Another Striker? Barnsley at Home

Thursday night I get in, pick up the Express and Star from the porch. Glance at the back page: it’s the Walsall edition so usually the biggest headline is a Saddlers one. And I need a double take.

Sean O’Driscoll has only been and got a striker in!

Has he been reading this blog? Or what?

There was some scuttlebutt about maybe possibly thinking about seeing what might happen if we played another striker up with Tom Bradshaw …

But this is definitely the best news.

He’s with Championship Huddersfield at the moment, but not getting enough first team games. So he was at Wigan on loan; now he’s come to Bescot. He has energy and a super scoring record. An out and out striker!

Oh and did I mention that the striker is Jordy Hiwula. The same Jordy Hiwula that came to us on loan last season … and scored just four minutes after his first start?

So, he’ll know the set-up if not the new manager. Knows the players; knows the dressing room.

Got to be good!

Because, after all, we didn’t lose against Scunthorpe. We managed to sneak into third place because results elsewhere went for us … and now we have another striker!

A big part of me is shrieking “about bluddy time!” but all of me is thinking it’s time to kick on!

I ‘phone the club on Thursday, trying to get my Savoy Lounge Pass, but, unfortunately (stupidly) I do not have my credit card so cannot pay for it, so cannot reserve it. I am in a bit of a quandary because the limit is a hundred and fifty and after that sales stop. Great, because we will have room to breathe. Not great because I haven’t got mine yet. Oh and there is nothing to stop them tinkering with that number at a later point is there?

Believe me when I say I am the punctual one> so, unsurprisingly I get to my brother’s about the time I said I would. But it is ridiculously early. So we drift to the parking space and have time to sit in the car, watch others park (which can be entertaining) and talk of families (and arrange a Mothers’ day celebration between us). Then stroll to the ground.

He is thinking of getting a season ticket or next season. Joining the queue to find out about my savoy Lounge Pass I see many others snapping them up. But wander into the savoy Lounge. The Tottenham v Arsenal game is on the big TVs. They are respectively second and third in the Premier League and the game kicked off early (TV coverage). The result is a hopeful one for Leicester City (who are surprise leaders of their league so far) because it is a score draw.

Cully and Andy are there. We smile, chatter about the hype, misinformation and obsession with the Brexit campaign: politicians for you!

But the team news is that Hiwula will not be starting the game! I am truly shocked; anticipation and excitement drains away. What the … ?

We are bidding, Andy suggests to become the team that has the most on-loan players that never uses them!

So far this season we have, indeed, used the fewest players (21) of any team in any of the top four leagues.

But, to consider, deliberate, get and not use a striker?

Into our seats; a group representing the sponsors are cheerful and there is some friendly banter: beards, aunties and agility in there somewhere. It is a fine thing about the seats we have and the type of people who come to the games that we can so quickly build up a good relationship with others (these guys from In Touch With Walsall), the scout from Ipswich …

Barnsley are the in-form team at the moment. Sean O’Driscoll rates them and has said so publicly. Now I am not so sure if this is a good thing, but every manager has their own style, and I have to think he knows how to do the psychological part of his job.

But once the kick-off is over we can see we are in for a game And then again, we seem a little short of ideas; too many clever, short passes and long, hopeful balls in the general direction of the ever-willing, but not superhuman, Tom Bradshaw.

Long story short: we go goal down, find some spirit somewhere and get an equaliser. Then spend some time bossing the game. A comedy moment when the referee is injured and seeks medical attention. The players mill about, energy drinks and a conversation between Sam Mantom and a couple of the Tykes.

There’s a good crowd here from Oop North. Which goes wild when they nick a deserved second goal.

Walsall fans, rather harshly but nonetheless saying it as they se it begin a chant of

“He’s Sean O’Driscoll;

He hasn’t a clue.”

Prompting substitutions: Lalkovic on for a below-par Kieron Morris and Hiwula on for Romaine Sawyers. Bradshaw is suddenly limping, cannot carry on and Jordan Cook is brought on.

Barnsley get a third, but frankly I cannot remember at which stage of the game-of-subs.

Cook over-extends himself, stretching for a high ball and collapses.

Hiwula is full of running, but does not have the time to make an impact.

The drive home is rather subdued.

Did we just blow our chances of automatic promotion?

Cut Throat but Brave? Living in Hope.

 

I’m sitting at home. Mulling over the thrashing we were given by Barnsley. Just mulling. Oh and checking out Facebook. Did I mention it was Mother’s Day?

