September-A Month of Misery
By John Taylor
The month of September began with a degree of optimism and expectation and ended on a very sour note in a month when we went out of another cup completion at the first hurdle, had 2 players sent to hospital, 3 sent off and gained just 3 points from 4 league games.
The month's first game saw the soon-to-be-sacked Alan Buckley bring his Mariners to town for the Johnstone's Paint Trophy first round. We started brightly and went ahead on 18 minutes through Lester's adept finish after a fine move. The visitors were rarely in the game but equalised after Page was beaten and Jarman's close range shot grovelled over the line through Tommy Lee's fingers.
Shortly after the restart Lloyd Kerry put us ahead again and we then wasted several opportunities to stretch the lead. Carelessly, we allowed Grimsby back in with 12 minutes left as substitute North (of the obnoxious nature after his last seasons antics) headed in unchallenged from a half cleared corner. We should have won it right at the death though when Robertson had the ball in the net, but was harshly adjudged to have fouled Barnes in the process. There was going to be only one winner after that and Grimsby did the business, sending Lee the wrong way for all their 4 penalties whilst Ward ballooned his penalty somewhere in the direction of Markham Road, Picken changed his mind twice in the run-up and Barnes saved with ease.
Saturday brought the Millers to Saltergate and, after their double of last season, we were due some reward against Mark Robbins' unbeaten outfit. A good game in wet conditions appeared to be heading for a goalless draw when up popped Alan Goodall to head the winner 4 minutes into stoppage time with a looping effort giving Warrington no chance. Joy and relief were the order of the day as we'd finally won at home. When will we do it again, though?
Midweek saw Tommy Lee in hospital after a night out in Sheffield left him with a broken jaw after an assault, meaning a layoff for the unfortunate keeper for at least 2 months. The moral of this tale-don't go out in Sheffield.
Easily the highlight of September Alan Goodall celebrates his late winner against Rotherham
The next action was at the nattily-named London Borough of Barking and Dagenham Stadium for a game that was a complete travesty of football. Within 90 seconds we were behind again as Roberts' long punt caught Rob Page in 2 or more minds and Benson laid the ball back to Saunders, who smashed in a fine shot from 20 yards. After a period of ebb and flow, the crucial point of the match was reached in the 37th minute. Strevens fouled Page, but the referee missed it and as Kerry ran in to challenge the Dagenham forward the youngster caught Strevens, who hit the deck very easily, having been awarded a free kick. As Kerry walked past, Strevens grabbed his privates and Kerry retaliated, earning an inevitable red card. The referee saw nothing wrong in the Dagenham man's actions however and Strevens was not even spoken to by the official. To say "man", however, is wrong, as this was the action of an underhand coward. The game became more bad-tempered after this and the home side were very astute at making sure that we were the only ones being penalised. Goodall, having been booked, was replaced at half time to prevent perhaps his inevitable dismissal. Lloyd Kerry came to sit in the stand at the break and was subjected to some abuse by a small section of travelling Spireites. The criticism was harsh for a youngster, who will, I'm sure, have learnt from the experience of his red card. A second red was soon to follow, however, as Page elbowed Strevens on 57 minutes and was rightly sent off. Such behaviour is not what one expects of an experienced captain and this played right into Dagenham's hands.
The remaining 9 Town men ran their socks off for the rest of the game and competed admirably. Trevor Carson made a string of brilliant saves, but was beaten twice in the last 3 minutes to give the score a lopsided look. One thing is certain, Dagenham have developed a very cynical approach in the few months since our last visit. It will win them some points, where poor referees are in charge, but it will win them no friends, nor extra fans. Winning in this fashion is not satisfying, but losing to it is considerably worse.
Our next game was in the rather more salubrious setting of Spotland, where Portuguese acquisition Val Texeira was not included, but Wednesday loanee Luke Boden was. Ex-Dale man, Alan Goodall got a rapturous reception from the Sandy Lane faithful, which was good to see. The game started well in very pleasant weather, though neither side could fashion anything clear-cut by way of a chance. The second half saw better creativity and Ward set up Robertson whose 3-yard shot was remarkably saved by Russell with his face. Dale surprisingly took the lead on 67 minutes as Will Buckley's floated cross deceived Carson and landed in the net. Town had several chances to equalise but the lively Ward squandered the best of them, unbelievably missing the goal from 8 yards out and sending the ball over the stand roof into Pearl Street. He did equalise, however, with 5 minutes left when Russell misjudged his free kick to concede a sloppy goal after a previously blemish-free performance.
Ward looked on for a winner in the last minute but was wrongly brought back for offside. He stupidly went on to kick the ball into the net and was booked. Deep into injury time, our midfield went to sleep and Dale mounted an attack. Rhodes chased it to the edge of our box as Carson came out to challenge. The Dale man got there first and knocked the ball goalwards, but over. The 2 players collided and Dale were given a free kick 20 yards out with Carson being booked. After Dale took ages over the kick, Ward was pulled back to help defend it but he walked within about 2 yards of the ball in a very irritating and provocative manner and was yellow carded for the second time in a few minutes, so went for the proverbial early bath. In all my years of watching football, that is probably the most brainless dismissal I've ever witnessed.
Naturally, after that, the inevitable occurred and Kennedy planted the free kick in the top corner for a gut-wrenching, if superb, goal. Even the Rochdale manager admitted they were lucky and that the free kick decision was wrong, but that's scant consolation.
The final action of the month had Brentford in town and like too many games this season they scored early on from a set piece with Bean heading in unchallenged. Like last season, they were big, fast and ugly and we failed to test them with our understrength side. Goodall clipped the bar with a free kick, but that's as far as we got before the break. Bean got Winter booked on 52 as the Bees man stayed down feigning injury for the umpteenth time in the game but this was nothing on the incident 3 minutes later when Jamie Lowry entered the pitch as sub. He lasted just 20 seconds as he chased a ball to the touchline, Wilson barged him into the concrete in a deliberate and vicious manner. Lowry sustained a split head and a badly bruised shoulder and Wilson was merely booked. The Brentford team including their manager seemed to find the incident vaguely amusing, which seems to sum up the general attitude in the game these days. I really hope that we never sink to these depths. Although Mr Richardson is getting considerable flak at the moment, he does send his charges out to play football and he is to be applauded for that.
Our failure to equalise was massively frustrating because Brentford's methodology was one that did not deserve reward. I cannot believe that this approach goes down well with the Griffin Park faithful who are used to footballing sides over the years.
Off the pitch, Auto Windscreen are sponsoring the match day warm up gear, but little else happened in the month that's not been reported above. One oddity of the season so far is the fact that every league games since the opening day has had exactly the opposite result to last season. That should mean we draw our first game of the season at Morecambe. Anyway, the highlight of the month that was grim in the extreme is fairly obvious. Trevor Carson's amazing star-jump save at Dagenham might have been the one in other circumstances, but Goodall's last-gasp winner against Rotherham stood out like a beacon in a foggy Welsh sea.
