Match 3 - Charlton Athletic

This game looked like a great match-up from the start. One of last season’s premiership teams and much fancied for a quick return, Charlton Athletic, brought with them two former Layer Road heroes from recent seasons:

• Phil Parkinson: now the number 2 at Charlton, couldn’t really be looking forward to another visit after last season’s 5-1 thrashing here as Hull City manager which effectively got him the sack;
• Chris Iwelumo: (aerial nuisance, but lacking in earth-based skills) the scorer of so many vital goals. Am I the only one who thought he couldn’t cross his legs properly let alone do much useful with his feet when the ball dropped nearby – unless of course it was a penalty or he was 6 yards out?

And in return we already have two of their escapees:

• Kevin Lisbie, who can’t have expected he was going to partner Teddy Sheringham when he signed for us;
• Kem Izzet: who left in 2001 before they found out whether he could play at this level.

I managed to grab a chat with one of the Special Constables before the game. Before I got ushered back onto the footpath he let on that he has been policing matches here at Layer Road for the last 23 years and has yet to get inside the ground to watch a match. How does he feel about this? Actually he’s not a footie fan, but I wonder if there’s someone at the club who would like to invite him to spend a Saturday afternoon or weekday evening watching a bit of action behind those tin sheds that border his patch.

As for the match, well it was almost like the glory days of last season with a great first half midfield display and some slick finishing up front. I’m beginning to see a bit of a likeness between Sheringham and another pensioner from the past – Ray Crawford. Just how lucky are we to have such silky smooth skills sported so sensationally on Saturdays? The crowd has found it’s voice once again – “Parky, Parky, what’s the score?” – the sun is shining brightly …

And then it happened! Two-nil up and we concede a goal just before half-time. Just like the Burnley match, only in reverse. And we trudge in for the break on a low.

It struck me today that the half-time entertainment gives the two sets of fans a break of a different sort. For 15 minutes or so they forget about baiting each other or trying to score points with their cleverly crafted song contest entries. We all sit or stand together in awe of the stuff that parades in front of, and around us:

• We cheer together as the juniors take their penalties (including a first public appearance – and goal – for Lisbie Junior – but no appearance from Eddie the Eagle);
• We jointly marvel at the skill of the substitutes in passing to each other so accurately – with no chance of a scything tackle (see later) or other form of harassment;
• We laugh side by side at the ‘over the wall’ attempts that pass each side of the wooden defence;
• We check our lucky tickets, hoping to win a few bob
• We eagerly wait for the half-time scores and cheer as one when we hear that Ipswich are losing;
• We puzzle over the delicate fork prods of the groundsman as he tends his lawn;
• and we wait expectantly for the safety announcement … the safety announcement ...

… except that today, once again, the half-time entertainment leaves no time for this important piece of public safety information. So, for those who missed it before the game, here it is:

... ding, dong
This is public announcement. In the event of an emergency please remain calm, and await further instructions. Thank you.
... ding, dong

The second half was a mixture of revitalised opposition, frantic defending, cheating (Iwelumo, who went from hero to zero in less than an hour), poor officiating (failing to spot the cheating), an equaliser, and a scything follow through by Danny Mills on George Elokobi. It’s ironic that Mills’ own web site includes a prominent link to a sports injuries clinic! Is this how he makes his money?

All in all a fair result at 2-2 and a great afternoon’s entertainment. This was English Football at its best. Plenty of action, excitement, goals, controversy and plenty to discuss on the radio phone-ins and web site forums after the game. So, the positives we take forward to the next match:

• 3 points better off than this stage last season;
• at least 2 goals scored in every match so far (and at least 2 goals conceded in all but one of them);
• 6 places higher than the corresponding stage last season (although the daft thing about tables this early is that we would have been 5th if we’d won);
• Ipswich lost 4-0;
• George Elokobi can sing ‘I’m Still Standing’ with pride;
• we have a couple of warm-up away games before the Scunthorpe encounter in two weeks.

Comments Welcomed

My thanks to all those who responded to my message on the BBC 606 message board recently. There were some interesting snippets of people’s experiences over the years and I’d encourage you to post any more of your highs and lows, good and bad memories of Layer Road here. I know that the club are interested in collating your stories and they are following this blog too. So what do you think? Has Layer Road got its own personality or is it just another football ground? What has made Layer Road unique for you over the years?