I’d been up at the allotment and was back at home expecting my brother to appear with my mother. For dinner.

… and, like a kick to the stomach I am reading an official statement from Walsall F.C. that we have parted company with Sean O’Driscoll. While I’ve been sitting, pontificating the board have taken a massive step – and dismissed the manager (well, technically the head coach, but who’s splitting hairs here?). I am shocked.

So: we are now seeking our third manager in one season.

The failure to win home games: the perceived – hey, even I could see it – lack of enthusiasm, the strange loan-signings not used and unusual team selection choices finally flipped the switch.

I have to admit that I liked the talking-up done about O’Driscoll as he was ushered into the role (back in December). He was steady, had good experience, knew the set-up, promised not to change too many things too quickly, seemingly had good contacts and some credibility and a history of looking after youth development.

It all meant very little when it actually came to the Mr Smack moments.

And so, a little sadly, we bid him farewell.

Did he have enough games in charge?

There is never a right answer to that question is there, not really.

But, during his time with us, I have watched a genuine promotion gallop become a trot. I am glad that the Walsall board bit the bullet while there is still a chance to get back on the rails. Hell, there is even a chance to re-ignite the automatic promotion fuse again.

And this is a statement too about the board’s commitment to winning promotion. Fans have been critical in the past: conspiracy theories about how owner Jeff Bonser was more than happy for us to languish in this league; would rather we were not promoted.

But this?

Has to go against the flow of that tide.

We are in the best shape since “Sir” Ray Graydon was at the helm to make a move. And, it seems the board don’t want to waste the chance.

So the Cautious One is out … odds are being laid as to the next new man … perhaps Mark Cooper (one time manager at Tamworth and just “let go” by Swindon). Hang on, “just let go”; let’s think about that one shall we?

Might be a good move to go back to Jon Witney and Neil Cutler (with John Ward in the background) and see what happens.

Whatever happens I am positively thinking now about getting a posse together to head up to Chesterfield on Saturday.

Before this news I was struggling to be bothered.

 

Seconds Out: Round Three {F.A. Cup: Brentford Away)

Last week we were walking from the car to the ground when my mobile phone went. It was tucked away under several layers of clothes, but I managed to dig it out and answer before it rang out. Cully was in the queue to get tickets for the F.A. Cup game at Brentford. Would I like one? Not half!

But, even before we had finished a short conversation the card had gone up: all allocation sold, no tickets left.

So we satisfied ourselves by getting tickets for the Tuesday game at Coventry.

But that is truly amazing: we will be taking about sixteen hundred fans down to Griffin Park! To this “showdown” against the team now managed by our former manager Dean Smith (one time “Ginger Mourinho”)

Between then and now Ben Stokes, England cricketer has absolutely smashed some records in a test match against top class opposition: South Africa in Capetown. Some of the records that, amazingly, fell:

Fastest Test double century by an England batsman

• Highest score by an England batsman at Newlands, beating Jack Hobbs’ 187 in 1910

• Most sixes by an England batsman (11), surpassing Wally Hammond in 1933

• Most runs scored in a day of Test cricket in South Africa (453), beating the 450 made by Australia in Johannesburg in 1921.

While I find it hard to become too involved in cricket (perhaps because I was never very good at it at school) this is a wonderful story and speaks volumes for an obviously talented player. Worth a mention, too is his partner at the stumps: Yorkshire’s Bairstow who would almost certainly have made his own headlines on any other day, displaying impressively powerful hitting of his own. The 26-year-old Yorkshire wicketkeeper hit five fours and a six in the space of nine balls and now averages 104 in three matches against South Africa.

 

Back to football and, at work we were discussing this weekend’s F.A. Cup games. This is the third round: the one where Premier League teams join the draw. So, after the early stages we now have all the teams in action. The time for historic giant killings? But over the past few years some upper echelon teams have played weakened teams and been knocked out, because, essentially the F.A. Cup has lost its prestige.

So my oppo, the Blues supporter reckons that in the Blues vs Bournemouth game both teams will play “lesser” teams. We cannot decide whether this means there will be more goals or less – and how about the quality of the game?

Will we see weakened teams in the Bees v Saddlers game? Both managers are in the media saying that, in each case the next games in the leagues (Championship for Birmingham, League One for us) are more important. But is it bluff or true? Psychological rambling?

The BBC, meanwhile is all over the F.A. Cup; one of the few major events it now televises. So there was a game on – and live on TV on Friday night. League Two Exeter playing Premier League Liverpool.

