Dagshit

12/01/2024 06:08 AM

Can’t really put much glitter on this particular turd…

So, we’re out of the FA Cup, and perhaps the worst thing is that I’m not massively surprised by it.

I was at the game, but there’ll be no “proper” report (I was working our game and also at Wealdstone earlier in the day, which will be a major reason for that), and I don’t think it warrants one.

After all, it would be flat, lacking in any substance or an end point, and leave you wondering why you bothered starting with it to begin with.

Exactly like the team last night.

Fair play to Daggers, who looked like they had a plan and a desire to win. Not to mention pushing forward when they got the chance.

Us? Oh, just pass back to Goodman, especially when we went behind. No urgency or anything like that.

He should have done better for the first goal, and probably the second as well. And this isn’t the first time he’s been called into question.

There’s been some doubts over him since the beginning of the season, and he hasn’t quite won people over.

If we’re serious about making this campaign a success (which it certainly can be) then he’s either got to improve a lot or we give our second keeper a go instead.

Not that anyone escapes yesterday, mind you. Nobody had a good game, and quite a few didn’t have an average one either.

If there was one mitigating factor – and it’s by no means an excuse – some fatigue might have crept in.

We’ve had so many games, and our squad is stretched (Lewis and Hippolyte the latest absentees), so it’s not a surprise we weren’t completely “at it”.

That’s only part of the reason why we lost last night. Our home form has gone from being the dog’s bollocks to something coming out of a dog’s arse.

We got lucky against t’Stanley, and in truth we’ve been poor at Plough Lane for a month.

We’ve got Newport on Tuesday in SW17 and I can’t say I’m massively looking forward to that one.

Last night had that feel when we lost to Sutton in the FAC at KM (and doesn’t playing there feel a lifetime ago?), and that was a shit night too.

To use the portmanteau, this was a cupset. And they don’t get any easier to swallow when you’re on the wrong end of one.

Granted, it might be pushing it a bit – Dagenham beat Crewe in the last round after all, and we should have been mindful of that.

We’re not the first League team to be beaten by a non-league side this season, indeed after today’s fixtures we might not even be the most noteworthy scalp.

No, it doesn’t make one feel any better. But all we can do now is dust ourselves down and go for the biggest prize, which is still well within our capabilities.

I tell you, if we win the Vertu Trophy at Wembley it will be a good day.

Oh, and there’s the possibility of promotion as well. Lest we forget we’re currently in the playoff spots.

So I guess the season properly starts this Tuesday against Newport. A victory will at least go some way to washing the lingering taste out of the collective mouths.

The question is – will we?

A couple of other things, in the absence of a “proper” SW19 report. A sub-6k crowd where a sixth of that are away fans isn’t particularly great.

It was a crappy kickoff time, and while it actually worked out well for me is not something I’ll want too often.

Your editor tried the street food catering beforehand, and to be honest I now file MyPie alongside Khoslas’s samosas and Fat Boys at KM.

Don’t get me wrong, it tasted fine but I didn’t think it was worth the money or indeed the hype. But then I think “street food” generally is over-rated, at least the modern version of it.

Finally, I think everyone is expecting Daggers to get a plum tie like Yernited away, and I won’t begrudge them if they do.

I don’t really buy into the “look at who we could have got” thing, because it’s one of those hypotheticals that don’t exist in real life.

If we won last night, we would have like got Derby or Wycombe or Wigan, where we would undoubtedly lose.

We got our decent cup draw against Newcastle this season, and who knows what would have happened if the weather had behaved itself.

We’ve dipped out on £100k but that proves why cup run money can only ever be a bonus.

There’s just so many things that go wrong if you’re relying on it, just like you can’t rely on player sales for longer than the short term.

I hope the club wasn’t planning on getting to the third round, but it wouldn’t surprise me if that’s exactly what it’s done.

At times, AFCW reminds me of those elderly American couples who put all their savings into buying up Beanie Babies because they saw somebody sell one on eBay for $1000.

And then are completely shocked when they find they can only flog theirs for a tenner.

We’re in for some sobering times financially in the next year or two, and a lot of that will be down to not doing anything about it in the last ten years.

Although I’ve just had a thought – losing last night will have more of a fundamental effect on how the club operates than ten rounds of Dons Trust elections…