View from the cemetery

At least the Vase hangover was a bit shorter this season. A very decent win up at West Allotment means that the non-winning run only lasted for three games, unlike what felt like a lifetime last season. Still it would be nice to win a few more through to the end of the season and get up the table a bit. Looks to me like the three or four just above us are well within reach, which means a top ten finish is a possibility, which is decent. Mind, the last few weeks of every season are notorious for strange results, for a number of reasons. Fixture congestion catches up with some, some teams have their thoughts on bigger prizes, managers are trying out new players, and some are just on early holidays, or at least look like it. To be fair they don’t come much stranger than our bold lads managed in the last game of the season last year over in Cumbria against today's opponents. Twelve players could be found for the trip, not including a goalkeeper or a centre half, or for that matter a manager, but three wingers turned out, always handy. The versatile Mr Larkin was in charge and promptly picked himself in goal. He may well be a canny keeper, but there is no way of knowing, as Penrith were even more out of sorts than us. A two-nil win with barely a tremor of concern throughout the afternoon ensued. Young Callen played centre half and looked the part, and all of the wingers ran about and caused havoc. At the top of the table Morpeth had a boatload of games in hand, partly because of the their Vase run and partly their awful pitch, but it did them no good, as they succumbed to injury, fatigue and the need to rest players before the Vase final, as their challenge for the title fizzled out. And a few seasons ago Benfield crept through the pack at the end to clinch an unlikely title triumph. In less exalted circumstances I used to regularly make my annual seasonal debut for Colliery Tavern FC in the Sunderland Sunday League Third Division sometime in March or April, as to be fair did my old work mate Ralph, which was particularly impressive as he had been dead a good few years by then. Ah, the jiggery pokery of wrong 'uns in Sunday football. Happy days.

Woe, woe and thrice woe, as the old soothsayer in Up Pompeii! used to say. A much underrated show in my opinion, not least because of the range of partially clothed and attractive young women who used to grace the screen in every episode. Bit like Game of Thrones, no need to worry about the plot, just look out for the highlights as you might say. But proper woe and thrice woe round Meadow Park at the moment, three very hurtful defeats in the last three games, including being knocked out of two cups, despite scoring twice in each match. Good deal of bad luck involved, which you can’t do much about, but no doubt also a few things to look at for improvement next season. Not my pay grade to be considering these things and asking the hard questions, but hopefully those in the know will have their thinking caps on. Great efforts and good football for most of the season, but you have to keep trying to improve all the time. "If you snooze you lose" as Lance Armstrong used to say, though I don’t think the bosses at Meadow Park will be reaching for the keys to the pharmacy cabinet and the large needles, as Lance used to; allegedly. To be fair he also said “It's not about the bike” which is certainly spot on as far as football is concerned, so maybe he wasn’t the villain he has been painted, although I think he was.

Anyway a lot of football still to play, got to try and finish well and go again in good shape next season. The last couple of seasons, especially this one, have got the club more publicity than ever before, and we need to build on it. A couple of signs would be a good start by the way, most people have no idea where Meadow Park is.

Well, a long ride home from Hanky Panky Pagnell I bet. And I guess not so boisterous an hour or so in Wetherby as on previous trips out. A tough way to lose, and hard to take, especially given the draw for the next round, but you have to hold your hands up. When it is not your day and all that. And a South Shields V RCA Vase Quarter Final would have generated the biggest gate money in a long time between two Northern League sides. Which to be fair won't be cheering our committee up much.

Anyway let's hope we don't have the long post-Vase hangover we had last year, though Saturday was a bit ominous, losing to a side on a long run of defeats. Got to look for the positives though, good run again, good exemption secured for next season again, and much improved profile and publicity for the club. I think I said that last year as well.

Good luck to Shields anyway, though I don't think they will need it to get past Newport Pagnell. Strong lads, fit and determined and kept going all the way to the end is what I hear, but I doubt that will be enough at a packed Mariners Park.

Seven wins on the bounce, what is going on here? Didn’t look very likely earlier this season, when instead of winning we were contriving to lose games that we controlled from the start, and usually in extra time. Four points dropped against Guisborough? Canny lads and a good club and all that, but really? Getting done 1-0 by Jarrow Roofing when, with nine men for virtually the whole of the second half including an heroic goalkeeper with a broken ankle, we still managed to look much the better side? And there were others. It's a funny old game alright. Still, we seem to be getting our rewards now, and well deserved. The team has gradually gelled over the last two or three months and the spirit and determination is impressive, as is our attacking style, very nice to watch. Too late to do anything too much in the league now except to have a real good finish and get as far up as we can, which is an important target anyway, but the Vase and the League Cup provide a nice distraction. The Mansfield trip was a good laugh I hear, although maybe not for the sophisticated locals of a Wetherby bar. Famous dart player called Gary Anderson was in the bar, or maybe it was mistaken identity, but anyway our lads sang his praises. Until they were asked to vacate the premises anyway.

Our last home match, against Whitley Bay, was a busy one here at Meadow Park, on and off the pitch, with a couple of medical emergencies resulting in the unusual sight of two ambulances sitting behind the bottom goal deep in the second half. Hopefully both the Whitley Bay player who looked to have a nasty leg injury, though maybe not the break that was many people's first reaction, and the elderly spectator who took ill are both well, fingers crossed. Many thanks due to the doctor in the crowd, a Whitley Bay fan, who stepped in to help and advise with care of the spectator, no doubt an occupational hazard for doctors to be called on when they are near an incident, must get a bit trying for them, but a great comfort to the rest of us; anyway, very well done that man!

As well as your venerable correspondent's musings, which you may find witty, lucid and concise; or maybe not, there are of course other writers and writings available on the website. Not least the match reports, which many people have had a go at over the years, some better than others, but all game chaps, and which have been the province of our sadly departed secretary Mr Jones for the past few seasons. And very good his were too. A tough act to follow. But someone has to do it, and we have a new guy, no less than Simon the photographer, who having replaced the legendary Tim with élan, has also ventured to write the last few match reports. Who knew? It turns out our snapper is a veritable Oscar Wilde, a maestro of the pen, a reborn Neville Cardus, a new Brian Glanville. In short, very good indeed. Very, very good. Gets all the facts in, as required of journalists, and adds a few flights of fancy to keep the more literary types engaged. He could of course be making a rod for his own back with his outstanding first efforts, he might have been better advised to start slowly and build up. I certainly did the start slowly bit. Anyway looks like a right good signing, long may he continue. And if he gets head hunted by The Sunday Times we can all say we knew him first.

Could have been and should have been an unlikely Wearside double on Saturday, when the lads at the SoL managed a first home win of the season while we were going well at home to Consett. Two up inside eight minutes and in front until the 89th minute, and then good enough to get in front again after Consett’s equalising penalty, we still managed to concede a second equaliser with the last kick of the game. Not for the first or even the second time this season, it is becoming a bad habit. The performance was good, particularly early on, but Consett are a bit of a bogey side for us and no mistake. Still, you couldn’t say it wasn’t entertaining, especially the first eight and last seven minutes.