A week of turmoil for all at S6, we needed a good team effort today

     1 -v- 1    

    Bristol City                          Wednesday

Well after a pretty tough week for our football club you could be forgiven for not fancying a 3 hour trip to Brizzle….after watching some poor football, some poor attitude and watching the myther surrounding Woody unfold it could be understood if you fancied a bit of time with the family on a Saturday…

BUT….

When it’s been shit like this last week and we’ve had fans tummelling out with each again over fook all really, THAT’S the time you’ve got to dust yaself off and get right back into IMVHO…I’m not knocking anyone that felt they didn’t want to waste money on this game, not in this climate, and at this time of year…there’s all sorts of demands on us now and they’re all more worthy than football…

BUT…

This was screaming out to be a TWAT day.

When we’ve had it all go wrong and then players are dropping like flies with viruses all week and the team are stripped to the bare bones, it really needs US to get behind them…put aside the weeks problems and our anger and frustration at what’s gone and get behind them…

It was Total Wednesday Adulation Time!

Nothing else mattered…get up in the morning full of the joys of TWAT and you will NEVER go wrong…I promise you that.

It’s TWAT law.

I really had gone to bed giddy as fook…and there’s no reason for that…this wasn’t a play off final game, it wasn’t a game that meant we’d avoid relegation, it was JUST a game away to Bristol City…npwt to get excited about really…well there was for me…this game was a TWAT game andf that means throwing everything into it….

I couldn’t sleep properly so when the alarm went off I was still tired but I bounced out of bed and I was ready for the day…REALLY ready for the day…I was determined to get as much as I could from this game, win, lose or draw…

I get me shit and shower and have a quick singsong whilst I’m in there…Did some shower yoga…that’s not what you teenagers think it is…this is warm up stretches in warm water so get them thoughts out of ya mind.

Oh aye…nowt spruces you up like shower yoga…I have a swift shave and me 3 Sh’s are done and dusted…I grab me bottle of ‘Denim’ and get several large handfuls and blather it literally, all over… Ooooh yes! I smell like a 70’s teenager again. You can’t go wrong with a small bottle of Denim; £2.70 a litre and it makes you smell stunning, you can start ya barbecue with it and it preserves ya fence, now THAT’S value.

So I’ve exfoliated, I’ve yoga’d, I’m weshed and clean and I smell like a fence…the vibe is still good as I get dressed…I go downstairs to sort what I’ll need…

I’m busy sorting me stuff and our lass gets in the shower…calm down, it’s not going that way…she shouts down for me to remember sommat…I can’t hear so she gets out and leans over the banister…’don’t forget the wallet’…It’s OK I say, ‘I’ve got that sorted’…but as I stand there on the stairs and she’s leaning ower shouting at me….I couldn’t help meself and I had a little ‘good luck wibble’….of course I got a smack on the head for it, and stuff thrown at me, but it was worth it…making a note to self: If we win today that MUST be done EVERY week. (Maybe we could make it a ritual for all Wednesday fans on match days)

I’m on top of the world now as I get in the car and head down to pick the young un up…another good sign, she looks like death and has thrown up already.

It’s a strange thing this…whenever she’s been out on the razz the night before and has been ‘unwell’ on the day of the game…we’ve NEVER lost. She was quick to point that out as she slunk into her seat in the car and promptly went to sleep.

Down the M18 and M1 to pick Dessie up and we’re off for the long trek…plenty of 80’s music again to shorten the journey and we arrive in Bristol.

I dunno why…whether it’s the satnav or me but every time we go to Bristol I’ve taken the wrong turn in the city centre at the exact same point…there’s a part of the city that I now know like the back of me hand, people come out of their houses now and wave...’Hi Beastie…City playing Wednesday time is it?’ Oh aye, we know each other well now…fortunately it’s easy enough to get back on track and get back to that same point…and avoid doing it again…and I REALLY have to concentrate not to do it again…though it HAS happened before where I’ve gone round twice.

Anyway, back on route and we park up and head up past the ground…We’d arranged to meet Tommo in The Hen and Chicken…’Oh aye, it’ll be up here…I know that much. I’ve seen Wednesday fans in the past at these pubs up here’

Dessie sdays, I’ll look on me phone at Google maps….

