To be honest, I'm a just a little bit fed up of this Championship lark. Teams keep coming with loads of money and famous managers and all that. It's a bit like joining a boxing gym and doing quite well but then they keep putting you up against big lads who've done it for ages and it hurts. Hope springs eternal of course, but it's also the hope that kills you.
I like the team. That's never a good sign.
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Pool are playing nice football, the ball is being moved well, there is movement. There's plenty of skill in the midfield and nary a water carrier to be seen. Wright whistles a drive past the post. It draws a response of agony and appreciation. I really like him. He's added something to us for sure, he's brave, he carries the ball, he'll have a shot and he's also not above mixing it in midfield. He's an oddly practical luxury.
A ball to the far post, Madine is a whisker away from bundling it home, a desperate Watford defender getting the slightest of touches to send it away from big Gaz and out. We're putting some good pressure on. The corner doesn't come to anything, but we're knocking the ball back. Thompson with a long diagonal, Connolly marauding forward and leaping to square the ball and Madine! YESSSSSS! - the finish is a little unorthodox and to be honest, I was convinced he'd missed it till the ball hit the back of the net but... ALL GOALS ARE GREAT GOALS BUT GARY GOALS ARE THE GREATEST GOALS OF ALL! YES!!!!
Maxwell throws out beautifully to the halfway line, Carey kills the ball stone dead, has a split second glance upward and plucks out a sensational ball to Yates. Jerry runs, stutters and fires low at the near post. Another save and more Pool pressure.
The game starts to tilt more in Watford's favour though. They pass and pass and we can't get near them until finally they fling it across the face of goal and one of their lads slices it. A let off. They get a free kick on the edge of the box. They don't make much of it. Another let off. They get a second free kick. They score it. Fuck's sake. Me and the fella behind me disagree a bit too passionately on whether Patino was a) stupid or b) got the ball but we make up quickly. I was high as a kite a few minutes ago and now I'm low as a snake's belly. This is football and I'm sick this year of how we can be doing well and then the wheels fall off.
The game starts to tilt more in Watford's favour though. They pass and pass and we can't get near them until finally they fling it across the face of goal and one of their lads slices it. A let off. They get a free kick on the edge of the box. They don't make much of it. Another let off. They get a second free kick. They score it. Fuck's sake. Me and the fella behind me disagree a bit too passionately on whether Patino was a) stupid or b) got the ball but we make up quickly. I was high as a kite a few minutes ago and now I'm low as a snake's belly. This is football and I'm sick this year of how we can be doing well and then the wheels fall off.
There's a long spell where we look rattled. We're careless, we can't win the second ball. I can't see us getting hold of this game. I never thought I'd miss those bodywarmer twat inspired periods where we passed it around at the back for no reason at all, but we just keep giving the ball away and don't seem to be making Watford work to get it back. Perhaps that's why we did that. Fuck's sake, I'm nostalgic for that shit football. I am really glum.
We've clung on though and now another ball forward and Madine sets himself, leaps, connects and Carey is running from deep and picking up Gaz's flick and he's in! Go on Sonny!!! Ohhhhhh... The ball is a 6 inches the wrong side of the near post. That was better. Fuck passing it about at the back. It was shit.
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The half has probably been even, but as Watford had the better of the latter part, it feels otherwise. We didn't take full advantage of our chances and then they've taken control. It feels like this year might be one of those seasons where we play quite well a lot but don't get many points. To be honest, I'm pretty down at half time. I really want this to work, I really want us to be successful, with this sort of line up and playing this sort of football but I've got that kind of dread you get when you feel like you aren't sure if you've missed a bus or not, but as the minutes tick by, you get a sinking feeling as each one makes it more likely that you have.
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Bridcutt for Carey. It makes total sense and is the right change but I feel sorry for Sonny. I think he's done ok today but he seems stuck getting a few minutes here and there. He's young, he's got time. I really want him to succeed.
Madine controls gloriously, lays off to Patino. The kid finds Theo who speeds through and smacks one from distance that fizzes just wide. That's a decent start and frankly (spoiler alert) we're fucking brilliant this half. My fears were unfounded. My fog of glumness is banished by a whirlwind of glorious tangerine.
It takes Bridcutt a while to settle in (which is understandable, seen as he's the football equivalent of a rusty scrapyard write-off that Micky Apples has sanded down and resprayed in the hope that the engine is sound) but once he's up to speed, he's influential. He's pointing, talking, moving. It's not that he does anything particularly pivotal that merits noting, it's more that he exudes an air of 'knowing what he's up to' and that the little things he does add up to a really useful whole.
