Chess and Spiders: Port Vale, Home.

Got up this grey Sunday morning, went downstairs, made a cup of tea: fooled myself that I was keeping my brain active playing a repetitive kids game on the i-pad. Match of the Day F.A. Cup on TV – and a huge house spider above the curtain, looking as if he/she owns the place.

Port Vale at home yesterday. Walsall –once again – starting to build up a run going in to the game: Wembley, successes in away games (against some top teams), three goals in twenty something minutes against Rochdale – a local derby in prospect: a chance to make progress towards those teasing play off places.

It’s that time of year again: Early Bird offers for next season’s season tickets, evenings getting lighter … serious excitement and long queues and associated rumours for the Johnstone’s paint Trophy Final.

I am expecting, as I desert my brother to the box office queue, the team to be playing to impress, to be playing for their places on that “hallowed turf”; if not for the fans who have been so faithful and, just perhaps, deserve something special. And against Port Vale would be special: wouldn’t it just!

Walsall crowd a little disappointing in numbers, but not in support. This is a packed-games, expensive time of the season. But, I smile, remembering the Facebook post “Walsall is for life, not just for Wembley”.

 

The highlights of the previous game (now regularly shown on the “new” electronic scoreboard) are backed by the theme music to, I think Gladiator –and the Who’s mighty “Won’t Get Fooled Again”. How well they synch! It could almost be planned.

… and we start like lions! Just as I had expected: rampant.  Sawyers again, dictating things smoothly from mid-field and getting up to support Hiwula. Jordan Cook is fast, Michael Cain too. Adam Chambers is running all over and involved in much. Port vale look leaden and shocked in comparison, responding with some heavy challenges.

The seats immediately around us seem to be taken up by “irregulars”; perhaps the friends and families of players, certainly they are used by football scouts on occasion – though we haven’t been aware of any for a couple of games now – and this game is no exception. Stout people they are, these hearty people: grandmothers, girlfriends and so on. Watching their mates, their loved ones, their families at work. The couple of guys in the seat in front of us manage to keep watching the game for all of, what, fifteen minutes? Then its mobile ‘phones out. Facebook and  …?

… chess? What, really? Chess? Yep. Sure enough, looking over his green-hoodied shoulder I see he is definitely playing chess! Whoever said these tiny machines, linked to GPS and brain numbing soul-less corporations would be the end of civilisation as we know it had never bargained for this. On-line chess.  Daddy or chips? Chess or the Walsall match?

Sawyers, seeking perhaps to lean on a defender and spin around him, falls to the floor inside the penalty box. He looks to the referee: Andy D’Urso who, quite correctly ignores the unspoken appeal.

 

D’Urso has quite a history as a referee and is not a favourite of the Walsall crowd. Even today he is not keeping up with play and a few decisions go against both teams. None so decisive as the penalty-that-should-have-been. Young Jordy Hiwula, playing up front was on a pushed through ball, just enough control on it to be able to beat the Vale keeper when he was pulled down by Ryan Iniss. The players job is to kick on and make the next one count, but after that we seemed to lose heart. Sawyers became distracted by constant niggling from a couple of vale defenders … and instead of becoming more determined to do damage with the ball he started trading fouls. Cook also lost impetus. The game got even worse when Vale scored from a corner. Walsall defenders claiming a foul, but the appeals, just a sign of despair, were never going to come to much.

 

Hiwula is keen; going to become a decent player at some level, but lacking in experience and not bulky enough to play a whole game as target man. Baxendale had been pretty ineffective, his running game easily snuffed out by the closing down tactics of Port Vale … and he’s just too short to win many of the crosses aimed in his general direction. We wonder when he ever scored from a header and, digressing as we are wont to do what is the collective name for headers. A charm of finches we agree, a warp of herring (is it really?). So what is the term for a gathering of rhino?

Ashley Grimes came on in the second half; Downing looking out of sorts and out of ideas at the back and, if this is a team of players playing to get a seat on the coach to Wembley, I am not impressed. Something happened to the team after that goal: we just lost all spark and got to easily pinned back in our own half. Port vale are really not a better team than we are, but its “goals as counts – the ball in the sprout bag!” and today they got one more than we did.

It could be about our lack of a credible strike threat when Bradshaw is out, the lack of real strength in depth or the tactics we try … any road up, every time we lose hurts our chances of getting to the play offs.

I don’t believe I’ve mentioned it here yet, but the major political parties are now seriously on the campaign trail. The general election is months away and the bickering, accusations and finger wagging have started. This week about HSBC and some shady tax-evasion for well-suited customers, some of whom may/may not have become politicians/advisors. Tories (Conservatives) are saying it actually happened when labour was in power. The Labour party are saying it did not become public knowledge until this coalition came to power. Me? I’m thinking: stop blaming each other and make sure it doesn’t happen again. Show me the policy and the will to clamp down on this kind of thing, rather than bitch about what has already happened.

Politics? It’s not going to get any easier!

Oh and when I finish typing, that spider is still up here: hasn’t moved a leg!

Images: match photos from http://www.stokesentinel.co.uk