It’s a bit like a trilogy this, isn’t it? Except it’s only been two games. And the games haven’t been films. But you get my drift.
Part two of this installment wasn’t exactly highly anticipated. Of course, the signing of Jack Marriott earlier in the day had a few people questioning whether he’d be chucked into the starting 11 instantly. He wasn’t, which meant Jeremiah Okine-Peters got the nod up front, alongside a host of changes for the starting 11.
For the third successive game at home, the players
were forced to wait to kick off the game, which led me to speculate to no one in particular whether the clocks in the changing room were fast. It’s a really bizarre pattern that’s forming and it needs to be stamped out, fast.
Overall, I like these kinds of games. Late August, very low crowds, atmosphere is decent, weather is still partially warm. There’s a certain something about them which means, for me, I can’t miss them, despite the early kick-off of 7pm.
We also really needed the win and, ahead of the game, I was desperate for it. Not as desperate as I’d passed on Reading services eastbound on the M4 and then realised I needed a wee (or worse) and had to wait until Hounslow (yuk), but still pretty desperate. The whole club needed it, frankly.
Early on in the first half, my son asked to borrow my phone. “Here we go,” I thought, “he’s bored already,” He was straight onto YouTube and looking at a football content creator called John Nellis. Well, it turns out that this mega creator (never heard of him) was actually in the ground, very near us.
After Liam Fraser had knocked in a worldie and the Dons had us pegged back with an equaliser, I took my son down to meet him and have a photo (Nellis, not me). We had a brief chat and he was a good lad – clearly knows his stuff and his audience so fair play to him.
Half-time seemed to pass pretty quickly to be fair, quicker than usual anyway. We came out of the second half pretty slowly and didn’t really create anything while being defensively sound. Noel Hunt used his bench to good effect (he made subs) and one of them, Mamadi Camara, knocked in the next goal, which was a well taken finish after some lovely build-up play.
Kamari Doyle had travelled well down the middle before slipping it to Andre Garcia, who sliced it across the box for Camara to tap in. If this goal had been a meal, it would have been a chicken dhansak, with a peshwari naan, a saag aloo and an onion bhaji. Exquisite.
From that point on, we were able to see the game out very well with some sensible play, some confidence and a sprinkle of “get the bloody job done”. The extra eight minutes left most fans scratching their heads like middle-class people in the dried pulses aisle in Waitrose, but despite the exaggerated time for injuries, we were able to book our place in the next round of this prestigious cup (not prestigious).
Who waits for us is yet to be determined/drawn, but this is a result which could and should give us a shot in the arm for our next outing on Saturday, against Port Vale. You’d expect changes, but it’s a game that really needs to be won to kickstart our season in the league.
For now, a 100% record in the cup isn’t bad and, with a new one starting next week against that rancid lot from Wiltshire, you’d hope we can build on this result fully.
Until next time.
