Ben’s back with VFTD, this time summing up Reading’s festive win over the Hatters.
Yeah, it’s back. Chill out.
Listen, I’ve been on the road with this column for over six years. I needed a break and, honestly, I wouldn’t have brought it back if at least one person hadn’t messaged and said: “Where’s the column gone Ben?”
So here we are, the first one since the Dons cup win. It’s been hard going this season, hasn’t it? Not particularly inspiring, exciting or fascinating. And yes, I know people will say the division is tight, it’s League One and on their day anyone can beat anyone, but it’s been a slog.
In terms of the Luton match itself, my honest opinion is that Sky are killing the game. Who the hell cares about League One Thursday night football?
Aside from fans of both clubs (like, what, maybe 10k tops) who didn’t go to the game, no one’s watching it. The game could have been on Saturday, 3pm, and you are getting at least 5k more. At least mate!
As it was, the Whitley Coliseum was very scarcely populated – no surprise given results have been poor, the weather was vile and it was a Thursday.
Pre-game I went to see the reindeers outside the Dolan and spent a good five minutes speaking to them in my head. It was all a bit desolate about the stadium too, and I feel sorry for them in their soggy nest of hay (Reindeers do actually nest – Google it).
Inside the stadium, the seated bowl was no more festive. Plenty of gaps in humans littered the stands like neglected socks at a laundromat.
The Salvation Army tried their best to lift the damp spirits of those in attendance from their hospitality box by playing instrumental tunes of Christmas, but this didn’t prevent the meek applause the players received as they entered the field of play.
Going ahead early on helped the atmosphere somewhat. Failing to look remotely close to scoring a second didn’t.
People near me (when I say near, I mean in the same postcode as the stadium) seemed to have turned into ice blocks. The wind whipped round the stand like a middle-aged chap in charge of a village fete searching for change to give a customer who’d used a £10 note to pay for a 50p second-hand book.
On the pitch we were more compact and slightly more inclined to play the ball on the floor, but didn’t threaten beyond the penalty.
Half-time saw another hearty rendition of instrumental Christmas carols, a rare pizza prize for the Dolan (B17 FFS) and people refusing to move from fear their legs wouldn’t bend in the correct place. A nice touch was made by the media gents as they played that David Brent Christmas song about people not crying and being blind. I don’t like Christmas music but do like that one.
The second half was weird. Big Jack Marriott scored a second (lovely goal by the way), but we allowed the Hatters to get back into it and another loss was on the cards.
That is of course until Long Kelvin, a man who has been under the pressure of late, netted coolly. He’s not a striker but I like him – I hadn’t celebrated a goal like that for a while and he deserved it.
We are far from a vintage outfit. We all know we need some depth in the team, but the difficulty in talking about it all the time is that it potentially demotivates and demoralises the current crop, leading to more regular losses.
Individually, there are some crackers in that group. Collectively, it isn’t the best. There is more to come from this team but we do need to see it pretty quickly. All the matchday quirks and schemes won’t help if we don’t win games on the pitch, it’s as simple as that.
I want to see Leam Richardson succeed, but him and the top office have work to do if we are going to push up the table and convince those in the stands that this is the direction we should be moving in.
I hope you all have a decent Christmas and enjoy the games over the festive period. Look after yourselves and take care.
Until next time.
Category: General Sports
