A Crowd! Goals! The Mighty vs Swindon

Fucking Covid. Track and trace doesn't work. It's a NATIONAL DISGRACE!

Except it does.

On the very day when I get sent tickets to go and see the Mighty I get told I have to isolate. I've been tracked and traced. Not only am I in the select few who can watch live football, I'm also in the select few for whom the system works. I should buy a lottery ticket.

I know I could go, but mostly, I don't want to kill anyone and even if Covid is a hoax dreamed up by the Chinese to give Bill Gates control of the world via phone signals and dead bats it's all a moot point. I've been sent home from work and people I work with and who are more important than me (and who I probably can't afford to bribe) go to the game.

Therefore, whilst I spend an hour or so planning to dress in a fake nose and glasses or as a devout lady of the muslim faith, I send my tickets back and I'm stuck at home with the rest of the iFollow plebs rather than basking in the exclusivity of the Bloomfield sun and watching the greatest spectacle on earth live and in the flesh. 

Fucking Covid. 

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In the opening few minutes Swindon are looking the better footballing team. Pool are driving long passes and Keshi being really irritating, a proper horsefly footballer, kicking away the legs of their best player and inciting Anthony Grant (who has a bit of a feel of a black Andy Morrison) to square up to him. You'd hate him if he wasn't ours. You love it that he is. 

A Robson free kick swings and hangs, Marvin leaps but it just doesn't quite come off. The curl of the ball and the timing of the jump work against each other and it's one of those moments where what you visualised doesn't quite emerge. 

Pool can't scramble the ball away and Swindon punish them with a couple of swift passes and Jonny Smith is running at Mitchell, beating him all ends up, but he curls his shot just wide, kissing the outside of the post. 

The game is alive. Ethan Robson is by far Pools' best player. Crunching tackles, simple balls and raking passes. No one else is really clicking but I wish I was there. The small crowd looks weird and though everyone is spaced out and it's clearly the sound of a small ground, the shouts, the applause and the heartfelt attempts to get a bit of chanting going make all the difference. 

Hamilton has a couple of moments where it looks as if it might open up for him but either the ball isn't quite right or he's bundled out of it. 

The game is muscular and high paced. It's like a Premier League game but without the extra yard of pace or bit of guile that makes a lot of effort into a good game. Fitness might count for a lot if it keeps going like this. He who tires loses. 

Pool's first really nice move of the game takes 25 mins to emerge. Keshi bursts through by force of character, then runs hard, driving up the middle, he exchanges a one two with Yates before releasing Ward who crosses well but finds no one quite able to finish. The loose ball is picked up by Lubala but he gets caught between crossing and shooting and the chance has gone curling harmlessly out of play. 

Swindon respond with their own rapid foray forward but they too can't muster a shot despite a dangerous ball across the box. 

Good work from Ward winning the ball in midfield leads to another half chance. The ball is worked round and eventually returned to Ward in the corner, he does really well to produce a lovely deep cross that is 6 inches too deep for a back peddling Bez to head with intent, having to settle for ballooning it over the bar whilst falling backwards.  

You can feel the game turning to Pool and the crowd are urging them on. Oh, that feels good. The surge of noise and the players responding. It's an electric thrill beyond compare. C'mon Pool!... Another move is only undone by a slip from Hamilton and Yates not quite reading a lovely through ball. 

Swindon look like our fans worst fears about us. Tippy tappy playing out as they give away possession under excellent pressure from first Yates then Hamilton but Lubala can only shoot weakly, shaping like he was going to crack it, but scuffing it instead. 

The game swings back to Swindon and in the second of a couple of nice moves, a deep cross to the far post is nodded just wide after their winger sent Turton to chase shadows. It's improving as a game and we're being tested.  

Ward releases Hamilton who teases his man, flirting with the idea of crossing, toying with the idea of taking him on, before pulling it back. We indulge in a short spell of "give everyone a pass on the edge of the box" - a game we played a lot of against Plymouth before Yates loses patience with that and works a bit of space but can't keep his effort down. 

