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http://clarkeonenil.co.uk/football-through-a-hardened-glare/unexpected-peace-of-mind-colchester-1-v-2-leeds-united
Marginal differences can alter footballing lives forever, whether it’s in the difference between a good referee and a bad referee, a good Leeds team or a bad one, a good day out or a bad one! Yesterday that difference came to me, a combination of a bad referee, a neither good nor bad Leeds team and a good day out resulted in yours truly actually enjoying his football. That hasn’t happened for a while.Dispense with the preliminaries quickly shall we? The rail replacement was ok (apart from a information vacuum at “Olympic†Stratford), added time to the journey but limited grating factor, Essex is still a land with an overpopulation of the fwitwit (loved the bouncer at our after pub who asked “home or away lads†in that accent called innit and just waved us in as two Yorkshire accented lads said “live in Essexâ€, priceless), the beer beforehand (in sunny Chelmsford) and after (near Colchester North station after a bit of walk from the ground) was decent and the non football part of the day was quite nice also (and even that involved a Leeds United bib!).
The Community Stadium seems to have been built in a field on the edge of the posh side of town, the vista on seeing it for the first time reminds you of a Middle East style ground, surrounded on all sides by, well nothing. On entering, via the people less turnstile the facilities’ looked ok (declined to check out the IPA smooth on offer, I have principles and taste), a cross between Hull’s and Southampton’s style (always nice to see a bog not crowded), the view from my seat almost perfect but the seat itself was a little bit plastic and “cheapâ€. The rest of the ground seemed ok but I wouldn’t want to be inside on a dodgy Tuesday night in January, the lack of corner stands would make for a cold, wet in parts, experience. The Police control box on the other side from us looked excessive but all in all a decent looking ground for a “smaller†club.
This “smaller†club mentality at Colchester United didn’t stretch to dealing with the departure of manager Paul Lambert to Norwich City, the programme notes bulged with resentment and a touch of anger. This did however have the advantage of limiting the number of references to the 1971 cup game, which is always a good thing to limit. The standout name on their team sheet was Alan Maybury, yes ex occasional right back in O’Leary’s young guns team, I mention this now because I don’t recall seeing much of him during the game! For reasons best known by the editors, no league table in the programme, guarantee that wasn’t true in the programme after the 7-1 win at Norwich!
The game itself was a mixed bag, I thought we started brightly enough and if we had a linesman who knew the offside rule we would have been ahead after Becchio played a lovely pass to Beckford, unfortunately we were destined for a whole set of garbage officialdom, the best of which was the referee. Almost as if choreographed, he started making strange decision after strange decision, some for us, some for them just as both sides settled down to a frustrating chance free pattern of midfield battles and minor skirmishes. Bookings flew around like confetti (but bizarrely not for the bad tackles, what Beckford got his for god only knows) and Mr Phillips put on a Diamond (as in the cretin from the Gillingham game 2 seasons ago) performance. Half time couldn’t come quick enough for me. Wait i hear you cry, i though you enjoyed it, well I did, it just wasn’t any good quality wise. I was enjoying not being surrounded by lunatics, I was enjoying the summer sun, I was enjoying a strange feeling that no matter how I examined it the lack of cutting edge in our midfield wasn’t bothering me. Becchio was working his socks off, Kisnorbo looked effective (if a touch lean for a centre back), Crowe ok but slightly disjointed, Higgs steady and Doyle, well their without being obviously there. Normally by now I would be critical of our inability to create chances against very poor looking opponents but I just felt we were going to win regardless.
Second half started in the same comedy refereeing style of the first half, by the time he gave us the lucky free kick that we scored the first from both sets of players were shaking their head in dismay. What happened next was pure icing on the incompetent cake; cross comes in, Johnson pulls and pushes his way to in front of the goal, heads home, 1-0. Now bare in mind he has already been booked (one of at least 7), a few seconds later he and half our team are in with our support, the ref is running over and has his cards in his hands, it looks like Johnson is going to get a second booking and off, that is until Snodgrass and Howson start talking to the ref suggesting Bradley was pulled into the crowd, phew that was close.
As can be the case a lot with us, we go ahead and let the other team back in it. By this time Gillingham had opted for lump ball, which only added to Mr Phillips’s options for idiocy. I didn’t need the confirmation from the Football League show that Marques (who otherwise had a decent game) had slightly touched the back of Lisbie’s shirt nor that Lisbie had gone down like he had been shot, I could see that from the other end. Question for you, what is the difference between Eduardo and Rooney? One is a foreigner who “cheats†whilst the other is a Englishman who “earns†penalties, pathetic, bit like Mr Phillips. Despite it taking a month of Sundays for the referee to be happy for the penalty to be taken Lisbie despatched it home. Some mild frustration at this point, mostly with the absence of Beckford from any meaningful part of the second half, but again still chilled out expecting a response.
That response came in a rather strange manner, the ball was pinging about the Colchester penalty box but not really causing them an issue when all of a sudden it took a wild deviation off Maybury’s head, at this point I bellow “Beckford†so loud Gary Megson must have heard it, Jermaine certainly did because like a shot he was on to the ball 5 feet out a lashed it home. Not bad for his first second half contribution. Was the bow in the goal celebration significant, no idea but will do by Tuesday night! The rest of the game is played out to a yo-yo style exchange of long balls. Even as the fourth official shows 4 minutes of injury time the normal “this is where we blow it†feeling wasn’t there. 6 minutes later it’s all over and a win is a win.
If i wanted to be critical I could mention our lack of a real cutting edge and a nervy central midfield, I could point to some issue at left-back and a tendency to get dragged down to Colchester’s dire level, but that is for another time, I felt relaxed, we looked like a team, we had people like Becchio, Snodgrass and Howson working their socks off, we are winning playing average, now that’s new! All in all it was a day to take the pints and let Colchester worry about the entertainment angle. Southend on a Friday night doesn’t look so troublesome now, I could get used to this.