 

Exeter manager Paul Tisdale was one of the people allegedly considered for the Walsall job a month or so ago. the game is played on a very soggy pitch it is an intriguing game. Either out of faith in his younger players, desperation because of injuries or disrespect for the team from the lower league Liverpool governor Jurgen Klopp plays a team with few, if any recognisable names in it. Exeter go ahead; early on. Liverpool equalise. Exeter go ahead again with a sweet goal scored direct from a corner (unbelievable!) and Liverpool scrape another equaliser. Credit to Exeter, of course. Also to the young Liverpool players for their grit and determination.

 

So now the big question: it is, of course, super for Exeter to have the replay at Anfield financially, but will Klopp play a similar side at Anfield? Will he dare to … in front of the home fans?

 

What if we introduce a new rule: Premiership teams that only draw with teams from leagues one or Two forfeit the game. Should do away with the need for bothersome replays, and add spice to the F.A. Cup ties. Which do not get the respect they deserve from some clubs. Speaking of which Aston Villa manage to score in a one all draw at Wycombe ( a League two team). And I have a secret fear that, while hoping we play brilliantly and win, it will be an opportunity for Brentford staff to cast an eye over our players. And I don’t like that! (Our manager Sean O’Driscoll is quoted as denying the rumour about an offer from an un-named (perhaps Brentford?) Championship team already for Tom Bradshaw.

So, tinkering about at home pre-Walsall game, I discover that I can actually either watch BBC WM live (interesting) or get a full match commentary on the game. It is not a question: I go for the commentary: Rob Gurney and former Walsall player James Chambers. Fair team out for Walsall and seems we are playing two up front: Bradshaw and Lalkovic. Kinsella is in for right back and Rico Henry is back in to play down the left wing. According to the commentary (with the down to earth comments from Chambers) it seems we are not disgracing ourselves, then getting on top …

Then, with Downing moving forwards into the Brentford half Sam Mantom gets off a shot that fizzes into the Brentford net after thirty five minutes. I am impressed; Dean Smith perhaps less so.

 

In the second half Brentford boss the game, but we are stubborn and they cannot get past. It is raining heavily. Some substitutions made by both teams and, near the end there’s a tremendously powerful header from O’Connor (so we’re clearly not backs-to-the-wall defending) that comes back off the Brentford post

… and we are into the next round.

A couple of clearly delighted Walsall fans are on air, and asked about Dean Smith they say his departure from Bescot felt like “if your girlfriend leaves you for a midget …” An interesting analogy even if I am sure it is not how most of us see the switch.  Sean O’Driscoll was far more generous, giving Smith and O’Kelly praise for putting together a squad with such a fine spirit. Now our former manager can get on and concentrate on trying to get into the Premiership. I wish him well with that.

Meanwhile I am guessing/hoping we have all got Dean Smith out of our systems and the team we support is now well and truly Sean O’Driscoll’s.

Round Four: now, who do we fancy?

Be good to get a home game!

Post Script: Blues end up losing to Bournemouth; Wolves also go out.

 

•  

Staying Power? Millwall Away and Peterborough at Home.

29th December: home.

Tactics, formations, dead-ball set ups. Where do they all come from? In the first place, somebody has the nous, the cheek, the fairy dust and imagination to say

“What if …?

And the game we watch today is so different from the starting days of the football league, from the far more physically confrontational 1970s because of these people. These people and the technologies that give us lighter footballs, better playing surfaces all year round and an entirely different standard of fitness.

Don Howe passed away this week. He was a full back at West Brom but is credited as being the genius behind the first ever overlapping full backs strategies. Up to that point full backs had just marked (one way or another) their wingers. With that thinking Howe revolutionised the game, made it different, expanded thinking. He was mastermind at Arsenal and England too.

 

Jimmy Hill, of Fulham, Coventry and BBC fame also died this week. He was, no doubt a game changer. Initially as a forward, then as leader of players that had the maximum wage contracts abandoned, giving players a new freedom and money a higher profile in the sport. Which in many ways changed it into a commercial proposition if not an industry. He was also something of a public relations wizard, building Coventry City up into a force to be reckoned with (at the time) by changing strip and embracing commercialism.

Our Boxing day game has us at Millwall. No trains running to speak of and I’m still laid out and breathing with a wheeze. So it’s on with the radio and not expecting much. I still have that mouse-fear in the back of my mind, that lack of confidence that feels we will be found out soon.

