Another year older... - Wigan Athletic vs the Mighty

Is this game meaningless?

Yes and no.

On the yes side, It's pretty much meaningless in terms of promotion and definitely meaningless in terms of relegation.

Does that mean it's not worth being here? Surely not. The league is only like an individual game writ large and spread over time. You play a game, you win, you lose - that's the point. That's what we've got today and all a division does is put that in some kind of framework. In a game you win, lose or draw - in a season, you basically do the same thing. This season is a draw. Yes, the league position affects the finances and all that shit but that's not really the point of it is it? Calling it meaningless because it doesn't contribute to winning us some TV money is like saying that if no one had bought Van Gogh's paintings and they weren't framed and in a gallery then they're shite and pointless and there's no worth in anything but finance. 

Like art and music (and anything else that isn't eating, drinking and making a shelter) football is basically pointless all of the time. Just cos you build a giant story of meaning around something and give it a theme tune and a trophy and billions of pounds of prize money doesn't mean it has any more point to it than an informal kick about on the park.

It's all just an effort to pass the time in between doing the things we actually have to do.

Football is football is football and Wigan is always personal for me as this is where I grew up and my relationship with the 'Tics' is resentful, immature and bitter. Ideally today we'll hit double figures before halftime and then accelerate after the break and before the game is over, Ryan Lowe will send a ballboy on with a little white flag and then the Wigan chairman will come down on the pitch and deliver their resignation from the league such is the shame they feel at their total and utter shellacking at the hands of the one true force in the football world and we'll all go off into the post industrial sunlight and back down the road to Wigan Pier with a spring in our step and a song in our heart... 

___

 

It's happened AGAIN. We've just conceded a really shit goal. I wasn't even watching properly. If I'm honest, I was generally distracted, having legged it here after one too many in the pub with old friends - I'm still a bit breathless and am wondering why we're particularly keen on the Rangers songbook at the moment, whilst also thinking about how years ago I came to Wigan v Blackpool with someone who I then was very close to and is now dead and how strange all of that is as well as musing on whether or not I'll make it to half time without needing to go for a piss.

Anyway...

My abiding impression of the goal was they had it on their left and without any particular effort put the ball in the goal because people, including Harry Tyrer weren't where would be ideal to stop the ball going in. It seemed like the kind of thing that would have happened to me in my spell as goalkeeper for my school team, Tyrer realising what was happening about the same time I stopped thinking about McLean, piss and mortality and being only able to collapse backward and spoon the ball upwards into the net.

It's funny - because it doesn't really matter, there isn't the outpouring of ire that tends to follow a bad moment in a game that does. Last year, the Wigan game really did matter (ultimately, it was one of those games that had we won, we'd have got into the play offs) and the atmosphere was tense and pretty testy. It felt like everyone was too on edge to get behind us. Here, we absorb the goal and carry on. The news that Preston concede gives everyone a lift. Charlie Patino is hailed because let's be fair, it's a great song.

The first half is pretty poor. Offiah looks good and Apter keeps trying to do things, but the left hand side is non existent. Super Jimbo isn't having a vintage afternoon and CJ is a ghost. In the middle, we're outnumbered and Evans is pointing and jogging about as if he's aware of some other midfield players no one else can see who he thinks will get the ball for him. We're disjointed and over reliant on a booming kick from back to front where neither Fletcher nor Ennis are getting much out of the Wigan centre backs.

We do make a decent chance and to be fair to CJ,, who has an otherwise poor half, it's him who creates it. We've miss someone to drive with the ball all half and the one really good moment comes from CJ picking it up, running about 20 yards and slipping a very good pass into Niall Ennis who draws the keeper and unfortunately hits his legs. Wigan have some chances, we have some corners and the half seems to both pass quite quickly but not be a noticeably great game either. Perhaps time moves at different speeds in different places. Maybe it's just me - maybe we perceive time differently in different places.

--- 

Half time is grim muttering about 'the usual feast of football' and wondering why Tom Bloxham never starts when the evidence gained before he got injured was that he's pretty good. Such is the level of languid relaxation about today that I don't realise the half has started and am surprised to see football happening when I return to my place.

 

--- 

Are we any better? Initially, no, but gradually yes. We make the change we want to see with Bloxham coming on, although CJ going to left back isn't necessarily anyone's prime choice for how you fit him in. It does work though and CJ does ok - the rejigging seems to help us pin back Wigan's wide players more effectively and therefore gain a bit more control of the game, whereas in the first half we seemed to chase shadows in the middle and them just pop it wide with impunity. We don't make a stack of chances, but we at least move it round with a bit more purpose and whilst anything we do create seems to end in a ballooning header or a tame shot on the stretch, Wigan are creating very little and seem to be getting deeper and deeper as per the received wisdom about Ryan Lowe's unadventurous approach.

The goal when it comes isn't spectacular. CJ makes a good run from deep, Morgan spots him and slides the perfect ball inside the full back and CJ bursts past him, gets tangled up with his desperate lunge and goes down. It looks very much like a penalty and a penalty it is. There's a moment of alarm in the stands as CJ picks the ball up and walks to the spot, people literally turn to each other in shock. CJ? Taking the penalty? - Lee Evans though strides over with authority and the tangerine massive relaxes. He's not had a good game, but the lad can smash a penalty. Smash it he does. It's a great penalty high into the left hand corner and giving Wigan's otherwise very assured looking goalkeeper absolutely no chance at all.

Preston concede again. Much joy. I particularly enjoy us blatantly stealing Wigan's Bob Marley chant, cos it's great. 

From here on in, it's all 'Pool. Again, it's not that we force heroics from the Wigan defence, but it's definitely us on top and playing the best football we've played today (and last week for that matter) as we pen Wigan back, move it quickly and confidently and carve out a few decent chances. Ennis snatches at a near post chance and hits the side netting. It felt as if he might have had time for a more composed effort.

There's a penalty shout as Onomah and Ennis combine and the latter might have been clipped as he looked to burst through, Morgan has dig from distance that he doesn't quite catch and right at the end, Evans lifts a curling ball, Ennis takes a step and then acrobatically flings himself into the overhead kick. For a split second it seems like a fairytale end but the ball runs across the face of goal instead of over the line and that is that.

---

I think on balance we were the better side but that said, we were poor in the first half. It was a decent day out with a football match to go with it. It didn't answer any questions about next season. I was a bit disturbed that Onomah looked quite effective when he came on on the basis that I don't want us to be seduced again by a player who has all the attributes you'd want (that's me being seduced isn't it?) but who, in the cold light of day, offers you about 600 minutes a season and only 100 of them at full tilt.