We're absolutely in control but at times our limits are frustrating. Theo does another run to nowhere, Theo slashes a shot at the near post when Madine has the freedom of the penalty box and the pass would have been easier to execute. C'mon lads!
We slip wor Gaz away, but wor Gaz isn't fast enough to be slipped away so he has to pass it to someone else to cross it to him instead, he heads it, a defender gets a desperate touch to send it wide.... If Gaz was quick, he'd be incredible. He really would. He's brilliant today. Time and again he flicks, or controls it. He's got the radar switched on and he looks all the better for the confidence of a goal. The way he can turn a ball round the corner or change the direction of play is outstanding. He's like a really good pool player who can use the cushions and the pockets to skew the white ball past obstacles. Now's he's steaming in at the far post, he's throwing himself and oooooh... that would have been the Gary goal to end all Gary goals.
Madine again, far post this time, back to Thorniley and again, it's oh so close... They can't handle us. Watford are shite. Bilic looks despondent.
We've clung on though and now another ball forward and Madine sets himself, leaps, connects and Carey is running from deep and picking up Gaz's flick and he's in! Go on Sonny!!! Ohhhhhh... The ball is a 6 inches the wrong side of the near post. That was better. Fuck passing it about at the back. It was shit.
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The half has probably been even, but as Watford had the better of the latter part, it feels otherwise. We didn't take full advantage of our chances and then they've taken control. It feels like this year might be one of those seasons where we play quite well a lot but don't get many points. To be honest, I'm pretty down at half time. I really want this to work, I really want us to be successful, with this sort of line up and playing this sort of football but I've got that kind of dread you get when you feel like you aren't sure if you've missed a bus or not, but as the minutes tick by, you get a sinking feeling as each one makes it more likely that you have.
---
Bridcutt for Carey. It makes total sense and is the right change but I feel sorry for Sonny. I think he's done ok today but he seems stuck getting a few minutes here and there. He's young, he's got time. I really want him to succeed.
Madine controls gloriously, lays off to Patino. The kid finds Theo who speeds through and smacks one from distance that fizzes just wide. That's a decent start and frankly (spoiler alert) we're fucking brilliant this half. My fears were unfounded. My fog of glumness is banished by a whirlwind of glorious tangerine.
It takes Bridcutt a while to settle in (which is understandable, seen as he's the football equivalent of a rusty scrapyard write-off that Micky Apples has sanded down and resprayed in the hope that the engine is sound) but once he's up to speed, he's influential. He's pointing, talking, moving. It's not that he does anything particularly pivotal that merits noting, it's more that he exudes an air of 'knowing what he's up to' and that the little things he does add up to a really useful whole.
We're absolutely in control but at times our limits are frustrating. Theo does another run to nowhere, Theo slashes a shot at the near post when Madine has the freedom of the penalty box and the pass would have been easier to execute. C'mon lads!
We slip wor Gaz away, but wor Gaz isn't fast enough to be slipped away so he has to pass it to someone else to cross it to him instead, he heads it, a defender gets a desperate touch to send it wide.... If Gaz was quick, he'd be incredible. He really would. He's brilliant today. Time and again he flicks, or controls it. He's got the radar switched on and he looks all the better for the confidence of a goal. The way he can turn a ball round the corner or change the direction of play is outstanding. He's like a really good pool player who can use the cushions and the pockets to skew the white ball past obstacles. Now's he's steaming in at the far post, he's throwing himself and oooooh... that would have been the Gary goal to end all Gary goals.
Madine again, far post this time, back to Thorniley and again, it's oh so close... They can't handle us. Watford are shite. Bilic looks despondent.
Big Gaz trudges off. I'm not sure if he's got a knock cos he's chucked himself about today and threw himself after the ball as it came out of the area and looked to be moving quite gingerly thereafter. A prayer circle would be a good idea I think. CJ is on. Have we run out of players? This is just our luck. Wor Gaz finds his mojo. Wor Gaz has to go off. Fuck's sake.
Patino smacks one first time. It's not so close to going in, but it shakes us out of any self pity and fires up the atmosphere again. C'mon Pool!
CJ has it. CJ hasn't done anything forever. He just comes on, for 10 minutes, runs about, does nothing and then trots off down the tunnel. C'mon CJ. Do something... anything. He's off. He's careering about. He's beaten his man. Heavy touch though, it's out of play.... no it isn't!... He'll definitely overrun this though... he hasn't! Still, he'll definitely cross it into the empty seats in the east... he doesn't! He's lofting it the the back of the box, there's a player there... it's one of ours... it's Jerry Yates! He's catching it... first time... YESS!!!!! Into the net. Sniper, fucking headshot. BANG! Watford blood everywhere. No fucking chance. He's blown their brains all over the north stand. That's Jerry Yates. That's what he does. Finds space and finishes like an absolutely dream. YES YES YES YES YES. YESSSSSSSSSSSSS!
