as Google Maps when the internet isn’t working, which ends in less than glorious defeat.

I feel the same about Fucked It Up 2 Fucked Us Up 2, as it goes. This is effectively a contractual obligation.

And that’s because yesterday is still annoying me.

Really, really, really pissing me off. And probably the vast majority reading this too.

It’s annoying me to the point that I’ve used bold and italic to emphasise this level of pissoffedness (?) that we’ve now got the week to gnaw on.

And it’s only Walsall away next week, lads. No pressure to win, like.

I’m not going to relive the game too much, although the other notable thing about it was how utterly poor it was in quality.

Seriously, it was like watching a game between a side in sixteenth against a side in eighteenth. In the Ryman Premier.

Some of the game was realising the reason Joe Lewis raises his shorts up is so you’re distracted from his bald patch.

But the amount of mistakes made by both sides pushed it even for League Two standards.

Were we nervous? Is the pressure of the playoff race getting to us? Or are we being sussed out at the worst time and we don’t know what to do?

We scored (and what a strike by Browne), though I never felt we were particularly comfortable.

And although it was a relief when we got the second (and what a strike by Stevens and whoever crossed it), something was in the back of my mind.

Unfortunately, that something came to pass.

A team pushing for automatic playoffs should not fuck up a 2-0 lead at home with three minutes left though.

And it should never let the opposition back in from our OWN FUCKING CORNER YOU USELESS FUCKING WANKER SHITCUNTS.

Sorry, I thought I was calmer this morning over it. I’m clearly not.

I’m not sure what we were trying to do, and I’m not sure our players did either. But Barrow broke, scored, and made it a very nervous six minutes ahead.

If you’re being honest here – you knew what would happen.

Too many silly fouls being given away, a failure just to keep hold of the ball and run it down to the corner, to take the sting out of the game.

With less than two minutes on the clock, they got a free kick in their own box, they went for it, and our weekend became ruined.

Really, I can’t say we didn’t deserve it. This was 100% our own fault, and I hope this morning the players know it.

I shudder to think what JJ said in the dressing room after the game, though I hope it was scathing.

I don’t agree that it was “unexpected“, because we saw this before with Newport at Plough Lane too.

Although it happens far less often than it used to, we still have a weak underbelly from time to time. It’s an old habit I hope isn’t returning, but you shouldn’t be surprised if it does.

By the time we face Walsall next weekend, I fully expect us to be out of the automatic playoff spots because Port Vale are facing Barrow beforehand.

If Vale go 2-0 up with three minutes left on Tuesday, I fully expect them not to bottle it like we did.

There’s still going to be a few twists and more than a couple of turns between now and the end of the season.

I can’t remember if I’ve mentioned this in a recent SW19 update, but we only need to be in third place or higher after the Grimsby game.

We can be fourth or fifth up until then. But somehow, we’ve thrown away a golden opportunity this last month and we may not get it again.

Anyway, if you can bear it…

Plus points: We didn’t lose. Good strikes from Browne and Stevens. Managing to find the net twice.

Minus points: We didn’t win. Fucking up a 2-0 win. Everything from 87 minutes onwards. Too much poor quality throughout.

The referee’s a…: It doesn’t help when you don’t get much from him, including what I’m sure could have been a shout for a penalty or two.

Apparently he’s being fast-tracked for a Premier League officiating role, so we can expect him on Sky Sports News under “Ref Watch” before long.

Them: I haven’t properly read their manager’s comments, but it’s interesting he felt that we were nervous and they took full advantage of that.

Battled hard, weren’t content to be defeated 2-0 and I can’t say they didn’t deserve their equaliser.

They’re one of those “traditional” northern teams that used to bully us southern softies about back in the day.

We struggled a bit with that again, although they frustrated us.

One notes Aaron Pressley was featuring for them, and to think he was supposed to be our main striker under Mark Robinson.

At least, I think he was. That particular period blurred into one by the end. Anyway, he didn’t do too much.

Just under 400 of them turned up, which is a genuinely decent turnout, and no doubt that trip back to Cumbria felt about two hours shorter than normal.