We definitely missed the energy of the left sided players who are out initially and another 45 minutes of being overrun in midfield and second to the loose ball wasn't great - but equally, today was yet another game when the tweaks Bruce made to the side during the game were effective and he reworked the thin resources at his disposal into something that was quite effective towards the end of the game.

Afterwards, the glow of the pre-match beers wearing off, I sit on the train home and I think of how going back to Wigan is always a little bit like coming home for me and I think about how much has changed since it was my home. Springfield Park long gone, the town centre hollowed out like everywhere else, the pub I used to drink in all boarded up, my primary school demolished, friends dispersed all over the world now, some of them beyond this world... 

On reflection, I'm glad Wgan didn't have to resign out of shame, as playing them is a reason to go back and waste a bit more time there. 

As we reach Preston, the calm of the carriage I'm in is disturbed by the intercom announcing, "Ladies and Gentleman, our next stop is Preston, if you're leaving the train here...(etc)" which is underscored by the noise of "Preston get battered" being broadcast to all the coaches - I smile to myself.

It's been a decent day out all in all. 

Onward

You can follow MCLF on facebook, Twitter, Bluesky, Threads and Instagram or use Follow.it to get posts sent to your email If you appreciate the blog and judge it worth 1p or more, then a donation to one of the causes below which help kids and families in Blackpool would be grand.

Home-Start Blackpool Food Bank

Writing about football is possibly a bit pointless in an era when there's the telly and youtube and videos all over the shop. It's not my living this and it's just something I do because I do so there's no problem with reading it and then getting on with your life - If you do want to chuck some money at the cause of some random fella writing shit no one ever asked him too, then Patreon. is a thing.

Read More

Seasiders' seriously significant summer

The season is more done than David Dunn on a Dun Horse in Dungannon. Thoughts inevitably turn to next year and whilst I'm not a noted transfer guru with a six figure salary in demand at league clubs across the land, I was quite good at Football Manager back in the days when it was called Championship Manager and I therefore reckon I've got something to offer in terms of high level analysis of what we've got and what we need. 

The key point looking towards next season is that we need quite a lot. There's no 'if we can add a bit of quality' about this summer because there's loads of players leaving and a few players who we will probably want to leave and that leaves not a lot left over. 

Lets eschew the usual rambling intro and get straight into it. We're going to look at each position and make a conclusion on the work we need to do:  

Goalkeeper: 

Harry Tryer has improved a lot in his time here. I like him. I think he has the ability to improve further. I would sign him if we can because I think he'd be a decent keeper now and excellent asset for the future. 

If we don't sign him, we desperately need someone else. Richard O'Donnell has an option on his contract I think, but that's a bit like saying 'it's ok, we've still got Bloomfield Bear' cos realistically, O'Donnell is great for the vibes and being a team player and all of that - but he's not in any sane world a keeper to be relying on in any league 1 side, let alone one pushing for promotion. 

Mackenzie Chapman only exists so he and Ryan Finnegan can tell each other who they are in case they forget their own names such is the mystery around their purpose. 

Conclusion: We need a keeper desperately - ideally two with one of at least Tyrer's ability or better and another to push them. 

Right back: 

Odel Offiah has been close to being the player of the season. He's absolute quality and the only question I really have is whether he's over reliant on his pace to tidy up mistakes and whether that's something that will be exposed at a higher level. He's definitely ready for Championship football and he won't be here next year as much as we all would like him to be. 

Remember Jordan Gabriel? He was really good back in the day. Ask your dad, he might tell you about him. He used to be like an attacker and a defender in one and he was probably going to be the next big sale and go to one of those earthy mid rank clubs like West Brom or Stoke or whoever (I think it was Burnley he was linked with if we're being 100% accurate) and be a Championship stalwart. Then he got repeatedly injured and since then, he's been a bit of a faded photocopy of himself. That might be unfair, but it seems weird seeing him reduced to being a last 15 minute sub, mostly used when the game is dead. I'd love Gabes to stay and be the all action hero he was previously, but a) I'm not sure how he is physically and whether he can still be that player and b) I'm not sure he'll be up for staying when surely, he could get a shot at regular starting berth elsewhere and I wouldn't begrudge him that if we're not going to give him that chance. 

Remember Andy Lyons? He was also like an attacker and a defender in one and he'd played Champions League and everything. In the dark days of Big Mick, Andy Lyons gave us hope... then, injury struck. The Lyons we lost was a really good prospect - he wasn't perfect defensively, but in a side such as we've been of late, (as opposed to the measured Critchball which he didn't seem to suit as well) it feels as if he'd really prosper - but again, whether he comes back the same player is an unknown: 

Conclusion: At best we have two right backs who, if they're both at it and can get back to their best (and Gabriel stays) make it a rare area in which we look relatively strong - furthermore, being relatively similar players, we should be able to interchange them and protect them to an extent - but it's a huge unknown as to whether either is the player they were at their best and a case of me hoping rather than relying on any particular recent evidence. 

Left back

If you could combine Coulson and Husband, you'd have an excellent player. Jimmy's legs are looking increasingly tired but he's a good defender and a great competitor with a decent football brain, even if his execution of the idea in his mind when he goes for a sweeping Baresi-esque ball isn't always as he pictures it. Coulson legs are pretty quick, and he's capable of some great forward runs and has looked excellent going forward in tandem with Sonny Carey - but he's suspect defensively and sometimes looks flimsy and out of position against a physical team on the attack. 

Conclusion: If we're going to play with a back four, I'm not convinced that either of the options nail down a starting berth. Both of them are 'ok' in their own way but is either of them the complete player? I'd keep them both, but possibly it's only because there's more glaring holes that I'm not thinking we need more there.  

Centre backs

Ollie Casey is a foundational piece of our rebuild. He's been really good this year. He reminds me a little bit of Peter Clarke when Peter Clarke was really good. He's just steady and he's got stronger and no longer gets bullied. He can play, but he doesn't mess about, seems unruffled by whoever partners him and Bruce obviously adores him. I really hope we don't sell him as he's the first of our own players in this list I'd unreservedly describe as 'good enough to be in a promotion winning team' 

Elkan Baggot is an odd one - his loan spell hasn't gone brilliantly if we're honest. He's looked pretty good but he's only started 12 games and picked up a lot of knocks and not always been favoured when fit. I'm not sure he'd desperately want to come back even if we could get him as he's not really nailed down a place despite his obvious attributes. 