ALL GOALS ARE GREAT GOALS BUT WHEN JERRY SCORES ON A DAY THAT ALSO INCLUDES A GARY GOAL IT'S FUCKING SENSATIONAL STUFF!
C'mon Pool. Hang on. We've earned this. It would be typical though, if they just humped a long ball up the pitch and we all fell over each other and one of their big lumps tapped it home. It really would.
I'm visualising the horrifying ways in which we could fuck this up when Jerry takes it in by the touchline. The best thing Micky Apples has done is get Jerry and tell him 'oi, Jerry, I like you son, but you've got to be stronger. Stand up, show a bit of muscle...' and thus, Jerry holds off his man. He exchanges a 1-2 with Lavery and *honestly, this bit now, you should dig out some classical music because it's beautiful, it's like ballet, it's fucking transcendent football from another realm because* Jerry has balance, he's going one way and now he isn't. He's made space and his forging into it, but then, with the grace of a swallow, he's ducked into a different space to the one he was going into and now he's come through that. It's like complex needle work, and the Watford defence is completely stitched up, the keeper exposed and finally, like the most beautiful cherry on top of the most exquisite icing on the most moist and well baked of cakes, he's slipping the ball into the last place anyone thought it was going and he's wheeling away and I actually could cry because we all love Jerry and no one works harder than him but we've all had this nagging feeling that maybe he wouldn't quite be the player he was in League One again but fuck me, that was incredible and honestly, I think I might pass out because if his first goal was good that was off the scale good and....
ALL GOALS ARE GREAT GOALS BUT THAT, FRANKLY WAS UNREAL AND I COULD WRITE ANOTHER THREE PARAGRAPHS ABOUT IT TO BE HONEST BUT EVEN I HAVE LIMITS BUT ONCE MORE YESSSSSSSSSSS!!!!!!
Time plays out. The ground is humming. We love you Blackpool. We do.
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In someways, I don't think we were that different from a couple of other games this year but I think two things really gave us the edge today. One was that we got the early goal and though they got back into it, we had the confidence that we could score. Secondly, the midfield made sense. First half it had enough technicality to move the ball quickly but we struggled a bit when the play turned against us as we didn't have the defensive mind to shield the defence. Second half we had the right balance in there and could do both things well.
I've already given a homage to Madine, but he was magnificent. Everything Gaz was up front though, Thorniley was at the back in his own quiet and understated way. Marvin looks so much better alongside him. We're now seeing a real player. I watched him for a bit when they had a bit of pressure and he was terrific. Harrying, stepping off, covering, absolutely in the zone. It's a weird nonsensical football pundit type thing to say, but Thorniley just seems to be really in rhythm with the game at the moment and whilst that might not actually mean anything, I can't really express it any better. I don't want to slate Williams any more than he has already been, but he seemed to be jumpily disrupting the rhythm and we're all the better for Jud playing to it and perhaps for Maxwell's role in setting it...
Connolly has given Gabriel a lot to do in terms of winning back a shirt in the last few games. He's so committed and he's got forward really well, something I thought he couldn't do from right back, but he's done today and at Sunderland quite brilliantly. There wasn't really a duff performance and loads of good one and I was made up that something even went right for CJ who is a lovely lad and can be dangerous when he's got self belief. Thommo's clenched fists at the end were cathartic.
The day cannot belong to anyone but Jerry Yates though. At one point, he was basically playing right back and taking that really seriously. He took almost as much pleasure from shadowing a man with Connolly and forcing him out of play as he did with his goal. He's been absolutely brilliant for a while as far as I'm concerned. He's been slogging away, never giving up, tackling back, trying to make stuff happen. His head has never gone, he's not got frustrated, he's not made the kind of slack errors that had started to creep in last season. He's just run and run and run and run and then run some more, often with little reward and a lack of service and today, he got his reward. Anyone who doesn't feel elated when a player, who is so 'Blackpool' that he should be the absolute template of everything we look for in a footballer, scores a couple of goals like that, is frankly, dead inside. I honestly don't have any firm opinion on the matter of the afterlife, but should it turn out that the song is correct, I am absolutely putting my card behind the heavenly bar and saying 'Jerry - this is on me fella'
What. A. Day.
Onwards.
Where we going?
Onwards.
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