I phone Tommo to ask…’No, it’s not up there, it’s on North Street, just ask someone’

So I do…I ask a couple of people…

Can ya tell me where North Street is please mate and a pub called Hen and Chicken?

This bloke says…Nrrrt strrrrut..aaarrts rrrt drrrdraz fnggaggle boy…

WTF was that? Was his battery running down?

Cheers mate…I didn’t understand but luckily he pointed whilst he spoke…at least pointing is the same as we use oop t'North.

Have you got it on Google yet Dessie?

‘Not yet’

Next bloke was a bit better….

No idea where Heurn n Churcken is but Narth Street is there…he points to just opposite where we’d parked…

10 yards away from where we parked!

So we head up North Street and I’m busting by now, so I nip into some public toilets…when I leave I realise I’ve had a bit of a ‘dribble’…Fook!
I exit with me hand over me crotch…Hollie looks at me weird…’what ya doing?’…I’ve had a splash related accident…’Do you have to draw attention to it?’…Yes…it looks daft if I don't cover it…so I walk up North Street with me hand over me crotch…past all the fans walking down…past all the pubs with fans outside….all giving me strange looks…

I can’t help it if I’m at that age can I?

As we get halfway up North Street Dessie shouts ‘GOT IT’…Looking at his phone he says ‘THIS is North Street’

Better late than never….and we were stood at the side of a sign that said ‘NORTH STREET’

After quite a hefty walk we arrive at the pub, time for a quick un with Tommo, Jude and Tracy before heading back down to the ground…Some strange shops and what have you in Bristol…loads of pasty shops, loads of second hand shops and one peculiar one…DR Butts…Master Butcher... Dunno what kind of butchery a doctor of butts did but I wasn't gonna find out.

I couldn’t resist one of the pasty shops though so I nipped in with Hollie whilst the others walked on…We got a pasty each and noticed some of the finest Custard slices I’d ever seen…the custard was a foot deep…I bought 6 so we could all have one…chuff me it took her ages to put em in the box, when I lifted the box up I realised why. Chuff me! How much did they weigh? Like carrying a box of bricks.

So now I’m walking back towards the ground, with a hundredweight of custard and a damp patch on me pants…just a normal football day then…dunno why people were staring so much....Not like it's owt new in Bristol.

THE MATCH
-
I right enjoyed this game…

It doesn’t take much to please footballs IMO and our team went a long way towards burying the last week and making amends with the fans here…what we want is commitment and effort and not to be taken for granted…we got all that today and from a makeshift side at that.

It really was heart warming to watch this game, it was a good entertaining game of football and both sides contributed to that. I don’t hold with Gary Johnsons comments after the game that we just put bodies behind the ball either…or the comments from some of the City fans on the radio saying their own team were poor and deserved to get beat. This, IMHO anyway, was quite an open game in which both sides had good chances, both had good bits of play, players showing individual flair and keepers pulling off good saves.

I mean I heard some of the City fans slating their lad Evander Sno and I thought he was a cracking player. First time I’ve seen him but he was a right handful for us.

The problem is that we had a fair bit of play after we scored but early on in the first half there was a lot of end to end stuff…

We had a back four of Tommy, Lewis Buxton, Hinds and Frankie….with Tommy taking the captains armband.
So a long way short of first team matches Frankie takes over at full back, full back Lewis Buxton moves to centre and Richard Hinds, who’d been slated after the Port Vale fiasco comes back in…with the youngest of the lot given the armband.

A lovely moment immediately after kick off as the young lads who we'd been forced to take down with us as part of the flu ridden side, were warming up down near us and as Nick Wood came down his name was chanted and he was applauded and he applauded right back at the Wednesday fans…his face was a picture…he was doing that thing where you try to hide how happy you are…stifle the smile…keep it in and be grown up….professional…I’m a pro footy player now, don’t get embarrassed and smile…he failed…his smile broke through…it was lovely to see and great to hear.

Now even though I love all those players, most right minded Wednesday fans, not too deep down, will have feared the worst…we needn’t have done….they did well….they did VERY well.