Conclusion: Squad options are Pennington and the aforementioned Husband. They're both 'fine' as back up players but I'm not sure we'd want either as the first choice partner to Casey. Husband's versatility and ability to get off the bench and immediately up to speed is useful, Penno's grit and knowhow are admirable but when we consider the last time we went up we had Grettarson and Thorniley playing second fiddle to Ekpiteta and Ballard with Jimmy as additional cover, the need for at very least one more quality player is clear. 

(Note: Zac Ashworth exists, but I'd literally forgotten about him and had to edit him in later, so I'm not sure he really counts other than to be (incredibly) less memorable to me than either Ryan Finnegan or Mackenzie Chapman) 

Right Midfield

We play with wingers. We have two decent right wingers. Robbie Apter is a yard of pace from being absolutely devastating and it's that yard of pace that keeps him with us and not already on the shopping list of clubs with TV money and youngster's careers to ruin. I like him a lot, I like his willingness to always attack and his trickiness and his ability to play an impossible pass from a hopeless position is underrated. 

Tom Bloxham is also, I think primarily a right winger at this point. No one really seems to know what he's best at yet. He's looked both excellent and completely lost up front in different games so I'm not sure if he's a full time centre forward option. I mainly hope he's not going to suffer like Danny Coid did from being so technically able that he could play about 4 positions and therefore being a defacto utility man to cover the gaps from a thin squad. 

Conclusion: Two of our most exciting players can play this role. It would be interesting to see what else Rob Apter can do and whether he could sometimes move to let Bloxham play there and if we could get them both on the pitch, that could create some very interesting options regarding our ability to pose different problems at different points in a game. The potential fluidity and variety of Bloxham, Apter and Carey on the same pitch able to dip in and out of differing roles and swap places is actually quite frightening (and frustratingly, might not be an option...) 

Left Midfield: 

Sonny Carey has been our best player in the last few months. Whether by accident or design, he's been slotted into a kind of inside/outside left  hybrid role that suits him down to the ground and his perpetual movement and willingness to drive forward and chance his arm keeps oppositions honest. Sonny is proactive in finding space (what people also call 'disappearing') and that's something Bruce has harnessed.

Whether Sonny stays, I have no idea but clearly I want him too. I think he should - I think he's a player who is better again than he knows he is and another season of being trusted with the role he has, by a manager who clearly 'gets' him would give him enough experience in his limbs to properly realise his potential. Confidence is physical as well as mental. It comes from success becoming a muscle memory because the mind and the body are one - and he needs to weigh up whether elsewhere he gets the role he does here, under the type of manager he's got now. 

Sammy Silvera is basically a Temu Ian Poveda. He's not really had the impact we wanted (like Poveda) but unlike Poveda, he's not really had the occasional moments of magic (that Forest cup game... wow!) that keeps you believing in him. He's just a bit 'forgettable'. He's reactive, not proactive. I might be misjudging him and to be fair, he's not had a great deal of time to get to the rhythm of the team, but (particularly January) loans should improve you from the outset otherwise, why bother with them and he's just really been 'a body' as opposed to being someone you'd think 'I hope we go for him' 

CJ. What can be said? He's CJ. He'll be here forever, always toe punting the ball forward and legging it after it and a little bit of you will always say 'go on Ceej' and once in a blue moon, he actually will go on Ceej and that will make you think he might do it the next time but there'll be 100 miscontrol or toe bungs into the stands or looking a bit lost in between those moments and he'll be ffs Ceej then but then the next moment will come around and repeat. His pace is always an asset to a squad and will always suit a particular game or scenario, but we can't make him plan A. To do so would be madness. 

Conclusion: There's a lot of ifs in this position but I think we probably need an additional left sided midfielder and if Carey goes, the need becomes desperate because we lose a player whose goals per minute this season is up there with our strikers and who plays a particular role for us that is quite 'bespoke' 

Central Midfield. 

The need for a central midfielder (or 2 or even 3) is already evident. We have Albie Morgan, who I really like and I think is an excellent player but who has carried a huge load this season. We also have Lee Evans who, when on his game, is also an excellent player. We've also (sort of) got Sonny who comes inside and makes it a 3 at times. It's easy to be frustrated with the fact we've just lost a game (at the time of writing) because we've been out battled in midfield - but the simple fact is, with the other two options being Ryan Finnegan and Josh Onomah, who don't even get a spot on the bench when Evans is literally vomiting before kick off, then we're palpably short of midfield options. At best, we've got three players - one of which has had a life changing health diagnosis (that he's coped with incredibly well), the other has come back from a career threatening injury and started more games than he's EVER played before in his entire career and the other one is playing on the left wing and if we play him in central midfield, we create a gap elsewhere. 

Central midfield is where control of games is won and lost. The success of a player like Coulson depends on the grip we have on the game. When we're in control, Coulson looks good, as he's better putting pressure on than soaking it up. Central midfield shields the defence - Casey has been excellent, Offiah has been great, and as much as we've had a few howlers, no one defensively has been making error after error after error, yet we're pretty porous - why? I'd argue that running two central midfielders into the ground with no back up at all will end up with a defence under pressure and a defence under pressure will eventually yield. The way we play requires intensity in this area. The very nature of playing with two in midfield (usually against a three) requires legs and having no fresh legs at all to replace some very tired ones is an explanation in itself. The squad has not supported the style so to speak. 

Conclusion: If Onamah gets a contract, then I'm going to demand a contract because frankly, why not? Ryan Finnegan must surely go and play football somewhere next year for the sake of his career and it won't be here because if he's ever going to show he can play at this level, he needs to show something somewhere over a period of time elsewhere. Evans and particularly Morgan I'm happy to keep, but we can't run them into the ground like we have done - We desperately need two quality midfield options and some athletic and physical presence. Morgan has ended up becoming the legs for an off song Evans of late and I don't think that serves either of them as well as it could if someone else could be the engine for either of them. 

Strikers: 

There ain't nobody better than Super Ashley Fletcher is in danger of being a literal chant because with Bees surely on his way, Ennis out the door and Bloxham possibly being on the wing, we might only have him. 

The big lad has been a revelation and 19 goals and assists in 30 starts is impressive enough, but when you reflect on how poor he was up till somewhere around Christmas, that figure is doubly remarkable. He makes stuff happen. He's a bit like CJ in that he'll cock stuff up, but he's found his inner Armand and learned just to have another go till it happens. I think with the right partner, he could have a really good season next year. 

The question is, will Niall Ennis be the man? I'm not sure. He's on Championship wages and he's got a year to go on his contract and Ryan Lowe at Wigan fancies him, Plymouth may well want a look at him and who knows if Steve Schumacher might also want a look. We definitely need that sort of player though, someone who can nag and hurry defenders up and run the channels. I'd like him. 