But I am nothing if not loyal; so I sit upstairs, strumming a guitar and listening for the up-dates. Bradshaw isn’t playing. Neither is Rico Henry. But Jordan Cook is not in the first eleven and I wonder what is going on, playing the correct notes for Greensleeves, just in the wrong order.

I am stunned when the goal horn goes and Milan Lalkovic has put us into the lead. Most unexpected! So is the fact that, following some supreme defending we come away with all three points … putting us top of the league. Level on points with Burton Albion, the other surprise candidates fort promotion this season which is now almost half way gone.

Sean O’Driscoll has said that he has not yet changed the way the team is playing. Maybe he has a few tricks up his sleeve, but the players are clearly up for it. Much credit to them for this!

Because we have stormy waters ahead.

Not only in the shape of teams we have to play against. But in trying to get past the January transfer window in the best possible shape. We are top of the league for a reason: the players are doing the business. And so attract attention. Romaine Sawyers has been a revelation this season. Inconsistent last year he has turned in some sparkling displays, not least in getting in where it has to hurt. His passing and link-up play is brilliant, incisive and entertaining. He has developed a vision and stronger mental attitude; fair play to him.

 

Rico Henry is unbelievably talented for one so small. And young. He is clearly destined for bigger things. He has come from the youth team and played a couple of times for England under 19s. None of us have any doubts that he will be heading away from Bescot soon. But could we arrange to keep him on loan until the end of the season? Is such a thing possible? It is certainly desirable!

Tom Bradshaw? Brilliant at this level. Superb when playing the lone man up front; he is capable of keeping defenders engaged and handling himself well. Always alert with a good physical side to his game this season. Well worth the risk of taking him to a Championship club I think, though whether his injury-prone nature would hold him back …?

And in Neil Etheridge the back room staff have unearthed a real pearl of a keeper. He is a bit of a maverick, but has agility, confidence and awareness already in his tradesman’s bag. There is a great relationship between him and his defenders … so far.

But the others in the team play their parts too – and the big wheels don’t roll without the engine around them: Lalkovic, O’Connor (having a super season), young Kieron Morris and the rest: this is nothing if not a team game with this squad!

And so, in our last game before this minefield we face a getting-stronger Peterborough side. My brother and I are at the ground early: guests of the Player Development sponsor: local bespoke builders ICAD (Rugeley). For a meal, complimentary pens and programmes and a tour of the facilities.

 

Which has to be the start of proceedings. I took this tour last year. Lead by former Republic of Ireland, Wolves and Walsall goalkeeper the affable and modest Mick Kearns again this year. He is quietly spoken and pitches the talk just right. No showboating or big promises, just a little description of what is what and answers to questions. The pitch, while looking waterlogged is surprisingly firm: credit to the groundskeepers and a few of us take a stroll (“keep off the white lines!” we are reminded) to the centre circle. The stadium is largely empty. And it is only Bescot, but there at the centre even our tiny stands rear up and either impress or intimidate.

 

In the home dressing room there is the smell of linament and some of the players (Sam Mantom, James Baxendale, George Evans, Amadou Bakayoko, are in that pre, pre-game state. Andy Taylor is on the bench in the physio area getting some kind of massage. The TV is on, I think it is the Bolton game.

Stepping out we are invited to meet the manager. There seems to be good repartee between him and the other coaches (Whitney and Cuter are also there) and Kearns himself. Mischievous mention is made of the colour scheme (“there since Paul Merson”) and an unframed Caribbean-type beachscape print on the wall behind the manager’s desk. There’s a story about it, apparently but we never get to hear it …

On the way back to the meal we pass the Peterborough players debussing. They appear arrogant, full of swagger and physically fit in a muscular sort of way. Footballers need confidence of course and these players show it in spades.

The team sheet back in the restaurant has us puzzled. Bradshaw not even on the bench, but Cook and Lalkovic playing as twin strikers?

Kick off. I stick to my season ticket seat. There’s a big crew from Peterborough, who are steaming away under manager Graham Westley. And quarter is neither asked nor given in the first half: full of aggression and skill from both teams. Mantom has first decent effort after about five minutes but the ball comes back off the post.

Etheridge is in superb form; along with O’Connor he keeps us in the game.

The second half sees me, sitting three rows from the pitch. In the wind, getting a different closer up view of things. And of the sky too. The expressions on the faces of the players: determination on ours, effort from Peterborough. Closer view of some of the argie-bargie too, going on all of the time. Sawyers drawing it, but keeping cool. Demetriou in his own private war with each of the Posh forwards.