We started really brightly and the 1000+ travelling Wednesday fans were in fine voice, it was a cracking bit of noised from our end and the team responded well.                  We went really close but the flag was up for offside, some good movement though and players moving and working for each other well…THIS is what we want to see.                 Straight away though City went on the counter and Grant was called into action a couple of times, pulling out a fine save followed by a fine diving catch that really was well held.

The defence were put under pressure for a short spell and the Wednesday fans watched with bated breath to see if the makeshift back line would hold… Well Lewis Buxton laid his cards straight on the table early doors and got in a crunching, beautifully well timed tackle and got up with the ball to stride forward, in the manner we normally associate with him. Good stuff....VERY good stuff.

We went close a few times in the first half, including a sublime bit of play that put Varney through one on one with the keeper…it seemed like he had too much time to think as he tamely rolled the ball to the keeper but it was lovely stuff to watch…we needed to make these efforts count though…especially if we were going to keep giving free kicks away around our box…

Again…more great play from us…as we had 3 chances in quick succession…but we just couldn’t apply the finishing touch to it all…

The Wednesday fans were loving it though and the noise was cranked right up as we headed into half time…

We’d edged the half in chances but not had it all our own way…our defence had stood up well though and done a good job collectively to keep City out.

There HAD to be goals second half though, no way was this gonna end 0-0 and I just hoped we wouldn’t be punished for those missed chances.

We’d put the Custard slices on the floor through the half and decided to snaffle them now during the break. As Tommo chowed down on his the custard oozedf out of the sides…it was difficult to get your entire gob over the whole thing, they were that thick…we managed though…they were chuffin lovely. One left to take home for Mrs Beastie tonight and it went back under the seat for safekeeping.

         

The announcer told us to show our appreciation for ‘the boys’ as Bristol City came back onto the pitch….oh and Sheffield Wednesday.

He was so underhwelmed…it was almost like he didn’t want to mention us…anyone else but us…

Show your appreciation for Bristooool Ciiiiiiteeeeee….and the stewards….and the pie sellers….the programme sellers…the ball boys….the old bloke on the front row with the 10 yards stare….the Kentucky fried chicken shop outside the ground…….oh and Sheffield Wednesday…..if ya must.

Bollox to him…the Wednesday fans made some noise anyway.

They started the second half the brightest did City and broke our defence for what looked a certain goal but Hinds somehow got a foot to the ball and prevented it, the City fans were on their feet shouting for a pen but the ref was having none of it.

They were playing well were City and broke away really quickly, leaving us toiling…we eventually scrambled back into position but they got through again with Hinds clearing off the line and JJ eventually hoofing it away after a 6yd box scramble, but it eventually dropped to Maynard who stumbled his way through a few fairy challenges from us and put the ball in the net…

Heartbreaking.

We’d played well, deserved the lead on chances created but failed to put em away…Maynard showed how to do it.

The City fans were on their feet and in fine voice now and understandably the Wednesday fans, gutted, went a bit quiet….not for long though as we rallied and tried to lift the team…Walkley doing his bit admirably by leading most songs…

I have to say though…there was one very bizarre bit of singing from a group of Wednesday fans, just behind him, they started singing show tunes…

Chitty Bang Bang songs to start with then a selection from the Sound of Music…it was almost the scariest Halloween thing you could experience…yet strangely enchanting.

The little fella from the Derby ramble was amongst the singers…the fella whose trousers were falling down in the pub that day…well they were even lower today almost round his knees and he was right in their amidst the shown toon special posse…

We continued to try and lift the team even though City were enjoying most of the play now, the home players AND fans were obviously buoyed by the goal and we were second to every ball, we couldn’t really get a foothold back into the game...Fair play to City they were playing their best stuff now

We DID however manage to break through and the recently introduced Leon Clarke looked set to score as he tapped the ball goalwards…a goal…SURELY?

NO!

The City keeper got down very quickly to get a strong hand to it…we couldn’t believe it…it was fookin in…THAT was it…Sweet Baby Jesus, how did he stop that?