Conclusion: With Bloxham an option and Fletcher reborn and perhaps the rawness of Bondo maturing a bit further, there's something to work with, but we probably need at least two more up front and we're crying out for hard runners with pace to play off Fletcher. 

Overall: 

There's a huge amount to do. It's maybe a couple of years too late as when we went down initially, we tried to rebuild things with what we had and that proved an uninspired recipe. Then, the next season, we built a team for a manager we sacked 2 games in. This year, we've got something we haven't had a for a good while - a manager in situ who seems popular with the players and is definitely popular with the fans. There's no getting away from the fact the rebuild is needed - it's literally not an option to do anything else but we can obviously attack the task with relish or do it half heartedly. 

It's unlikely we're going to have anyone with the level of connections and reputation in the game that Steve Bruce has in the near or midterm future. For better or worse, he seems to have an excellent relationship with David Downes. There should, therefore, be no confusion or miscommunication about what the manager wants. To use the awful phrase, we should be 'aligned' - We should also have a bit of a warchest in the form of the Kyle Joseph money, which was an unexpected and generous windfall. If we want, we can see this as a chance to speculate to accumulate, we really should be framing this summer as an opportunity to create the next set of assets for the club. The page has well and truly closed on the Covid era side which was built with some ambition and decisive spending but there's not a huge amount of value left in this squad compared to the potential value of that side at its peak. 

The motto on the club badge and town crest is 'progress' but the few seasons have felt like a combination of 'regression' and 'stasis' - neither of which are particularly inspiring - however, whilst this season has been frustrating, there's been some of the former on the pitch and we've found a manager who has brought some unity to proceedings and improved some of the key players, Casey and Carey have had their best spells in tangerine, Morgan literally leads the league in assists, Fletcher's career nosedive has been arrested and has gone from a laughing stock to a proper player with as much direct impact as almost anyone in the division, Apter has established himself at League 1 level with the first hat trick by an academy graduate in the league since Paul Stewart to his name, Tyrer and Offiah have grown their career prospects no end and so on. 

Bruce has worked with a squad that was assembled for another manager. Our key players have played more minutes than anyone else in the division (of the 90 players with most minutes on the pitch, 7 of them are ours - we've got more players than any other team in the league in that cohort) and still, we've seen some really good football and some dominant performances by the team and by individuals.

We now need to take the learning from this year and apply it to the market with some aggression. Less is more has worked to a degree as some of those players above have really benefited from the trust and consistency of playing every week - but we can't go up with just 11 or 12 players truly suited to the task - which is where we've been at this year - we need greater depth in quality but we also need to plug a lot of holes in the starting line up. 

This is probably the biggest summer we've had since Sadler's appointment of Critchley and the rebuild we had then.

The challenge is very clear.

Let's hope we're up to it. 

Onward

You can follow MCLF on facebook, Twitter, Bluesky, Threads and Instagram or use Follow.it to get posts sent to your email If you appreciate the blog and judge it worth 1p or more, then a donation to one of the causes below which help kids and families in Blackpool would be grand.

Home-Start Blackpool Food Bank

Writing about football is possibly a bit pointless in an era when there's the telly and youtube and videos all over the shop. It's not my living this and it's just something I do because I do so there's no problem with reading it and then getting on with your life - If you do want to chuck some money at the cause of some random fella writing shit no one ever asked him too, then Patreon. is a thing.

Read More

The fat lady has sung - the Mighty vs Wrexham

"Lads, we can still do this - we just need every result for ourselves and 4 other teams to go perfectly as well as a 9 goal swing in our favour and we're there. Book the hotels, Wem-ber-ley - it's what we do, it's in our DNA etc etc."

It's over...  

We weren't very good today, we lost, no one wants read some shit pretending like the game hasn't happened and to be honest, I'm keen to get this over and done with - I'm adjusting to the idea that even though today was a 3 o'clock kick off and it felt like a Saturday, it was actually a Monday and therefore tomorrow isn't Sunday but instead Tuesday and therefore instead of a lie in, I've got to go to work, which feels all wrong when you've just been through the physical routine and emotional journey of a Saturday.

On Friday it was also like a Saturday and I watched the game on my phone so everyone looked tiny and then the tiniest of them all, turned up the hope with a lethal hattrick and Saturday felt like a great Sunday but now Sunday is Saturday again but this time with no Sunday and just a shit Tuesday ahead.  

...Let's just cut to the chase. 

---

Maclean scores. Because of course he does. And it's a shit goal too. FOR FUCKS SAKE. The ball that makes it is, to be fair, a truly brilliant pass, a quick, instinctive cross field ball that turns a nothing moment into a something moment but fucking hell, we just melt at the back and Evans looking like he's carrying three giant bags of wet washing with a gippy leg makes a pathetic attempt at closing down and Coulson seems to take the opportunity to audition as a magician's assistant for the next series of Britain's Got Hipster Left Backs Who Are Better Going Forward Than Backwards and climbs into a box and vanishes. Meanwhile, the object of our ire just wanders dreamily into the box, stops to admire the pitch (it's very good, well done everyone on that at least,) picks a daisy, muses at the way some of the petals have a pink tinge to them, has a little stretch, makes a couple of phone calls and ties his shoelaces, before slotting the ball home. 

For fucks sake. 

They score again. I'd like to be angry at the officials who inexplicably give Wrexham a corner that's definitely not a corner about 60 seconds earlier but I'm all out of rage. We never properly get it clear and then we concede 'that goal' again, the one where a simple cross comes in, some lad deceives our defence by moving and it all feels piss easy. I know it's not that simple in reality but it's frustrating as fuck that we defend really well sometimes but then appear to concede pretty crap goals quite often. I suppose if I was writing the other way, I'd be talking about the masterful poaching instincts and the beautifully flighted cross but it seems ages since we've scored goals like that regularly. 

All game we're frustrating. First half we probably just about match Wrexham - they have the better chances and Tyrer makes a clutch of saves ranging from sharp, but you'd expect him to save it, to really sharp and actually, you'd expect the forward to score more often than not. We have good spells both early and later in the half but we're in 'piss about in front of goal' mode and no one wants to shoot or chuck themselves at a cross and I can only remember a decent-ish Apter effort troubling their massive keeper (who is excellent with his hands, but terrible with his feet) as he tips over a shot that looks like it might be going over anyway. 