This really is a special season at Layer Road and I see that there’s a fan/film-maker called Ray Hollingsworth who wants to make a film of memories of Layer Road. Is there anyone out there who remembers the first season in the league – or even the years before that? My own experiences only go back to about 1968 but I’m sure there are stories just waiting to be told.

It turns out that this year is also the centenary of Layer Road (see centre page spread in the Essex County Standard Friday 7th September 2007). And the next 100 years starts with the Scunthorpe game on 29th September. I hope to do something special with this blog for that game.

Match 2 - Burnley

Work continues at Cuckoo Farm and in a visit up there this week I started to think about the best parking places and walking routes to get to the ground. At the moment it seems, there aren’t any. It’s particularly disappointing that the road infrastructure from the A12 isn’t going to be built in the early years. How many fans do they want to attend matches at this wonderful 20th century stadium? (Yes, I did mean 20th C)

Pre-match facts:

• Burnley lost their last league game but won in midweek in the Carling Cup, which incidentally we have decided to skip for the second season in a row after embarrassing first round defeats against lower league opposition. It does have the advantage of allowing us ‘to concentrate on the league’ as the old saying goes when a team is knocked out of any cup competition.
  
• After a great win away at Preston last week (3-0) we are up there in the play-off zone once again, but early season tables are just for fools. So much can happen as a result of just one game. We are known to suffer attacks of vertigo - maybe we need to become known for attacks of Virgo?

Anyway the sun is out, the sky is blue, only Burnley can spoil my view of the fourth game in a row against northern opposition. They certainly spoiled it last season when they were the first team to come to Layer Road looking for a draw and left with a point and a 0-0 result after the most boring performance of the season.

Well a much better attendance this week and it was evident in the better voice the crowd gave in support of the team out there on the pitch. An extra 500 people crammed into the ground, and the away support was allowed to roam across the whole of the Layer Road end this week – even though they could still stand at arm’s length from each other.

One of the most noticeable differences between the two sets of supporters today was the range of chants available just as a result of the name of the team. While we can pick anything from ‘U-ni-ted’, ‘The U’s’ (a haunting sound after a drummed intro – which works best at night games), ‘Col U’ (after a bit of co-ordinated hand clapping) to that variation on a theme ‘Oh – When – The – U’s’, poor old Burnley could only muster ‘Burn – lee’ (clap, clap, clap).

Plenty of action outside the ground this week for the ball-boys. It was an average match for the number of times a ball cleared the stands. I don’t know what the record is, but at one game last season I lost count at 8 times in the first 10 minutes. Perhaps someone will let me know. Maybe there’s a case for employing a Wimbledon (tennis) style of ball management. For matches against Burnley it could be the best entertainment of the day.

As for the match we let ourselves down badly today. Teddy Sheringham was playing a different game to the rest of the team. I’m not sure if it’s his fault or that of the other ten, but there’s a link missing somewhere. In the first half it went 0-1, 0-2, and then 1-2 just before half-time to give us some thought of a second half revival.

Half-time entertainment:

• the kids’ penalty competition, which we lost,


• ‘Over the Wall’ in which one competitor did quite well in the 30 seconds allowed for chipping as many shots as possible over a wooden defence into an empty goal (maybe the players should be doing this!),


• The announcement that Ipswich were losing at Watford.

The panic set in. No safety announcement at half-time today. Sorry, but that means 0/10 for the backroom boys for this week. I’d like to report that the absence of this vital information sent the crowd into mass hysteria and glancing for the nearest exits, but in reality who else even noticed? Anyway the teams are back on the field and it’s time for the onslaught.

Only, no-one gave the correct script to the players. George Elokobi decided it was too easy being just one goal down and he conceded a pointless penalty which was converted to make it 1-3. The fans did come alive again towards the end, especially when we scored quite late (2-3) and then got the announcement of 5 minutes added time. All to no avail and our first defeat of the season.

At the end of the day we fall back on the fact that:

• we have a two week break until the next match (and there’s still some cricket to watch on the telly),


• we have 5 points more than we did at this stage last season (and are 9 places higher in the league),


• Hull are below us (having stolen two of best players from last season) and Ipswich aren’t top.