It didn't find the net but it stopped the City fans in their tracks and was the cue for us to raise our voices even more and the players to raise their game…We put on some pressure and we got louder. The impressive 'never knows when to stop' O Connor gets the ball to Tudders who slips it with ease past the defence for Varney to run onto…he does, and leaves the defenders for dead before blasting the ball from just outside the ‘D’ into the net…GET THE FOOK IN! Keeper nowhere….

AT LAST!

AT FOOKIN LAST!

The players went mental, they ran over to the crowd and dived in…Varney was under a mountain of bodies, players and fans alike…I’d moved to the aisle to see it round the pillar in front of me…I ran back along the seats and jumped on Hollie, Dessie and Tommo…we jumped up and down like eejyits…

It was only when it died down that I realised why it had been quite soft when we were jumping…the custard slice for our lass! I opened the box expecting a huge mush of custard…I couldn’t believe it…the box was wrecked…squashed all over but in the middle was a virtually untouched 1 foot high custard slice…RESULT!

It was our turn to be lifted on and off the pitch now but the goal was no less than we deserved TBF and we applied a bit more pressure now…Varney was buzzing and he went close again..another lovely ball for him down the left, and he cut inside and unleashed one that I was staring right down the barrel of, it was going inside the far post…until the City keeper got fingertips to it to push it round the post for a corner

We didn’t stop there though and again down the left Leon cut inside and I thought he was gonna centre it but instead he looked up and delivered an audacious lob at the goal, he really was stunning…a wonderful bit of vision and confidence to do that…the keeper again got fingertips to it to put it over the bar but from my very good viewpoint I’m not sure it wouldn’t have hit the woodwork anyway.

There were chances and half chances for both sides as the game drew to a close with most of the real pressure being applied by us, though Granty did have to pull of yet another outstanding save, from the impressive Dutchman Sno… He strode forward through midfield, went past players before unleashing a shot that we could see straight down…and Granty had it covered all the way but there was so much swerve on the ball Grant was going the wrong way in the end, he somehow adjusted quickly and in midair to get hands to it and keep it out…lovely play Sno...breathtaking save Grant. You could see Sno is Ajax trained...he's full of confidence in his own ability and loves to have the ball.

If the City fans don't want Sno, can we have him please...EXACTLY the sort of player I like to watch.

The game finished with a little sigh of relief from both sets of fans as it would have been very harsh on either if someone had nicked it at the end

The Wednesday fans, to a man, saluted the players and they richly deserved it…to a man.
The manager made sure they all came over to us this time and ALL of them did…led again by the youngsters, this time captain Tommy Spurr…

As I said, it doesn’t take much to get fans back onside and I had that daft feeling in me stomach and chest as I watched them applauding us and us applauding them…that ‘love affair’ feeling…when you patch things up…like you’ve just had make up sex. That’s what this was…it’s a great feeling…a REALLY great feeling. We hadn’t won but it wasn’t through lack of trying, it wasn’t through lack of commitment and it wasn’t through a lack of togetherness…

All over the park there were good performances but more than anything this was a good team performance and THAT is something worth shouting about. We often single out players for what they’ve done, bits of skill here and there but today, when we needed it, we got a cracking team performance. A hard working team performance for the full 90 minutes.

For that reason I won’t single anyone out for praise or for grumbling for that matter…let’s not dwell on little mistakes but enjoy what we had today…

Today, we got our Wednesday Mojo back.

I love Bristol away days I do...

I dunno why really because we rarely get owt...but I love the fans outside the ground AND in...they're usually pretty noisy....I like the ground...the away end is excellent...OK pillars block the view and it's not really modern, but I DO love that...you can move about a bit anyway so the view is what you make it...I like the entrance to the ground, with it's overhead signs welcoming you...I love the city itself, it's a cracking city...it's rarely about the result with me and loving a lot besides the on pitch exploits certainly helps with an away day.

I was absolutely shattered driving back, I think we all were as it was very quiet in the car…and when I got back home at around 9pm it wasn’t much after that when I went to me pit for a well deserved sleep…not before giving our lass that well looked after custard slice though.

A tiring day but cracking TWAT day

Bring on the high flying QPR now.

Cheers

Steve:Beastie
Owls Alive


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