Big Matt Preston, on for Paul Downing after fifteen minutes is playing his usual solid role, calm and a real physical presence at the back, where O’Connor is having a measured game; a good man to have in a storm. And Posh bring a storm to the table in the first half an hour of the second half. Their manager, looking every bit the 1970s spiv (open necked shirt, tight fitting fawn two piece suit and exaggerated gestures) is constantly on the move, animated and noisy.

O’Driscoll is quite the opposite, arms folded, looking on; a few instructions, quietly given.

Behind me, the young men are talking about going back to work tomorrow (as if this is some kind of a waste of time) and one of them is clearly a Peterborough fan (“Come on Marcus,” he seethes, “do him!”), boasting of his team’s fitness. And for the first seventy five minutes they are definitely fit. But they seem to forget that these games last for ninety minutes. At which point, while they have run their legs off we pull a few substitutions, popping Forde and Morris on (For Mantom and Cook) and unleash a new range of attacks. We were playing two up front – first time this season. Now with Forde and Morris, who has great running ability and a wicked shot, we seize on sloppy passes. And Demetriou, keen as ever to get forward jinks inside, has a pop at goal and his shot is deflected in for the winner.

Well, not quite: once we go a goal up we go after a killer. It comes, scrappily but creditably from a bit of a poke of the toe from George Evans (hope we can keep hold of him).

 

So we stay at the top of the table. End of the calendar year: who would have thought it.

Proud of my team: U.T.S!

 

 

Struggling With A Virus.

Christmas Eve: home.

Where oh where to begin?

With the weather: so unseasonably mild and parts of the country dogged with ruinous amounts of rain? Carlisle and vast areas of the ironically named Lake District flooded? People losing homes, power and valuables: one couple interviewed on BBC radio 4 about to be married and going on honeymoon – to Venice!

Grass hasn’t stopped growing and this is the shortest day of the year. It isn’t so much about a white Christmas: We apparently have our snowfall later in the season usually; but about the warmth and damage caused by the excessive water. Flood defences overwhelmed and questions being asked in the House!

Milady di Bescot’s evening birthday soiree, coincidentally on the same day as Saddler’s game at Fleetwood Town was called off – waterlogged pitch – went well; even if I was still feeling the effects of celebrating the repaired boiler by heating the house to rainforest temperatures – that or talking too much.

Meanwhile in life reflecting art – or vice versa: Tim Peake has taken off from Baikonur, Russia to become the U.K’s. first ever official public funded member of the International Space Station crew. A former military helicopter test pilot, he seems like a genuinely good guy – but, because Russian Soyuz rockets (some beautiful Flash Gordon meets Gerry Anderson’s Thunderbirds- looking creations) he had to learn Russian before he could fly. Wouldn’t it be cheaper to have bi-lingual labels, I wonder, in the rockets ship … but obviously someone more intelligent than me has thought that one through.

 

And the latest Star Wars film is out. I never really got the whole Star Wars scene; finding it all rather more pantomime than science fiction, but this is the latest block-buster and it is doing super business; from local headteachers attending midnight premieres to franchised merchandise hitting the Santa shelves at just the right time. Marketing eh?

Meanwhile, a few days after Dean Smith left us for what he imagines were pastures better, Burton Albion (top of League One after promotion from League Two last year) lose their manager: Jimmy Floyd Haisselbank. He goes to Q.P.R. Some of my friends were saying that Dean Smith went too soon, that if he had waited, bigger clubs would have been calling on him …

Haisselbank does have a better pedigree, however; being Dutch and having Premier League experience with Chelsea. And Nigel Clough is back at Burton.

“All change on the roundabout …”

Speaking of Chelsea … they sacked the “Special One”: Jose Mourinho too. With a wicked smile I suspect that his downfall began when Chelsea came to Walsall in the Cup; of course it didn’t but it is a pleasing thought. Really, however, I am hard put to know exactly went wrong: he has demonstrated a tactical brilliance and psychologically, a resilience and arrogance as well as having won trophies for each of the many teams he has managed. But, it seems he “lost the players”, had a rush of blood to the head publicly castigating Eve Caneira, respected member of the medical staff at Chelsea, who left shortly after his outburst – and the players just weren’t putting their all into their games.

But his presence in the manager market place will unsettle directors and head coaches whose teams are struggling at the moment.

