View from the Cemetery

According to Google Earth the grounds of Billingham Synthonia and Billingham Town are about 400 yards apart, as the crow flies. Meadow Park and the Colliery Welfare by comparison are about 800 yards apart. So not the closest, but it still makes no sense to have RCA and the CW at home at the same time, which, unless postponements, cup ties and secretarial ingenuity can work their magic, will happen time after time this season. It's just a cock up of course, not a conspiracy as many would have it, but it is very harmful, not just to RCA and the Welfare, but also to trying to build Northern League football in Sunderland. Self inflicted wounds, the most painful kind, he says pompously...

Last home game of the season, and still in March? What has happened? Is summer football starting after all? Or is it just the vagaries of the old Golightly computer? Seems a bit odd whatever the reason, and with all to play for as well. There seem to be a lot of conspiracy theories around at the moment, so is this the making of another one? Has the fat lad upset someone in authority? Again? Makes you wonder. Never mind, some of us will just moulder on down here while you lot enjoy the delights of Crook and Bedlington and such like, not to mention Penrith on a Tuesday night; always a fun ride out. Shouldn't complain of course, those lads are back and forth across the A66 every other week, and still have a boatload to go. And they put up a decent show here on the Meadow a fortnight since, although as an unbiased supporter I thought the second half effort from our bold lads deserved a point at least. And by all accounts the same applied down at Guisborough last week. Well, nobody ever said it was fair, or if they did they are daft.

The reason football is the best game in the world is because the best side doesn't always win. Or so I reckon anyway. Which doesn't mean you should rely on luck, doing things right is the way to go, and by and large it pays off overall. The late, great Bob Paisley used to maintain that you should always ignore results good or bad when looking at your team, because there was nothing much you could do about results, what mattered was performances, and if you got that right the results would follow. All very true no doubt, although some think a little bit bribery also helps sometimes....

Well, Saturday was close wasn't it? Terrible conditions, couldn't work out whether it was better to be playing down the bank with the wind at your back, or up it with it in your face, and neither could the players of either side to be honest. But our bold lads battled away and finally cracked it with a superb free kick from young Wilson; he can strike a dead ball, can't he? So, over the forty point mark and still a long way to go before we can claim to be safe, funny old season. Should keep us focused though, and the interest up, although I note us home only fans have only one more game to enjoy this season after Penrith on Tuesday night, with another six on the road. Like the Gypsy Kings on tour. And just as we appear to have finally laid the old home game hoodoo, let’s hope it isn't going to turn the other way now....

So back to the real thing as the Wembley dream dares to disappear, and probably for another fifteen years at that. Never mind, much more importantly it's a big few days coming up for the bold boys over the fence. Points in the bag or games in hand? What would you choose? By Wednesday morning we will have a good idea. Might be delighted, might be very worried, or more probably somewhere in between. Have to ignore the home game problems which still haunt us from time to time mind, and by all accounts Billy Town are planning on going down with a flourish, making plans, plotting results, and even signing some of our old boys I hear, and tasty ones as well. Still, I'm confident we can do the business, and with Penrith to follow, always a long ride out from Cumbria on a Tuesday night, we have got to have a chance with that one as well. Let's be positive boys and girls! One thing I reckon is that it will go to the wire, as it usually does.