DECEMBER A MONTH OF DRAWS AND SCRUFFS 

A Review By John Taylor

The month of December always seems a tough one for us and it certainly started that way with 2 away fixtures against teams in the promotion hunt. First on the cards was the evening trip to Southend where Mark Allott skippered the side in place of the suspended Shane Nicholson. In a game that started in a cagey fashion, we were always in contention and our defence contained the dangerous Southend forwards well. Bailey's injury did little to upset our flow as Davies deputised in his customary admirable fashion. Town almost pinched it at the death but substitute Folan's header was cleared off the line and we'd kept another clean sheet to achieve a worthy draw.

Paul Hall making it 1-0 at Griffin Park

The familiar trip to Griffin Park was next to see if we could get to grips with a Brentford outfit that murdered us at Saltergate back in August. O'Hare returned for a rare start after Davies was injured, with Picken moving to the right of defence. After an even start, Hall produced a cool finish on 18 minutes to put us ahead after robbing Turner who had difficulty controlling Roche's long punt. We then dominated for long spells with the midfield in fine form. The elusive second goal would not come, however, and with a little under 10 minutes left we were punished by a gem of a ball from Sodje that was swept home by O'Connor. It was a little harsh on us as we'd played so well, but Brentford are not up with the leaders for nothing. So we came away from West London with a point-just like on 3 of the last 4 occasions.

A week later, Oldham were the visitors to Saltergate for the last match before Christmas: traditionally a poor time for us as we'd not won in the last 9 such fixtures. Our last pre-Christmas win was in 1995 at the Goldstone Ground in torrential rain with only a handful of Spireites in attendance. This turned out no better than the last 9 as both suspension-weakened sides served up reasonable 1-1 draw in bitterly cold conditions. Warne's early second half strike (without the need of a blatant push this time) was cancelled out by the Chief's 8^th goal of the season as neither side had sufficient guile to fashion a winner. Ex-Spireite Luke Beckett, who had the good sense not to slag us off in the press this time, was always a threat but was withdrawn with around a quarter hour left, much to his obvious annoyance and Town fans' amusement.

Chief grabing a point against Oldham

The post-Christmas fixture was the short trip to Scunthorpe, where we generally do well, F A Cup apart, though the Scunny programme revealed that Mr McFarland has been successful against the Iron only once in 9 encounters. We turned out, surprisingly, in our 4^th new strip of the season, wearing royal blue and white, but with VK sponsorship on the shirts. Very soon we were ahead with a slick goal on 4 minutes: Hall finishing from Blatherwick's flick from a Nicholson long throw. Thereafter we weren't very good-it was almost as if the ball was a bomb. No one wanted to keep it, everything was rushed and we could not make more than 2 passes without giving the thing away. Scunny were little better, but we went in at the break 1 ahead. Shortly after the resumption that was 2-0 as Hall chased down Allott's peach of a pass into the right hand corner and knocked over a cross to Niven just inside the box. Just as the Scot prepared to shoot, Crosbie handled the ball, but the ref ignored it. He then booted Niven and the ref ignored it. Finally he wrenched Niven to the ground at which point Mr Walton reluctantly pointed to the spot. The injustice of the decision still riled 3 home defenders, who protested the ref''s clearly harsh assessment of the situation, but he didn't change his mind and Nicholson duly converted for a lucky 2-0 lead. It did not last though as Baraclough scored a screamer, much as he did last season, on 65 and right at the death, the home side nicked a point with substitute Johnson netting after Roche could only parry McKenzie's shot. It was no more than Scunthorpe deserved, but we ought to have won, having created things after Adam Smith came on. We just could not keep the ball, though and always put ourselves under pressure-it was all very frustrating.

Hally at it again 1-0 at Scunny

Swiftly on the heels of this game was Swindon at home on Wednesday evening and the frost covers together with diligent groundsmen's efforts meant no postponement despite adverse weather conditions. Swindon looked nothing like a bottom of the table outfit despite going behind to Hall's fine strike on 19 minutes. The match was nothing of a thriller, but we would have won but for the ridiculous award of a penalty to the visitors on 61 minutes when Blatherwick's chin got in the way of a shot. The wonderfully named Bouazza netted with the penalty and that was that-a record breaking 6^th draw on the trot after mustering just 1 in the rest of the campaign. Mention must be made of Swindon's socks-red at the front and white at the back-surely the worst socks ever to appear at Saltergate-on the pitch that is.

A dodgy pen gave Swindon a share of the spoils

The month, and year's final fixture was the eagerly awaited trip to Forest, where we've not been since the 40's. Our full allocation of 2500 was duly sold out and the atmosphere on the away end was certainly lively. The same could not be said of the match, however. It is a measure of how far we've come and how far Forest have fallen that the 0-0 draw was disappointing. We were the better side, but appeared to lack the self-belief required to win it. Larkin and Clingan came close, whilst Forest rarely threatened despite referee, Mr Olivier, giving them the benefit of the doubt with every decision. Gareth Taylor, in particular, was very fortunate to be penalised for nothing, despite appearing to manhandle Blathers in every challenge and seeming to use the elbow when Blathers was already bandaged. Typical of the Somerset-born Welshman, however, that he was constantly moaning to the West Midlands official every time Forest were thwarted by our defence. Even more annoying than all this frustration was the scandalous booking of Caleb Folan right at the end when Thompson had made a great tackle on him.

Blathers in the wars at Forest

That was it for the month then: 6 games all drawn leaving us with a sense of "what might have been". We should have done better, but last year we would have lost some of them, so there is some improvement without doubt. Otherwise, Rueben Hazell has signed a new deal and we've got Phil Picken to the end of the season, but Kevan Hurst has had to return to Bramall Lane for the time being.

On the sartorial front, we wore new shirts at Scunny and acquired some long-sleeved sky blue away shirts. Of greater significance is the alarming trend of Town players wearing long-sleeved undershirts with high necks under short-sleeved tops. Outfield players wearing gloves, shirts untucked (mainly down to the strange blue bat shapes on the back of the home shorts) and Blathers wearing the worst head bandage seen of a football field all combined to make us look the scruffiest team ever to appear in the football league. It wouldn't matter too much if we were winning, but we're not. Anyway, special mention must go to Colin Larkin, who always turns out smartly. It doesn't win him my man of the month award, however, as that goes to Rueben Hazell for his consistently sound displays in the period. He used that to good effect to earn himself a new deal and I trust that now he's secured that he can continue with this excellent form.

So with much to look forward to in 2006, we start with Barnsley at home and, hopefully a juicy victory to kick off the New Year.