They're good players but c'mon, don't over football it lads. Scent the blood, go for the neck! 

A minute long move that starts with a Mitchell run and ends with the same player putting in a perfect cross sees Hamilton leap and not quite reach it... Grant Ward is sliding in and definitely scoring until Anthony Grant makes a perfect block 

At times you can see why we wanted him, but at others, he looks a bit heavy and not the light and lithe style Critch loves. 

Then...

Bez is in possession on a run to nowhere in particular but his effort has dragged the defence out of shape and the ball pops to Hamilton who is away in a fraction of second. He's free, 12 yards out on an angle and he smacks it home as if the keeper wasn't there. 

1-0! We fucking scored!!!

Chissy responds to our first goal in over 300 minutes by telling the nation off about behaving themselves in relation to Covid. It's 50% Partridge, 50% deputy head teacher. 

It's almost 2 when another great Mitchell run ends with a neat ball to Lubala who quickly lifts a simple ball across that Yates cant quite bundle home. 

Moments later Anderson is doing brilliant work to feign a shot but then stroke a pass to Bez. This time Lubala's cross to Yates is even closer to being forced home. 

The half is nearly done but it's Anderson again, he's grown into the half and is looking great. He plays a right wing cross and Nottingham of all people has a free header, all he has to do is glance it but he's a centre back and it shows as the ball pops over the bar.  

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Pool didn't start well and Swindon were really good in short spells but the goal has given us real confidence and we've looked really dangerous in the final ten minutes. 

Bez is a bit of a chaos engine. I question a lot of his decisions but I love his energy and he's grown into the game as have a number of Pool players. If Kaikai is motivated by the sort of desire Bez has shown today, then whether or not Bez is the answer will be a moot point because if Sullay's talent had this sort of application then we'd be up by Christmas with both him and CJ in the side and firing. He's like a little Armand. A totally different player, but he does what he does and he keeps doing it, even when it's going wrong. He's got a sort of wind up toy quality, haring about in unpredictable ways and though he's not looked quite up to scratch, I think he's got a bit of something about him that has its own merits even though it's not as slick or aesthetic as it could be. 

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A long ball forward and Hamilton is too quick for his man and at the byline. He'll pull it back now. This lad is something else though and instead he simply cuts back between two players and hammers it past the keeper at the near post. So easy. It's like a goal from a computer game when you've got the fastest player on the pitch and there's nothing the other team can do. Who the fuck is Cristiano Ronaldo? How's that for hyperbole eh? Don't care, he's class. Love him. 

His first hatrick chance comes shortly after as the Swindon keeper punches weakly at a corner and the ball drops to him but he can't keep it down. 

The pesky villain Brett Pitmann (a kind of poor man's Billy Sharp in terms of scoring against us and not signing for us) joins the action and time looks to have taken its toll on him. He looks slightly rotund. He has the aire of a man who fixes photocopiers for a living and a penchant for a donut. He's not quite up their with Steven Fletcher in looking alarmingly like a real person but he's on his way.  

Lubala is heading for goal, beating one but fouled by the second. Anderson steps up. He's looked like he wants to make a point all afternoon and he narrows his eyes, visualises the net bulging, takes a long run and strikes it harmlessly into the north. Please let Robson take a free kick. 

Swindon don't really muster a proper attack in the first 15 minutes but shaky passes from Nottingham are what twice gives them the nearest thing to an opportunity. 

Like the first half, nothing much happens for a bit. Both sides mount the start of attacks but the teams cancel each other out. I distract myself by observing Chissyisms and note 'picked his pocket' and 'one of my hobby horses' though this week, he only says 'on the island' once. 

Suddenly Swindon have a little period and maybe we're not as comfortable as we thought. Hallam Hope side foots, hits the inside off the post and rolls right along the goal line but not quite in. We let them walk it across our box and they didn't really have to work for that. I'm edgy again. 