Silvera is anonymous. We really miss Carey. We have the ball up front and Silvera isn't doing what Sonny does and bursting into an attacking channel whether wide or central. He's not carrying the ball much either which is also what Sonny does. He's also not really doing much until the ball comes near him when he springs into life. The lack of Carey's work rate (working isn't just 'tackling' - it's the incessant movement and constant runs and pressing and blocking passing lanes that Sonny does) is putting a lot of pressure on Evans and Morgan who aren't having a vintage game either. Evans is particularly out of tune, he lumbers about like a piano that's been dropped down the stairs - he's all flats and sharps - you can recognise the melody he's going for, but today it's very harsh on the ears... He goes long when short would do, backwards when forwards seems on and plays it slow when quick is needed and slows it down when it seems that fast would be the order of the day. 

Still, we get to half time and I'm thinking that maybe the pressure is all on Wrexham here and I'm expecting us to unleash Tom Bloxham and maybe CJ a bit later and pick them off on the break as they start to get desperate and the pressure of being global icons who are expected to fulfil the narrative demands  expected of them starts to weigh on them. 

That doesn't happen as we already know. Wrexham are deceptive. They don't look particularly outstanding - we've played them twice and neither time did any of their players blow me away individually - but they're an effective side who do pretty simple football things and have lots of pretty good players and if you do the basics of being a team and having some set pieces worked out and being fit and have more quality players than the other teams, then over the season, you'll probably do well. Phil Parkinson is not unlike Steve Bruce in that he's not daft, he's been there, done that, bought the t-shirt and they just feel like a 'unit' - we also do on our day, but today, we feel more like a collection of pieces missing some glue to stick us together. 

Our best move saw Apter slip it away down the right, one of those amazing little passes he does when you think he's got no chance, he sends Offiah who saunters forward, past a few, surely must shoot, but squares it to Ennis who I really like but plays today like he's accidentally worn some shit canvas trainers instead of his boots and can't control anything for fear of slipping over and he then doesn't shoot and then finally Albie Morgan does shoot but wellies it over. It was actually a really good move but sort of summed us up that the shot came about three passes too late and wasn't very good when it did. 

I literally can't think of anything else to say - I can't remember any other chances other than CJ wellying it miles over and Apter, Offiah and Evans having a full blown row on the pitch with lots of arm flapping and pointing, seemingly because Evans feels neither of the other two are attuned to the 4d chess genius of his passing which to the untrained 3d eye such as mine, seemed simply a bit dicey at times today and maybe yelling at others when you've just played them into danger isn't exactly inspiring. I dunno. Evans is great when he's on it, but he looks knackered at the moment. 

The goal we pull back is meaningless but I was nonetheless pleased that Apter scored, because his determination to attack was really not matched by anyone else and he played some blinding little tricks and sometimes had the beating of his full back. Yeah, he loses the ball but he's willing to go at goal and frequently today was furthest forward and calling for the ball at the point we were looking to break. It was that kind of day where that really was as good as it got. 

--- 

Bruce's tactics were a bit weird today. The change I wanted to see at half time was Bloxham on the right and Apter switched to the left but we didn't see that - that said, I can't help but feel we're clutching at straws because (and I'm aware I've written this exact ending before) we're not good enough to go up. That's not down to any one player or any single choice we've made tactically - it's down to the overall make up of the squad and the lack of depth therein.

It's great having a regular line up but you simply can't expect 2 central midfielders to rock up 46 games a season and have 92 good performances and if you lose the middle of the park against anyone any good, you lose the game.  That's what happened today, with Carey out, we've literally no back up at all and anyway, when Carey isn't on the left, you lose what he's brought of late and so you've got another hole and your central midfield backup shouldn't be a player who is already in the starting 11 in a different role and who probably isn't really the player you'd want in there anyway over a prolonged period. 

It's over, c'est la vie. For want of an athletic hard tackling midfielder we have squandered too many points. 

Thoughts turn to summer.

There's a job to do. It could well be a massive one.

I hope we're prepared for it. 

Onward

You can follow MCLF on facebook, Twitter, Bluesky, Threads and Instagram or use Follow.it to get posts sent to your email If you appreciate the blog and judge it worth 1p or more, then a donation to one of the causes below which help kids and families in Blackpool would be grand.

Home-Start Blackpool Food Bank

Writing about football is possibly a bit pointless in an era when there's the telly and youtube and videos all over the shop. It's not my living this and it's just something I do because I do so there's no problem with reading it and then getting on with your life - If you do want to chuck some money at the cause of some random fella writing shit no one ever asked him too, then Patreon. is a thing.

Read More

Bubble burst: Rotherham United vs the Mighty

Mayflies dance on the river Rother. This seems a poetic way to start - It's only April and it's also possible they aren't mayflies but some other small fly that I'm not familiar with but let's not sweat the details of the thing. I've taken a cultural tour Rotherham to pass the time before kick off. I'm not sure if I do or don't find the town centre. I think that's probably a good guide to what Rotherham is like. Let's not be all snobby about it though. I actually quite like it. Look above the whitewashed windows of failed businesses It's got red brick magnificence, though you'd have to wonder whether the Victorian architects looked forward and envisaged their gothic flourishes framing vape shops and takeaways. There's a big billboard presenting the vision for redevelopment with a local business owner extolling the many virtues of Rotherham. I google the business. It's marked as 'permanently closed' 

I buy a sandwich from the world's most polite man. It's weirdly quiet. There's loads of people on the street and outside the pubs but it seems the bright sunshine is sedating them. There is not much more than a polite chatter evident as the sound from the PA system drifts across the river and into town on the surprisingly chill wind. The stadium is good, as recently built new stadiums go, it has a bit of character. Outside, there's a river walk with benches and inside the stands are steep and it all feels as if it's tight to the pitch. It doesn't feel very 'English' - it's more like the design you might expect a Swiss or French club to have - the sort of stadium England might play a pre tournament unofficial warm up in, or you'd get a with team from Luxembourg or Belgium playing in the Europa Conference league. Rotherham as a continental destination. 

Bruce does the 'same again' thing (again). We need to win. We need to keep winning.

We've had the calm. Now let's have the storm. 

--- 

Sadly Pool barely muster a gathering of clouds, much less conjure thunder and lightning. There's a tiredness in the legs. We play a bit like I feel when I have to get up for work earlier than normal. The routine is normal but the limbs feel the wrong weight and it all seems a bit unnatural. 

We seem narrow - we're not getting down the sides as we have been doing and play is sucked into the congested middle. That doesn't suit us at all because Rotherham are combative and physical and we're leggy and lacking in a midfield enforcer. When we do get the ball wide, our crossing is terrible, everything either scuffed or boomed over the box. A fella behind me offers the question "why are the balls in so shit?" - shortly after he offers the sage guidance "cross it better!" - I can't disagree. 