Watch this space …

Meanwhile I struggled – I will pretend manfully, but my brother bless ‘im came and collected me – to the Walsall Chesterfield F.A. Cup replay. Not the most inspiring of games. Chesterfield clearly came to try and contain our wing to wing, short passing game. We were short of players who are becoming key men in our successes. Young Rico Henry out, injured and Andy Taylor, short of game practice, but ever willing, in his place. Doesn’t look even slightly like a professional sportsman Taylor, but he has good overall fitness and no shortage of skill. Bradshaw, still suffering from Antony Gerrard’s agricultural attentions out and Jordan Cook in. He must have something, this Cook chap, but we have yet to see it at Saddlers.

A hundred and twenty minutes played and I, suffering and slightly deranged and delirious, couldn’t remember a decent shot. Well an on target shot that is.

 

So to penalties:

… and we converted each and every one of them. While Spireites Sam Morsy missed one and we get through, skin of the teeth job to be in the Third Round. Away at Dean Smith’s Brentford. Could be a good ‘un.

Equally might not light any fires at all!

By Friday, I am struggling at work, but get through, buoyed by the news that there is a mid-day plus thirty news conference at Bescot to announce (presumably) the new management …

I am liking the sound of a guy named Sean O’Driscoll (former Doncaster, Bournemouth, England under-19s and – most recently – Liverpool assistant manager. Never heard of him actually before this, but the local media (not always best go-to place for opinion I admit) is bigging him up: good contacts, successful with tracking and retaining youth, attacking style, local lad etc.

But I also hope we can find a place for Witney, Ward and Cutler, who have done an outstanding job, not least since Dean Smith parachuted out on us, and must have good relationships with the current players.

The Sunday game is a mid-day kick off. Because Sky TV want a live game on that day. Local derby: Port Vale at home. Not one of my favourite teams, although an old colleague, Terry Mullen, was a keen Vale supporter; and we went to a Walsall game together a couple of seasons ago. He didn’t make the corresponding fixture. I found out later he had, sadly, passed away.

Sunday. Mid-day. Close to Christmas. Game on TV. Not much chance of a big crowd then? Port Vale; so very close geographically, bring a disappointing crowd. And a hard-nosed attitude. By now we know our new head coach (note, not manager) is Sean O’Driscoll. We also believe that the team has been picked by the “three wise men” (Cutler, Witney and Ward. And there is not a recognised striker in the first eleven. Bradshaw still injured and Cook on the bench. We wonder whether Lalkovic or, my favourite, Sawyers will take on the up-front responsibility.

I am wrong. It is Lalkovic who runs and giddily tries and does the crazy-terrier thing. Sawyers, apparently being watched by scouts from Glasgow Celtic, plays a ways back; good touches, but ineffective for long spells as Vale, knowing our patient side to side strategy play a high line.

Which muffles out our skill – and means a fairly dreary first half. Port Vale, to be fair, do get the ball into the net after a couple of minutes (was Etheridge concentrating?) but it is deemed off-side.

There is a young woman who regularly comes and takes a seat near our places. Clearly a relative (girl-friend?) of one of the players. She sits quietly, loyally and all alone. Sometimes using her mobile ‘phone, sometimes just looking around. We are puzzled: which of the players? None of her reactions give anything away. At half time she moves out of the seat, then return later. She seems to have nothing to do with any of the other family members; a lot of whom we now recognise, and this is unusual because the rest of them are fairly close and at least nod in recognition of each other. Christmas must be hard for professional footballers (no excesses and training going on unrelenting) and also on their nearest and dearest. Leaving parties early, not drinking … must put pressure on relationships.

Some minutes in to the second half: Jordan Cook comes on. His gestures seem to mean that both he and Lalkovic will be staying up front. Can this be right? Not something we have seen all season. But he is soon busy, grabbing the attention – one way or another – of the Port Vale defenders. And Milan makes good use of the spaces created. We are fitter, have the energy to press on as the opposition give ground.

Cook is involved in a physical discussion at the edge of the field, by the far post, tangling with a defender. Neither ref nor his assistant seem to notice. He spins away, eyes back to the game. The ball. We are on the attack. The ball bobbles, eventually to him, while the defenders hesitate. He puts it into the net. Celebration. This will put us into second place in the league: three points behind Burton Albion and with a game in hand.

…if we can hold on.

But this is not a team that holds on. We go on the offensive. Forde, Taylor pushing up. It is exciting to see. A rasping shot comes back off the bar, falls to Cook and he buries it!

Two nil! Playing with two men up front is paying off!