Lubala does well beating one and then showing awareness (not always what we've seen to date) to not take on the second but to slide Mitchell in. The left back who has played really well brings a good stop from the keeper but a square pass would have left Yates with a tap in. 

Hamilton is again denied a hat trick as he races on to a ball that breaks kindly after a crunching Robson 50/50 tackle but despite his pace, the keeper just gets their first. He doesn't even look like he's trying to run as fast as he does. He just goes faster than everyone else. 

Hurray, it's the the GOAL MACHINE! The knackered Yates comes off after doing everything but score. 

Great work immediately from our Gaz winning possession just inside their half. He feeds Hamilton who unselfishly finds Madine again but the ball across isn't quite right to Kemp and though Robson gets a shot from the edge of the box it doesn't quite turn into what looked like a certain chance for a third.  

Great hold up play again from Madine though 30 seconds later and he links with Kemp nicely. This is more like it from him. I like this Gary Madine a lot.  

The ref falls over! The crowd (the CROWD!) cheer then Hamilton falls over too and the prone referee whistles for a free kick from the floor. What a moment. Look it's Gaz! He's like a tank idling as he waits, then he steps back slowly and accelerates into his kicking stride - its like the pull back and release of a cannon and his shot is going in! He's going to score! 

The wall blocks it and the perfect image in my mind crumbles to dust. Never mind. Head up Gary, go again. 

Ward who has been excellent today, clips deep ball from close to the right hand corner to find the arriving Robson who smashes it brilliantly on the volley against the bar. The ball bounces down but not over the line. Robson deserved a goal. He's been great every minute of every game. 

Madine and Kemp are like best friends forever as they play lovely one touch football. What's Gary had on his cornflakes today? Kemp runs around in the corner, we're doing that thing of still chasing down everything. Notts (a centre back) runs the ball down in the corner of their half in the 93rd minute like a winger and we look in good shape. 

The final whistle blows

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Applause rings out, all is good in the world. The sprightly little imp that is Neil Critchley is all twinkly eyes and smiles as he shares a joke with the Goal Machine and hugs and handshakes with the rest. Big Marvin and Bez look like kids as the little lad jumps in delight and the big lad hugs him. We won! 

CJ actually didn't stand out so much apart from the two moments where he really did and that's why I rate him. He's intelligent enough not to just run every time and to use his team mates and sometimes do the simple thing. Grant Ward and Ethan Robson were probably my pick of rest for the whole 90 minutes. Ward looked really classy today and where against Plymouth I felt he was one runner/silky player too many, he really found space and probed and prompted today. Yates has absolutely worked his socks off and done what he does. He needs that goal. Everything seems to go just behind him or not to bounce quite right or be 2 inches too high.  Mitchell looked really good going forward, a genuine touch of class and exactly the right fit for what we need. No one was bad (though Bez has to match sheer effort with a bit more learning, and I'm sure he will) - I'm warming to Ekpiteta who has looked calmer in the real stuff than he did in pre season.  

The one question is. Where was Sullay? 

Swindon didn't look a bad side but I don't think they could keep up with us. They did well for half an hour but only really managed one effort after that point. Again, for a dodgy defence we did well and we imposed our game on them and once we'd got them pinned back, they couldn't get out. 

Fucking Covid. I could have been there.

Y'know what tho? I've been in an awful mood for the last two days. I've been raging and ranting and stuck in the house, feeling like I'm under home arrest and forced to log into a computer terminal for ten hours a day, then just stare at a wall. It's shite and maybe I'm a compliant drone and this is all a test to find out who is and isn't and I'm failing in my duty to march to the nearest shop draped in a confederate flag and cough all over everyone in the name of sweet freedom and liberty. I dunno. I'm a simple being. Such things are beyond me.  

Right now, none of that matters and I'm happy cos the Mighty are off and when we're good, we're very good. 

That will do nicely. 

Hope I ain't got Covid. But who cares about that? We won. 

utmp