Up front it doesn't stick at all. There ain't nobody better than super Ashley Fletcher but he's having one of those days where his trap, turn and run style is only seeing him collide with a defender. Ennis just can't get the ball under control and he looks as flat as I've seen him, possibly the effects of whatever muscle tweak he went off against Bolton with has caught up with him. Sonny is pulled inside and as a consequence, we look lopsided - Coulson has consequentially too much to do on the left and Apter isn't getting away on the right at all.  

It's not like Rotherham are pummelling us - but the pressing game is absent - they're pretty direct and that negates our favoured way of playing - they're not really bothered about faffing about at the back, and today, we're not sharp enough to keep them penned in at all - rather it feels the other way round. We look slow to go forward and they snap into us - we still essentially have a squad designed for Critchley and our most dominant performances have come in games like Exeter away or Reading on Tuesday night, against other footballing teams and Rotherham are still very much a Steve Evans side - though one given a quite impressive reboot by their new coach. 

I struggle to recall us making much other than a drive from Carey that he strikes nicely enough but is always a little bit speculative. Beyond that, we squander most of the other positions we make. 

Their goal when it comes fulfills exactly the stereotype of a 'Rotherham goal' you'd come out with before kick off- A long throw, some outmuscling of defenders and a shot slammed home from close range. It's the kind of goal I've been watching Rotherham score against us since about 1994. In the middle of the sequence Tryer makes a really good save, hurling himself to block the first effort at the far post, only for the ball to drop perfectly for a second player to lash it into the net. It's a killer - on another day, the save is the catalyst for a change in the flow of the game, a moment of inspiration that jolts the rest awake - today it merely delays the pain by a second or so. 

Bruce goes to the bench and sends on Tom Bloxham. At the time, I wonder if he's gone full blown Jose Mourinho and is hauling a flat Lee Evans off in disgrace, but when he reveals after the game that he's been sick in the build up to the game it makes more sense. Rotherham score again, Tyrer this time offering not heroics, but a clumsy fumble where he spoons the ball back to the striker but is saved by the flag. I decide I'd be happy to get in only 1-0 down, it's that sort of game. 

--- 

This is the poorest we've played for some time. We've put to bed some curses recently, managing to win home games and Tuesday night games but the curse of the 'big away day following' seems to be looming over us still. Still, with Bruce in the dugout, we usually do something to address a poor showing and we're still in this. We've got goals in the team and Rotherham, whilst definitely on song aren't Honved of the 1950s... 

--- 

We're totally rejigged after halftime. Both strikers, gone - instead we have Bloxham and Beesley upfront. Apter is gone too and CJ and Silvera play wide, with Sonny anchoring the midfield as he has done since Evans went off. Bruce can't be accused of dithering... 

We're much improved. For the first 10 minutes of the half, CJ has a lot of joy, finding space on right and pinning their full back deeper than he has been. His most decisive intervention is quite unlikely though, Carey spots him in space and lofts a nice ball forward, CJ nods down (yes!) and Beesley takes the shot on the turn, connecting well enough but dragging it past the post. It's never that close but it's the most coherent bit of play we've managed and it lifts the crowd. 

A minute or so later, a cross from the left, a crowd of players, contact and the ball just past the post - Beesley is booked for handball, as he chucks an arm up in an attempt to divert it in. I swear I'm not making this up for the sake of narrative -  I think 'it would be the most Jake Beesley thing ever to finally get a chance at playing more than five minutes and then get sent off...' 

Slivera looks a bit less lost than he's appeared in recent cameos and he does outstandingly well to get through a crowd of players and fizz a gorgeous ball over, Beesley jumps, turns his head to glance the ball home, but it evades him by the width of a rizla and the ball curls past the post, the cross itself was close enough and any touch would surely have been a goal. 

We're better - but we're not at our best. We have more pressure, but after the first little flurry, we're not really able to dominate. Rotherham are, as I've already explained, rather rugged in their approach and the ref isn't especially strict on such play. Albie and Sonny aren't exactly the ideal pairing to go toe to toe with a set off nightclub bouncer style midfield players and I can't help wishing we had one of them. They're moth doing fine at what they do - but I envy the way Rotherham are able to muscle us off the ball and wonder how we've got to this point in the season without any real midfield physicality and, as shown by Evans' having to start when ill, any real midfield cover at all. 

Sonny has a few efforts, Albie has a shot blocked, we win a few corners but we're more tapping the letterbox lightly and peering through the windows than battering down the doors. There's no clock at the ground, the scoreboard video thing has all the information in the world but not the one thing I actually want to know. It feels as if there's not very long left when a ball comes in from our  left. It's more of a hopeful scuffed sand wedge than anything, but it comes through to Husband, who is caught... Yes! Penalty! 

There's all sorts of chaos in the stands. The Rotherham stewards react to someone standing up to celebrate and putting a foot into the channel that runs down the front of the stand like North Korean soldiers protecting the DMZ from imperialist enemies. There's two fellas hauled out in full headlocks and it seems as if the kids around them are sent scattering. Sonny has the ball. He's takes that staged big breath that penalty takers take. He steps back. There's no fuss about this. He's got it. One step, two step  and slam... bottom corner, Sonny fucking Carey!!! Yes!!! - The keeper is close, but the shot is crisp and low and we're back in this. C'mon Pool!!!

The game goes into a bit of chaos now. It could go either way. We're desperate for someone to be able to hold the ball. Bloxham has it a few times but can't tame it in the way we've become accustomed to him doing. They slam it forward. We try to play it back. Sonny is wound up by the goal and wins the ball, then loses it, then wins it then loses it and slips in CJ to hit a shot that is blocked over the top. 

This could go either way - Tyrer makes a superb save - a quite brilliant full stretch wrong hand glance over the top where he seems to fly further and higher than seems physically possible from his starting position. C'mon Pool... 

Then, calamity strikes. Beesley goes through the back of a Rotherham player. I know straight away. He shakes his head, he appeals with his spindly arms, he throws them to his head. He marches off. There's a tragicomic moment as the stewards sharply pull out the tunnel in perfect time with Beesley walking towards it, then folds it back again once he's gone. It's as if he's been hoovered up. Poor ol' Bees. It's not been his day for a long time and today was very possibly his last for us and to be vanished into a tube of red concertina plastic seems a bit of an ignominious end. 

A draw wouldn't be the worst thing in the world. It's not ideal, but a hard fought point would just about keep us alive. I've barely got time to think this though as the ball is lumped in the box, flicked on, and seemingly runs forever across the face of goal, to be slammed home from close range. My response is to shout 'fuck off' as loudly as I can. Around me, most people do. The season is done, the hope is gone. It's a very division 3 way for it all to end. A stupid clumsy challenge, a long ball and goal announcement sponsored by Barry's Kitchen emporium of Kimberworth. 