Unless, of course, they’re all like their players and commute from Manchester into Barrow on matchday…

Point to ponder: Are we really good enough to be in the playoffs?

The obvious answer should be “yes”, because we’ve been in them for a fair part of the season, and we’re somehow even currently in the automatics.

But given the way we played for too much of yesterday, and for too many games this past month, we’re kind of in them via default.

This might be our bad patch, and the final eight games might be the period we get our act together again, kick on and grab third spot.

It’s just that I can’t see us doing that. Our over-reliance on our form at Plough Lane is coming back to bite us anally.

We got into the playoff spots with the meanest of all mean defences, but now we’re as welcoming as a Franchise fan at the nearby docks.

Though I think you’re less likely to catch something that needs medical treatment with us.

We’ve lost something, and I think yesterday highlighted that big time. It’s quite possible that we could fall out of the playoffs by Easter.

This game, and the way it finished, will make or break us. If we’ve got anything about us, we’ll use this to respond and get back to winning ways.

Winning at the Bescot would be a statement of intent, and then some. But what makes me think we blew our big chance yesterday?

Truth is stranger than fiction: 1) The 87th minute onwards. Seriously. 2) Shamrock Rovers stickers on Durnsford Road and probably Plough Lane too. 3) Seeing somebody with a Fulham club shop bag entering the south stand. Are we getting football tourists now?

Anything else? Anything that doesn’t remind me of yesterday? Hmm, tough one.

OK, here’s something. Our gates recently are proving what my old man used to say – success breeds success.

We’ve always had the potential for big crowds, I’ve never bought the notion some have that we’re really a Conference side in L2.

Despite me questioning our legitimacy in the playoffs, it’s no coincidence we’re almost at capacity right now.

Already, there’s saloon bar talk of expanding the stadium, and I expect that will start happening in the next 5/10 years.

If and when it comes to pass, what would need to be properly looked at though is the transport situation.

Yesterday was pretty bad trying to get away, which wasn’t helped by roadworks everywhere within a one mile radius.

Gap Road, Wimbledon itself, Haydons Road and Kingston Road did give everyone the chance to reflect on the happenings that had just gone on before us though.

No wonder the standard of driving was a lot more aggressive than usual.

And at the risk of sounding like a WPRA busybody, that’s with under 9000 at the ground. Expansion will bring more people in, and we’ll have to do something about it.

What’s become clear is that more people are using their cars. Your editor is, I gave up on public transport when I ended up going via Tooting Broadway from Morden.

Now, I know where I can get a parking space when I arrive at 2pm, and no I’m not going to tell you where it is.

But an expanded capacity is likely to put pressure on that side of things, let alone public transport.

We should expand if we can afford it (one suspects we can’t afford not to), but we should start thinking about getting there and back too.

It’s all very well assuming people will stay behind after games and filter out the crowds, but as yesterday showed – if it’s a bad result then the majority will just want to leave ASAP.

That’s certainly the case for evening games, and not everyone will wait for a bus afterwards.

The club should be looking at enhancing parking in particular, now we’re up and established back at SW17.

We should be doing this anyway, but if chatter of expansion becomes more concrete, we’ll need to be ahead of the game on this.

Are there really no schools or other unused plots of land for parking within a mile?

There’s enough people who would happily buy a permit for the season if they can guarantee getting in, and that’s a potential moneyspinner for the club.

Perhaps we could start dusting down any plans for a park-and-ride scheme that were made back in the day? Or indeed any other options that might have not yet left the drawing board.

Just like getting the actual stadium built in the first place, we needed to get back home just to see what we needed to plan next.

Believe it or not, parking at Plough Lane is no worse than KM, because the latter’s car park filled up quite quickly and you often had to park near Norbiton station.

And that was with 4500 crowds, let alone ones about to nudge double that.

But unless our crowds slump, then we’re going to have to deal with more people coming to the games. And that’s got challenges as well as opportunities.

Though can the neighbourhood cope with an additional few thousand punters in a shit mood afterwards?

So, was it worth it? It should have been. It wasn’t.

In a nutshell: Fuck off.