The_Witch
Full Back
Just got back to the hotel (getting old and I'm leaving to drive home after breakfast, so thought it'd be better packing tonight, although one worn Ipswich shirt and two pairs of pants don't seem a lot).
I've enjoyed the sojourn up here. Good hotel, great room and WiFi and that. Last night's dinner was lovely. The walk this morning, the bacon cob with brown sauce and tea so strong it could've cracked pavements. The pints watching the footy results yesterday (Norwich got lucky, but then I guess so did we), a chat with a couple of Sunderland fans who kindly wished me well, even if they didn't think we'd win on Sunday.
The game, well. You saw it as much as I did. I thought we'd get battered in the first twenty minutes. But it was a funny sort of game. No real urgency to anything, except our defending, which at times was a bit too urgent. I liked Ekwah in your midfield, but Clarke, for all his talent, is a bit of a moaning old minnie and Roberts kept trying to take us all on by himself.
The first half looked like petering out to a solid 0-0 for us, until Broadhead got his leg to a hopeful shot and diverted it into the corner and we celebrated, stunned and relieved all at the same time. We looked better in the second half for the first 20 minutes but then, after George Hirst's smasher and a blatant penalty missed following Chaplin's chip from halfway on to the bar, and the sending-off, we went back into our shell again.
13 minutes seemed like a lifetime. I never thought I'd write that. I've had much quicker (and even more fraught) shags, but we held on. I think the general feeling was we'd 'spawned' it. Certainly the home fans I saw as I walked back thought so. They saw my shirt and were adamant we'd had one over on them. It never felt nasty or threatening though.
So I guess it's an apology, although I'm chuffed we won, obviously. But, like I said before, a funny game. It all seemed very laboured and a bit slow. I did wonder if I'd had me pre-match pint spiked. I hope we get better (we started slowly last season so it might just be our thing). You should be top 6 but I think you need a couple of players, especially up front. Hope Stewart's achilles is on the mend. It's been a blast of a weekend, and I haven't regretted any of it.
I've enjoyed the sojourn up here. Good hotel, great room and WiFi and that. Last night's dinner was lovely. The walk this morning, the bacon cob with brown sauce and tea so strong it could've cracked pavements. The pints watching the footy results yesterday (Norwich got lucky, but then I guess so did we), a chat with a couple of Sunderland fans who kindly wished me well, even if they didn't think we'd win on Sunday.
The game, well. You saw it as much as I did. I thought we'd get battered in the first twenty minutes. But it was a funny sort of game. No real urgency to anything, except our defending, which at times was a bit too urgent. I liked Ekwah in your midfield, but Clarke, for all his talent, is a bit of a moaning old minnie and Roberts kept trying to take us all on by himself.
The first half looked like petering out to a solid 0-0 for us, until Broadhead got his leg to a hopeful shot and diverted it into the corner and we celebrated, stunned and relieved all at the same time. We looked better in the second half for the first 20 minutes but then, after George Hirst's smasher and a blatant penalty missed following Chaplin's chip from halfway on to the bar, and the sending-off, we went back into our shell again.
13 minutes seemed like a lifetime. I never thought I'd write that. I've had much quicker (and even more fraught) shags, but we held on. I think the general feeling was we'd 'spawned' it. Certainly the home fans I saw as I walked back thought so. They saw my shirt and were adamant we'd had one over on them. It never felt nasty or threatening though.
So I guess it's an apology, although I'm chuffed we won, obviously. But, like I said before, a funny game. It all seemed very laboured and a bit slow. I did wonder if I'd had me pre-match pint spiked. I hope we get better (we started slowly last season so it might just be our thing). You should be top 6 but I think you need a couple of players, especially up front. Hope Stewart's achilles is on the mend. It's been a blast of a weekend, and I haven't regretted any of it.