It was fun kidding ourselves but that's it. The whistle goes.  It's over. 

--- 

We didn't play very well today. The changes improved things, but I don't think we were anywhere near our best at any point. As I've already said, I think Rotherham looked well drilled and exactly the type of side we don't like and haven't liked for about 3 years. They weren't by any means 'really good' and I could pick out any number of players who were off their best or made mistakes - but I think that misses the point. The lads who started today have played really well of late - but you can't get out of the league with 11 or 12 players and that's more or less what we've been trying to do.  As much as some of the players have responded really well to a sharp change of direction, it feels at times as if we've got half a squad. I've said it before, but I genuinely think that none of our 'first choice' are 'the problem' - the problem is that that's all we've got - and there's very limited ways to change it up, whether to account for fatigue, form or the style/strengths of the opponent. 

The lack of depth and of a combative option in midfield has been an area of particular glaring weakness and to not trust either Onomah or Finnegan enough to give them a place on the bench when you know you've got ill players starting the game must surely signify that neither of them have a future because if not today, then when? Carey did ok playing deeper, but he's been our most productive forward player and whilst we managed some pressure second half, we really missed his ability to find space and pick up pieces when he was turned into the prompter. Bloxham and Beesley wasn't effective - Beesley got sent off for two really stupid things, neither of which were required (and for fuck's sake Jake, you didn't even score with your hand man!), but when he wasn't doing mad things he did actually give us a bit more of a focal point. Bloxham looked lost trying to play off him though and they never looked like a pairing. To be honest, we just didn't really click at all for most of the game. 

I don't know if I ever really believed we were destined for it. I do know I fucking hate playing Rotherham. Tuesday was brilliant - but Saturday was the back down to earth with a bump, pummelled into submission by a brawny athletic set of bruisers fucking typical 'Pool, typical Rotherham performance. Near me, just before the end, a fella whose age I'd guess is around mid 70s says to no one in particular 'They always bloody lose, I don't know why I bother' and I wonder how long he's been saying that to himself. 

It's a summer of change in the offing - back to the drawing board we go... 

Onward

You can follow MCLF on facebook, Twitter, Bluesky, Threads and Instagram or use Follow.it to get posts sent to your email If you appreciate the blog and judge it worth 1p or more, then a donation to one of the causes below which help kids and families in Blackpool would be grand.

Home-Start Blackpool Food Bank

Writing about football is possibly a bit pointless in an era when there's the telly and youtube and videos all over the shop. It's not my living this and it's just something I do because I do so there's no problem with reading it and then getting on with your life - If you do want to chuck some money at the cause of some random fella writing shit no one ever asked him too, then Patreon. is a thing.

Read More

Smells like team spirit - the Mighty vs Reading

Some nights are magical. It's a cliche above all cliches to talk about football as the opera or ballet of the working class, but when you see your team sweeping down the pitch and take in the nimble footwork, the seemingly telepathic connection between them, the grace and balance of the movement, the spatial awareness and the incredible improvisation, responding to an ever changing circumstance, then, it's tempting to say 'ballet is crock of shit, because no one tries to stop you dancing and the crowd don't shout at you whilst you're doing it' and football is way better than that and that cliche is some sort of snobbish effort at humouring a working class pursuit and in fact, ballet isn't upper class football, it's just not really anywhere near as good and football is just football and a deep and meaningful pleasure that stands for itself regardless of any attempt to bracket it within a particular social strata. 

I don't know if this was a magical night for Reading fans. I suspect not. Their team turned up, knocked it about quite prettily for 30 minutes in a style not unreminiscent of what we called 'Critchball' and forgot that the point of the game is to kick the ball towards the goal in the hope it goes past the goalkeeper.

It's also hard not to overlook the fact that this might be one of the final games of football played by Reading FC. They might be a fake QPR and just a small town in Slough and all of that, (I'm not sure there even is much Reading based banter, such is their externally perceived status as 'inoffensively bland FC') but it's mind blowing to think that, just as we bellow out 'We love you Blackpool, we do,' their band of about 250 fans are trooping out, possibly on a countdown to the end, facing an unknown future. It's even more mind blowing to know that, seen as we've been in a (different but) similar position ourselves, that nothing appears to have changed since then and that clubs that have existed for a century or more, clubs with heritage (no, really, they had Jimmy Quinn once, that counts) and belong to a place and people can be snuffed out because no one, still, seems capable of doing anything about owners that display the kind of irresponsible, psychopathic indifference to their fellow man and for whom a football club is nothing more than an adult version of a childhood toy to be broken and abused and then discarded. 

I'll be honest, I wasn't thinking that at full time. I was completely indifferent to the fate of Reading FC. I was simply leaning into the noise, ruminating on how, it's not how many people are there, but what sort of mood they're in that matters. Reflecting on how well we'd played, watching how happy the players looked and letting 'Sonny Carey baby!' go round and round and round in my head (have I ever mentioned that I rate Sonny?) like some kind of joyful earworm. 

We love you Blackpool. We do. As it rings around Bloomfield Road I think how this simplest of songs has got its own magic. It's the most old fashioned of chants. It's something we sung when I started going and I suspect long before that. It's the sort of thing we seem to reserve for the more special wins, the moments that make it worthwhile. Tonight made me feel that all the drab draws and disappointing defeats are worth it. It made me float down Bloomfield Road to the car, it made me smile as I drove home. It made me wake my boy up to chant the new Sonny song at him when I got there. He told me I was an embarrassment for a 45 year old and to go to bed. I didn't care. Few things in life make me feel this good. The drugs don't work, beer is boring after so many years, opera is a screechy racket... Football admittedly doesn't do this very often, but fuck me - when it's good... it's good. 

--- 

It didn't start out like it ended though. I wasn't all together optimistic. The squad is too thin, the gap is too big. We never turn up after a big win, we're rubbish on midweek nights. All these thoughts competed in my head with the impishly twinkling idea that 'we just might...' - I reconciled it all by settling for the mundane and pragmatic 'we'll see' as the attitude of the day. 

What we saw for about 30 minutes was a Pool side looking a bit laboured. The touch was off. We couldn't seem to press them. Niall Ennis grafted hard but nothing ran for him. Sonny had the main chance, but smashed it at the near post when a cut back seemed the wiser choice. Robbie Apter had a couple of incredible runs and delivered a few great balls, but ran just as often into traffic. Hayden Coulson seemed weirdly shot shy and Reading knocked it about smoothly and almost imperiously and things got a little restless. Bloomfield Road on around 20 minutes bears no resemblance to the ground at full time. 

Then something clicks... Coulson, all slicked hair and skinny greyhound reaching for the rabbit effort finally does find a shot and it's deflected just wide. We string together a real period of play. We can't find a way though but it's full of promise. The drum beats, the crowd sing 'du du duuu... d-d-d-duuuu' (another ancient classic) and there's a rhythm to the night. This isn't the fancy arpeggios of an orchestra performing a dance score, it's the sound of a football team slowly finding it's rhythm and clicking into gear and it's one upon which I begin to drift away into some kind of dreamlike reverie. Interspersed with the melody and beat are howls of anguish as the final ball is just not quite right or the run not quite alert enough and cries of outrage as the referee makes some inexplicable decisions. We're singing songs we've sung for as long as I remember and the game is following a timeless path - building anticipation, frustration and a sense of injustice. 

--- 

Halftime. I'm not sure what to say. We've been quite good for the latter part of the half but not very good for the first bit. It's always tempting to say 'put Bloxham on' but apart from that... I don't know. We'll see. 

--- 

The second half starts with a bang. Sonny is away and these days, when he's away, you almost certainly know he's going to get a shot in. There was a time when you could practically see his head whirring with phrases like "ball retention" and "retain possession" and other such coaching mantras but it's like Steve Bruce has performed a cleansing ritual on the lad and returned him to the kid he was, the one who like football and was good at it because he scored goals and did good stuff, not simply recycled possession in obeyance of what had been drilled in training day after day after day. He drills a low shot, their keeper, not for the last time tonight, makes a good save. The crowd is up... 

Then Niall Ennis who has had a difficult night gets a touch on a loose ball. He's a menace is Ennis but he's got a bit of the gnasher about him, tangling with strikers, always on the stretch or the slide, never letting the defender rest and he pokes it to Fletcher who accelerates with that remarkable sudden change of pace he has and then, as you think he might shoot, he lays it to Sonny and the boy wonder finds the most precise of finishes you possibly could find, threading it from an oblique angle with needle sharp precision, the ball kissing the fabric of the side netting and sending Bloomfield Road into rapture. 

Rapture is, though, only stage one. Mania is to come. Lee Evans with a regulation loopy Lee Evans ball in, fizzing and curling. Ennis comes across and the ball kind of bounces off him, but then Casey, still up from a corner, slides in opportunistically and pokes it home. The place could fall down now and we'd just carry on cheering in the rubble. Belief is ignited. I wasn't daring to hope, I was waiting to see and they've shown me in no uncertain terms that they believe, the quickfire double destroying any thought that this might be bridge to far or the challenge in front of them to big. 

I just want to list songs now. We run through a set of anthems and though it's half empty, the stands reverberate. This is my favourite thing on earth. 

Carey then has a run that I could relive forever, his quick feet at the start make me think of a kid leaping across rocks on the seafront, all momentum and balance, all fearlessness and self belief, the run that follow is direct, it's like watching tissue paper burn as the defenders melt away in an instant, Carey the flame, them the ash in his wake, the shot at the end a cannon fired from the deck of the navy's flagship. Their keeper again though, is not sunk, saving at full stretch and then, remarkably, rising again, swaying on the tidal wave of Pool pressure, but somehow stopping Fletcher at virtually point blank range. 

This is what we do this for. Fuck everyone else. This is why we do it. We send on CJ - he's deployed perfectly, just stretching the defence and doing CJ stuff. We send on Bloxham. He does everything but score. One run is languid as Sonny's was full on energy, but he's just so deceptive that the defender ends up bamboozled and he's jogging in, but again, Pereira makes a stunning stop, seeming to grab the ball from behind him, only to see Bloxham claim the rebound and then, as if in tribute to Ash Fletcher a few weeks back, clips the ball calmly and seemingly entirely deliberately over the top. 

It doesn't matter. It doesn't matter that he misses again, or that when in a similar position after hassling the defender, he smashes it right down the keeper's throat because as he does, the ball is kept alive by Silvera and then dropping into the box, finds Sonny Carey to lean back, cut over the top of it and lash it definitively home, sending this palace of breezeblock and faded seats beyond mania, to delirious injury time hero worship. 

Right at the end, Reading have a shot. It hits the post. Maybe they should have tried doing that earlier? Who cares though. Not me. 

--- 

We played magnificently in the second half. We were a unit, an attacking force, a side jangling with confidence and willing each other to express ourselves. I'm going to single out Lee Evans. A few weeks ago Evans was irking me with his taking every set piece and playing every pass as a showy crossfield ball. Tonight, he wasn't perfect, tonight, at times his lack of nimbleness showed, at times, he still took the extra touch - but those imperfections aren't the point - we all have them, Sonny didn't always play the right ball, Ennis missed a great chance in the first half, Jimmy scuffed a clearance, I'm a terrible self editor and too fond of the lyrical when sometimes the succinct would work better and so on and so forth... - the point is, Evans subsumed himself to the team needs - he played the simple pass, he prompted Albie, he set away Sonny, he cleaned up. He played a gritty unshowy game and he contributed. He wasn't the best player on the pitch - but you can't have 11 best players - he was a player who did what was needed and that typifies us right now. He walked off the pitch looking like his legs were full of sand because he'd given everything he had. There's ego in this team - but it's a collective ego. There's some swagger - but that swagger is because we're us, not because 'I am' 

Who knows what's next? If we turn up on Saturday and then the next game and so - we can do this. Sonny is playing the football of his life, Fletcher is a marvel of the modern age, Niall Ennis I love more by the minute, Albie I don't think I could love any more than I already do and so on and so forth. I could name them all. There's a team here and this team might be the product of a squad that is really paper thin but it's team that looks fit to wear this shirt and a team that plays the kind of football that we want to see and it seems they want to play. 

What will be will be - but regardless of what happens in the end, all we can be is the best version of ourselves and increasingly, I look at the pitch and think that's what we're getting.

That's all we can really ask. For last night, I am genuinely thankful to every single one of them. It was magnificent. 

Onward

You can follow MCLF on facebook, Twitter, Bluesky, Threads and Instagram or use Follow.it to get posts sent to your email If you appreciate the blog and judge it worth 1p or more, then a donation to one of the causes below which help kids and families in Blackpool would be grand.

Home-Start Blackpool Food Bank

Writing about football is possibly a bit pointless in an era when there's the telly and youtube and videos all over the shop. It's not my living this and it's just something I do because I do so there's no problem with reading it and then getting on with your life - If you do want to chuck some money at the cause of some random fella writing shit no one ever asked him too, then Patreon. is a thing.

Read More